13th August, 2021
The Premier League returns on Friday with Arsenal set to face London rivals Brentford at the Community Stadium.
One major characteristic of the English Premier League is that the league remains highly unpredictable. Top teams crash to middle and small teams when least expected.
The situation remains the same as buildup into Saturday fixtures continues. Results are highly unpredictable for all teams.
Saturday Fixtures
Manchester United ? – ? Leeds United
Burnley ? – ? Brighton & Hove Albion
Chelsea ? – ? Crystal Palace
Everton ? – ? Southampton
Leicester City ? – ? Wolverhampton Wanderers
Watford ? – ? Aston Villa
Norwich City ? – ? Liverpool
Fans expectation
Notably, fans would predict a win for Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Leicester City. However, the case remains dicey for all the top teams.
For Manchester United, it’s going to be a derby match with neighbors Leeds and from the performance of Marcelo Bielsa’s men last season, they sprung surprises.
Leeds United finished number 9 last season, only two points behind Arsenal. The club in their opening game last season against Liverpool gave the reds a tough fight until they prevailed 4-3 in the opening game, a result nobody saw coming.
Also, Leeds were one of the few team’s eventual champions Manchester City did not defeat in the last campaign. Leeds defeated City 2-1 in their second game of the season and the first leg ended 1-1.
Manchester United, however, are in a position to put up a show as new signing Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho would be looking to get their debuts in their opening match. The reds devils have the upper hand no doubt being the better team in the match.
United also had it easy with Leeds last season defeating them in both meetings. 6-2 and 4-0 respectively.
Chelsea are also playing a London derby match against neighbors, Crystal Palace. During their best forms, Chelsea always fall to Crystal Palace.
Palace finished 14th last season and would be looking to a bright start under new coach, Patrick Vieira.
For Liverpool, they endured a disappointing campaign last season despite finishing 3rd. At some point, it appeared the reds would miss out on Champions League football to Leicester and Chelsea until they turned the tide during the concluding part of the season.
Much cannot be said about their game against Norwich as the hosts just gained promotion back to the Premier League after relegating in 2019/2020.
During Norwich’s last campaign, the newly-promoted side were a tough team to face especially at the beginning of the season. The duo of Todd Cantwell and Teemu Pukki are going to be one to watch.
Liverpool, however, are coming prepared with central defender, Virgil Van Dijk fit and other players in the team ready to begin another incredible campaign similar to when they were crowned champions.
Lastly, Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers is one game fans wait to see who eventually prevails. Both Leicester and Wolves pass for a top team as both have consistently been performing at top level over the past seasons.
However, Nuno Espirito Santo, who brought Wolves to the Premier League and turned them into a dominant side in the league left the club and signed for Tottenham. Wolves performance under their new coach, Bruno Lage is one every fan would begin to judge from their opening clash against Leicester.
Fans return to stadium
Spectators are going to return this weekend for the 2021-22 campaign and clubs are preparing for the return of capacity crowds for the first time since March 2020.
There would be no social distancing measures in place in the stands, however, uncertainties around if ‘vaccine passports’ will be introduced from October 2021 persists.
The Premier League revealed new matchday protocols for the 2021-22 season, stating fans “must be prepared to prove” they are fully vaccinated or have had a negative Covid-19 test in the previous 48 hours.
Spectators’ presence in matches cannot be underplayed especially after they have been absent from the game since 2020. Their presence would no doubt bring life, tension and more action into the new season to kick-start in few hours.