Spotlight on the Premier League New Boys

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Monday, July 17, 2017

Hurrah it’s a new week, that means we are even closer to the footy season. I don’t know about you guys but already it’s felt too long a break. We have the 2nd legs of the Champions League second round qualifying to look forward to this week and at least we get to see some pre-season action, also some interesting women’s football ahead, the end is in sight.

In anticipation, I have switched my attention to the new boys, take a look at their transfer dealings and pick out a few players to keep an eye on. I’ll take a peep at what the bookies think and assess the early fixtures.

Who are the New Teams in the Premier League?

Three clubs were relegated at the end of last season. These teams were Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland. They have been replaced by Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town.

Newcastle United – United looked like they would run away with the title at the beginning of the season but a slowdown in their form saw a tight end to the season, they won the title by one point. Out of 46 games, they won 29 games, seven draws with 10 losses. The 85 goals scored is the highest in the league as was their goal difference of 45.

Many neutral fans will welcome Newcastle United back to the big table, even a season in the Championship wasn’t enough to put off their devoted supporters. Attendance was easily the best in the division with 1.7 million attending the 23 home games played at the former St James Park. The highest attendance was against Leeds, 52,301 fans saw that game (Anfield only 2,000 more!).

Newcastle’s jump straight back up to the top division is in part due to them keeping hold of manager Rafa Benitez. A worry sign though is Rafa’s public declaration that he is struggling to sign players due to the “crazy prices” being quoted for targets. So far, the only arrivals are centre-back Florian Lejeune (£870,000 from SD Eibar) and Christian Atsu (£656,000). In fact, Newcastle selling right-winger Florian Thauvin for €11 million has helped them achieve a transfer surplus of over 5.5 million.

Key players:

Dwight Gayle has been the goal scoring threat for The Toon, 23 goals in 26 starts is a great stat and Newcastle will hope he can produce this against the more stringent defences of the Premier League.

Stat-wise, Ciaran Clark has been putting in some impressive performances and received a 7.32 rating on whoscored.com. 22-year-old Isaac Hayden (Isn’t he the guy who sang Chocolate salty balls? – ED.) has also put in some fine defensive work and received a 7.28 rating.

Bookies Odds

500/1 are the odds on Newcastle on becoming the first club since Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in 1977 to win promotion and then the big prize the following year.

You can get 7/2 for them to be relegated, that sounds a bit harsh to me, I personally think they will be ok.

First Four Fixtures: Tough opening fixture at home to Tottenham on the 13th August. Then matches with Huddersfield, West Ham and Swansea: I expect Newcastle to have 4 points after 4 games.

Brighton: The Championship title was in Brighton’s hands for the last 3 weeks of the season but costly defeats meant they missed out on the prestige of the title. I doubt they will be that bothered once the season starts and they take on the might of the big boys. Eagle Eyed readers will have noticed that I used a picture of Middlesborough rather than Brighton on the page, Middlesborough should serve as a warning to the newly promoted clubs. In the last 13 years, they have yo-yo’d, so a team needs to look for stability rather than competing for the top, top players.

Key Players: Two Brighton players made the Championship best team, created by stats from whoscored.com. Defender Dunk scored 7.6 so did Brighton midfielder Knockaert. The goal threat game from Murray who hit 23 goals but at 33, can he do it again at the higher level? He does have Premier League experience with Crystal Palace (9 (8) games, 7 goals) and Bournemouth (6 (13) games, 3 goals).

Bookies Odds

The bookies have Brighton as the “middle of the road” choice of the promoted clubs.

First Four Fixtures: Brighton have a mixed bag on fixtures but start with a toughie! They face Manchester City on Saturday 12th August then travel to Leicester. It does ease of a bit (maybe) with a visit to Watford and home to West Brom. An outside bet would be the Top Newcomer bet at 5/2. However, I have an issue with letting the bookie take my money all season.

Huddersfield: Huddersfield won the most lucrative game in world football when they beat Reading on penalties back in May. With a line-up that cost a reported total of £12 million, manager David Wagner has achieved the impossible. Survival would be another successful chapter for Huddersfield. Huddersfield have won the top-flight league title on three occasions, back-back winners in 1923,24 and the 1925-26 season. It is worth noting that Huddersfield are the “comeback kings”, remember this for in-play betting next season!

Key Players:

Huddersfield don’t have the prolific goal scorer that the other two promoted clubs have. Their top scorer Elias Kachunga only hit the net on 12 occasions in 44 games. So, this will be a major concern with the better defences of the top flight.

Defensively they are better with Christopher Schindler (isn’t that the old guy with a list? – ED) showing competence in the back line with a team high rating of 7.12. The midfield in general is Huddersfield’s strong point, unspectacular but effective.

One player who Huddersfield will hope will have a major impact is Tom Ince, son of ex-England player, Paul Ince. Ince scored 38 goals at his time at Derby and will hopefully bring some power up front.

Bookies Odds

No surprises that the bookies expect Huddersfield’s stay in the top flight to be a short one. However, there are plenty of other clubs that are likely to be involved in the dogfight at the bottom, clubs such as Watford, Burnley, Swansea and Crystal Palace will give fans of Huddersfield hope.

First Four Fixtures: Huddersfield I would argue have the easiest fixtures of the newly promoted clubs, or at least they have destiny in their own hands more. Crystal Palace is first up before a nasty encounter at home to fellow newcomers Newcastle. Southampton and West Ham is the opponents after that. We should get a good idea after those four games.