The Premier League | 3rd round

The Expectations

The second round in the new season of The Premier League was really interesting and as always there were lots of surprising results. The teams have now started to show what are they really capable of. Of course, 2 rounds are not enough for us to tell you what is going to happen in The Premier League, but there are a few tendencies, which can be seen after the first 20 matches of the Premier League new season.

Firstly, Manchester United and Manchester City look strong enough to compete for the title. Both teams won their first two league matches. They have plenty of quality players in their squads. The managers of the teams are also born to be champions. The teams from Manchester were very active in the transfer window and signed some very talented footballers, which will guarantee them at least a place in the Top 4.

To continue with, it’s obvious that this season will be much more difficult for the champions Leicester City, who managed to improve their performance against Arsenal (0-0) after the defeat to Hull City on the opening day (1-2). Claudio Ranieri’s players will feel the real pressure, when their participation in The Champions League begins.

On the other hand, we can see that the team of Arsenal has problems. The Gunners couldn’t sign again the desired players. However, Wenger has a big squad, but the players he has, are not classy enough as a team, to fight for the title in The Premier League. So, the French manager must finally sign at least one of his transfer targets, to provide a real goal-scoring machine for the team.

Chelsea and Liverpool also seem to be strong teams this season and both can fight for a place in the Top 4. The Reds showed a brilliant performance against Arsenal in the first round, but then they lost to the newly promoted Burnley, showing the inconsistency we have used to see from them in the recent seasons. However, Chelsea look like a completely different team, from that we saw last season. The players are almost the same, but there is Antonio Conte in charge and the tactics are completely different. The players also seem to be more motivated and that’s why they won their first two league matches (2-1 against West Ham United and 2-1 against Watford).

As we saw, Hull City had a great start of the season. The Tigers recorded 2 victories in 2 games and collected 6 points. They will obviously fight to avoid relegation and these two victories are priceless to them. But, they will also have to sign fresh players, because their bench is way too short and after a few matches, the starting players will feel tired and their performance will drop.

The other teams, which will surely fight for their places in The Premier League are Burnley, the other newly promoted team, Sunderland (who always start the season with bad results), Bournemouth and maybe Watford. Both, The Cherries and The Hornets, had a good season last campaign, but now it will be even more difficult for them to keep their place in The Premier League. The third newly promoted team – Middlesbrough made a great selection, signing Fischer and Alvaro Negredo. The Boro have a really strong squad and won 4 points from their first 2 matches. So, I think Middlesbrough will be able to keep their place in the division.

The schedule of the 3rd round:

• Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool 27.08.2016 – 12:30
• Chelsea vs. Burnley 27.08.2016 – 15:00
• Crystal Palace vs. Bournemouth 27.08.2016 – 15:00
• Everton vs. Stoke City 27.08.2016 – 15:00
• Leicester City vs. Swansea City 27.08.2016 – 15:00
• Southampton vs. Sunderland 27.08.2016 – 15:00
• Watford vs. Arsenal 27.08.2016 – 15:00
• Hull City vs. Manchester United 27.08.2016 – 17:30
• West Bromwich Albion vs. Middlesbrough 28.08.2016 – 13:30
• Manchester City vs. West Ham United 28.08.2016 – 16:00

I have a lot of very good and talented players. I arrived in the dressing room after the match and I was happy about the victory, but then I became sad, because I arrived there and all the other guys were there in their nice Paul Smith suits but not with a track suit, not even playing, not even being on the bench. So, when I looked at Depay, Michel Carrick, Phil Jones, all these guys I didn’t select for the game, I felt I am desperate for September. Because in September we have Capital One Cup participation, we have Europa League matches, we have seven matches in September and they all will play in these games and I will be happy.Jose Mourinho