This article titled “Premier League: 10 things to look out for on the opening weekend” was written by Nick Ames and Jacob Steinberg, for theguardian.com on Friday 15th August 2014 07.15 UTC
1) The new dawn – same as the old dawn?
It will be a year and a day since Manchester United barrelled up to Swansea’s Liberty Stadium, strode away with a 4-1 win and left behind a sense that not very much had changed at all. Subsequent events give little reason for mawkishness, decent man though David Moyes is, but there was little warning of what would pass when Robin van Persie and Danny Welbeck scored excellent braces in south Wales. Now, Louis van Gaal beds in against the same opponents that gave his predecessor such a deceptive start – although Old Trafford is the venue this time – and eyes will be peeled for the most minor of conceptual deviations that show the Dutchman’s sleight of hand. For all that United’s pre-season USA tour was not to Van Gaal’s taste, pre-season results have been good – six wins from six if you count a shoot-out win over Inter, and even Marouane Fellaini silencing some distasteful jeers with a late winner against Valencia – and the club has been keen to promote a sense of momentum and freshness. In reality this will take time to sustain: United do not have the same preparation problems involving returning World Cup stars as several of their rivals, although that tells a tale in itself and Van Gaal is yet to delve into the transfer market to fill the more obvious gaps. He surely will, and for now he will be well aware that footballing success lies to a large extent between the ears. A confident opening might, this time, set United fair for better things. NA
• Premier League preview: Manchester United
• Premier League preview: Swansea City
2) Sanogo or Giroud?
Arsène Wenger has a selection headache this weekend. Who to start up front against Crystal Palace, Yaya Sanogo, callow, gangly nuisance who sometimes looks like he is learning on the job, or Olivier Giroud, still not quite up to speed after his World Cup exertions but the scorer of a fine goal in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Manchester City in the Community Shield? It was Sanogo who got the nod against City and while he fluffed a good chance to score his first goal for the club in the first half, the young French striker had a hand in Arsenal’s opener and set up Aaron Ramsey to score their second. Sanogo lacks finesse and can be unconvincing, often giving the impression that he is on the verge of miscontrolling a pass or tripping over himself, but he has made an impact in some games and there was glimpse of his potential when he scored four in the recently friendly against Benfica. Wenger has been supportive. Yet it is worrying that a player with so many rough edges is the alternative to Giroud, who also blows hot and cold. Another striker could help this Arsenal team make the jump from very good to great. JS
• Premier League preview: Arsenal
• Premier League preview: Crystal Palace
3) Lukaku’s leap
Romelu Lukaku finds himself in the same place as last season, but also in a very different one. The context has changed now. The Belgian is no longer a loanee of limitless promise whose 15 goals last season gave rise to tantalising visions of Champions League football and – who knew? – the far-off dream of a permanent signing; he is now a fully-fledged Everton player and, at £28m, there will be pressure on him to respond accordingly. It is important to remember that Lukaku is still just 21 and is probably yet to develop the tools that will see him through the kind of adversity faced by every striker at some stage; an up-and-down World Cup showing suggested that such polyvalence is a little while from being evident. This is not to pre-empt failure, because Lukaku’s two full seasons in the Premier League have been remarkable for a player of his years and at current rate of knots he will be peerless in a few years’ time, but there will inevitably be questions asked if he does not hit the ground running and Everton will need to show some love to what comes across as a sensitive character during stickier spells. Promoted Leicester will not be obliging opponents but an early goal would go down well. NA
• Premier League preview: Everton
• Premier League preview: Leicester City
4) Upton Park tiki-taka
Probably not quite, but the pressure on Sam Allardyce to deliver – and in a certain way – this season is such that West Ham’s early form will take on added significance. You can’t help thinking that Allardyce, for all that he can be mockable, was hung out to dry by the board’s promise that he is on message to provide “more entertainment”, and if Tottenham Hotspur evince particular early cohesion under Mauricio Pochettino on Saturday then there may be more opportunity for stark stylistic comparisons. Allardyce has certainly added to the squad’s technical level over the summer. Mauro Zarate is gifted if infuriating, Aaron Cresswell and Carl Jenkinson are upgrades at full-back, Diego Poyet’s potential is highly thought of and Enner Valencia is one of the summer’s most intriguing signings, but the latter is unlikely to be ready to start for a few more weeks and Andy Carroll – not a terrible foil for all this, on paper – has been struck down by injury once more. A shift in style is unlikely to be seamless, and fans will probably have to stomach the odd cross slung over for Carlton Cole in the interim whatever the extent of any change. How much slack will they, and the board, cut Allardyce? NA
• Premier League preview: Tottenham
5) Irvine’s impossible job
Talk of dead men walking should not be applied to Alan Irvine just yet but West Bromwich Albion, whose unravelling last season raised more than a few eyebrows after several years’ sensible progress, put themselves under pressure with a surprise pre-season appointment that was greeted negatively by supporters. Irvine is a popular and talented coach and fared well in charge of unfancied Preston in the Championship last decade, but is untested in a leading role at this level. The fact that he is essentially working under technical staff Terry Burton and Richard Garlick may well play to his strengths – which lie out on the training field – but also risks him becoming the fall guy for more of the systemic problems that dogged the club in 2013-14. Pre-season results have been poor, and Sunderland are buoyant visitors to The Hawthorns after last season’s escape. After a summer of considerable player turnover that supplied a bargain in Joleon Lescott and a steeply-priced striker in Brown Ideye, Irvine will need his preparations to bear fruit quickly and West Brom may need a little more patience than those above him have recently been possessed to show. NA
• Premier League preview: Sunderland
6) Hoddle’s touchline return
He can’t say he has not been angling for it, but Glenn Hoddle now has an ‘in’ to the Premier League after joining Harry Redknapp’s cabal of assistants. Hoddle is likely to sit on the Loftus Road bench during QPR’s own return to the top flight against Hull on Saturday, and if his impact alongside Redknapp is anything like that of another ex-England manager – current Derby incumbent Steve McClaren – this time last year then the appointment will have been a shrewd one. Perhaps the outlook is similarly bright for Hoddle’s own job prospects: Redknapp will be 68 this season and seems unlikely to go on for too much longer; the 3-5-2 formation he has used in pre-season appears to have his new partner’s name written on it. It is also a setup that should suit Rio Ferdinand’s ageing legs, and Hoddle seems the ideal pair of hands to cultivate a style that should see plenty of moves start at the 35-year-old’s feet. QPR have their work cut out if they are to re-establish themselves at the top table – and any sighting of Loïc Rémy this Saturday may tell us a bit more about their chances – but, if they manage it, the germ of a succession plan appears to have sprouted. NA
• Premier League preview: QPR
• Premier League preview: Hull City
7) How will Bojan fit in at Stoke?
