Photo: Juan Mata,Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young will play a big part in helping Manchester United secure silverware this season. (Getty Images)
After two and half months break from arguably the best league in the world, fans eagerly anticipate the kick off on Saturday 8th of August. The Barclays Premier League laid the platform for all other leagues to follow, for generating both the most wealth and the most excitement around the world. More people watch it than any other league in the world. On average, each Premier League game has a global audience of 12.3 million people, which far outstrips La Liga, the Bundesliga and Serie A.
This season promises to increase the entertainment value based on the huge amount of money spent across the 20 participating teams. One of the most decorated clubs in the history of the Premiership, Manchester United, has dished out another $100 million in transfer fees over the summer (to go with their $200 million last year and $90 million the year before) to get the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Bastian Schwinestiger, Memphis Depay and Matteo Darmian.
Though they are in a rebuilding process following the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, much is still expected of them. Manchester United went three seasons without winning the EPL since it was renamed in 1992 and they also went two season back to back without a major trophy for the first time in the last 26 years. Lat season, Manchester United managed to accumulate 13 points from their first 10 league games – the lowest 10-game tally since 1986 when Ron Atkinson was sacked after picking up only eight points. Louis Van Gaal’s tally is actually four less than that at the same stage last season, when predecessor David Moyes was in charge, before being sacked in April.
All this is expected to change as Manchester United seeks to get their 2015/16 campaign off on a good note when they take on Tottenham Hotspurs who finished 5th last season. They too went shopping in an effort to beef up their squad. They signed Toby Alderweireld from Atletico Madrid, however, overall the talent gap between the two teams remains far and wide wide.
The two teams were separated by just six points by the end of the last campaign as Manchester United edged the London club for the final Champions League spot. Manchester United defeated Tottenham 3-0 in March, which was described as one of their best performances of the season by many. The head to head clashes between the two teams over the last 14 years has produced some unfavorable results from a Spurs perspective. In the last 31 matches Tottenham have won just 2 games. Manchester United dubbed as the “come back Kings” lived up to their name after being down 3-0 at the half and came back to beat Tottenham 5-3 at White Hart Lane.
If Manchester United is to go one better on their impressive record against the Spurs the new boys and some of the relatively new boys will have to prove they are worth every penny spent on them. Luke Shaw has been praised for his performances in pre-Season by Van Gaal, who stated that 2015-16 “Shall be the season of Luke Shaw”. His powerful performances down the left hand side for United have been a feature of their recent friendlies and shows that he is going some way to paying back the £31million that was spent on him.
The former Bayern Munich stalwart Bastian Schweinsteiger will want to prove that Pep Guardiola was wrong to let him go to the Red Devils after starting only 15 of Bayern’s 34 Bundesliga games last season. His metronomic passing and leadership qualities could help Louis van Gaal find a balance between energetic young talent and experienced old heads.
On the other hand Harry Kane became the first Tottenham player to score 30-plus goals in all competitions in a single season since Gary Lineker in 1991-92. Robbie Fowler and Chris Sutton are the only players to reach 20 goals at a younger age than Kane. Kane’s prolific goal scoring prowess led to him finding the net 21 times last term, which saved Tottenham’s season and helped them qualify for the Europa League. The last three meetings saw both teams getting a win each and a draw.
This season opener is expected to be a close one as both teams look to get out the traps quickly.
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