Given the amount of sport that has dominated the summer months, you’d have veen forgiven for not realising that the new Premier League season was just a few days away before Saturday’s Community Shield. And so while teams are still finessing their transfer business and making final tactical tweaks even after the traditional curtain-raiser, everything is pretty much in place for the 2024-25 campaign to begin.
Month: August 2024
An under-strength Arsenal face a huge test of their Premier League title credentials at rivals Tottenham, while Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag desperately needs a response from his side at Southampton.
AFP Sports looks at the pick of the action as the English top-flight returns from an international break this weekend:
Can Arsenal cope?
Arsenal have already blinked first in the title race to fall two points behind Manchester City and Liverpool.
The Gunners were held 1-1 at home by Brighton last time out after Declan Rice was harshly sent-off early in the second half.
Rice is therefore suspended for tomorrow’s north London derby to compound injury woes for Mikel Arteta.
Captain Martin Odegaard is expected to miss three weeks due to an ankle injury picked up on international duty with Norway.
New signing Mikel Merino is also absent from the Arsenal midfield with a shoulder injury.
However, there was some good news for Arsenal as Arteta signed a new three-year deal on Thursday.
“Together with the players and everyone at the club, we are looking forward to the coming years, with our supporters, who have emotionally transformed the club and the team,” said the Spaniard.
Arteta has led Arsenal to second-place finishes in each of the past two seasons but he must come up with a masterplan to avoid leaving his side with an early mountain to climb in the title race.
A trip to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium kicks off a daunting run of three tough away games in eight days.
Arsenal face Europa League winners Atalanta on Thursday in the Champions League before a showdown against City.
Who will be the first Premier League manager to be sacked in 2024-25? GOAL make their predictions with Erik ten Hag and Enzo Maresca on thin ice
That means its predictions season, and here at GOAL we’re no different. Over the next week our writers will be giving their takes on all the biggest issues, from the teams who are likely to be scrapping for survival to those who will be fighting for top-four finishes and the title, and everything in between.
Today, we’ve taken a look at the managers who are vying to avoid being the first to be sacked once the new campaign gets under way:
‘No shocks with shams at Chelsea’
Mark Doyle: Erik ten Hag is still under scrutiny after overseeing Manchester United’s worst-ever Premier League campaign, but INEOS have clearly decided that the Dutchman deserves more time to prove himself. It would be a surprise, then, to see Sir Jim Ratcliffe hit the panic button during the early stages of the season. Todd Boehly, though?… Chelsea sacked Thomas Tuchel just six games into the 2022-23 Premier League campaign – and he was a Champions League winner. Therefore, it would not come as a shock to see the shams at Stamford Bridge ditch new manager Enzo Maresca if Chelsea start the season poorly.
‘Forest’s business not good enough’
Amee Ruszkai: Back in December, Nuno Espirito Santo’s tenure at Nottingham Forest started well, with wins over Newcastle and Manchester United within 10 days of his appointment – but only Luton Town and Sheffield United lost more matches from that point on. It was an unconvincing end to the season and I don’t think the summer business at the City Ground has been good enough to get them off to a strong start for this coming campaign. This will force the club to make a change – something it has become accustomed to doing through six permanent managers in six years.
Man Utd desperately need a goalscorer after Marcus Rashford’s latest disasterclass: Winners and losers as City win Community Shield amid more Wembley misery for Jadon Sancho
If Manchester United were hoping that this would be a season of redemption for Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford, they were left disappointed at the first hurdle.
WINNER: Alejandro Garnacho
The Argentine is a man for the big occasion and he simply loves playing at Wembley. He scored the opening goal in the FA Cup final and fittingly broke the deadlock here with a moment of magic.
It was unsurprising that he took matters into his own hands, as just minutes earlier he had put the ball on a plate for Rashford and watched with anguish as his team-mate hit the post. Garnacho used his trickery to waltz across the City defence before producing a deft low finish.
He also took his penalty confidently and it was a big shame he could not collect another medal this time.
LOSER: Jadon Sancho
Wembley is known as the home of football but for Sancho it is a nightmarish place. This was the winger’s fourth final here and he has now lost three times, while missing a crucial penalty on two occasions.
This will be the least painful of his other defeats, the Euro 2020 final with England and this year’s Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund. And yet it must have been frustrating for other reasons.
He was expected to start up front but ended up being benched and only came on in the 83rd minute. Combined with his penalty miss, which handed the momentum to City, this was a dismal start to his second lease of life under Ten Hag.
WINNER: Ederson
The Brazilian goalkeeper was expected to leave and move to Saudi Arabia this summer so merely seeing him in the line-up was a big boost for City fans, if not for his fellow ‘keeper Stefan Ortega.
The German has begun to rival Ederson for the No.1 spot but his performance in the shootout was a reminder of his ability to get his team over the line in the crunch moments.
Not only did he turn away Sancho’s penalty, he also stepped up to take a spot-kick himself and scored. It was a further demonstration that he is a unique goalkeeper, underlining why Guardiola was so keen for him to stay.
LOSER: Marcus Rashford
Ten Hag had hyped Rashford up ahead of the game, saying he looked sharp in pre-season and was ready to compensate for his disappointing campaign. And yet when push came to shove, Rashford looked just like he did last year, lacking in confidence and missing big chances.
The striker failed to hit the target after a sizzling team move in the first half although it was not exactly a sitter. But his second opportunity, presented to him on a plate by Bruno Fernandes and then Garnacho, was a must-score moment. Rashford did not look as if he was going to find the net, though, taking the shot without conviction and instead hitting the near post.
He looked gutted and so did his team-mates. There is extra pressure on Rashford to deliver in front of goal as Rasmus Hojlund is out of action for the next month and Joshua Zirkzee will need time to adjust to his new team. Budding forwards hoping to join United could be in luck, though, as Rashford’s display underlined the need for a more clinical finisher.