Barcelona, Roma, Milan, Ajax, Stoke City: spot the odd one out. It has been an eclectic and often difficult few years for Bojan Krkic, the former Barcelona youth prodigy who is now hoping to resurrect his career under Mark Hughes. His arrival at the Britannia Stadium proves their desire to cultivate a more appealing style of play but without being disrespectful to Stoke, it also shows how far he has fallen. Bojan won 10 trophies at Barcelona, including three league titles and two Champions Leagues, and this was not how his career was expected to pan out when he emerged in 2007 and people were raving about another La Masia wonderkid. Now 23, he should be coming into his own at the highest level. Yet he was unable to make the most of his potential at Barcelona, despite occasional flashes of brilliance, and was underwhelming elsewhere. Stoke have made an exciting signing and Bojan, who still has time on his side, is obviously talented. It will be fascinating to see whether Hughes can inspire him. JS
• Premier League preview: Stoke City
• Premier League preview: Aston Villa
8) No Lovren lost
The fees Liverpool paid for Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren were inversely proportionate to the esteem in which the pair are now held among the Southampton fanbase, Lambert having been waved on his way to a £4m move with thanks and best wishes while Lovren – all £20m of him – is better remembered as an opportunistic fly-by-night. While Adam Lallana’s injury seems to have ensured that he dodges the bullet of this early, inevitable fixture against their former employers, his cohort will be raring to go and there are points to prove on both sides. Lovren played well and scored against Borussia Dortmund last weekend but there remain suspicions about just how structured Brendan Rodgers’ defensive recruitment has been; Lambert did not find the net in pre-season but his manager, when stressing that no pressure should be placed on him, seemed to imply that his will be more of a supporting role over the coming months. Southampton, for whom Lovren – of course – scored a winner at Anfield last September, could usefully strike a similar blow this time to dispel any ideas that they are a club on the slide. There is a script written here somewhere. If Liverpool win a late penalty in front of the Kop, perhaps boyhood fan Lambert may be thankful that he got a rare miss out of his system against Milan two weeks ago. NA
• Premier League preview: Liverpool
• Premier League preview: Southampton
9) Are Manchester City undercooked?
The psychological impact of Manchester City’s Community Shield defeat to Arsenal will be more keenly felt by their vanquishers, but the very fact that it could be explained away by a raft of important absences brings problems of its own. City are yet to field anything like their first-choice team this summer, which may have been good news for Dedryck Boyata and Scott Sinclair but means too that Manuel Pellegrini has been planning with something of a blindfold. Vincent Kompany, Sergio Agüero, Pablo Zabaleta and Fernandinho are among those who will only have two weeks’ training under their belts – and no match practice – by the time City travel to Newcastle, while the £32m deal for Eliaquim Mangala was only sealed on Monday. There is only so much that a four-match tour of the USA can do when half of your squad is missing, and Pellegrini will not be heartened by an early fixture list that sees Liverpool next up after the visit to St James’ Park. City are not the only team to have been particularly hard-hit by late returns from the World Cup – Arsenal’s throng of Germans will not be seeing much action for a while either – but theirs is a higher perch to be knocked from and any early slip-ups would give encouragement to their rivals. Pellegrini needs to make sure they find a way to get the job done. NA
• Premier League preview: Manchester City
• Premier League preview: Newcastle
10) Burnley’s litmus test
Burnley know how to handle a baptism of fire. Five years ago, they beat reigning champions Manchester United 1-0 in their first Premier League home game at Turf Moor, Robbie Blake’s winner living longer in the memory than much of what would follow in an ultimately doomed campaign. The impressive, intense Sean Dyche knows that consistency will more important than the occasional famous victory if a similar fate is to be averted this time, but it will be interesting to see what kind of marker his team can set down against a Chelsea team playing its first game of the post-Lampard and Cole era. They have an outstanding young striker in Danny Ings, a reborn winger in Michael Kightly and, in the gifted right-back Kieran Trippier, a player who may yet show Manchester City the folly of denying breathing space to homegrown talent. More than all that, they work diligently to clear instructions: their football in the Championship was structured, orderly and blissfully straightforward. That will not be all they require over the season, and Dyche knows they need further additions to a thin squad, but this is often a good time of year to catch the big guns cold and he will have faith in the tried and trusted on Monday night. NA
• Premier League preview: Burnley
• Premier League preview: Chelsea
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