The world’s most famous domestic football league is back for another season and we could be set for the most competitive season in Premier League history.
In 2022/23, some of the most exciting young talents in football are set to make their debut on the biggest stage, with Erling Haaland and Darwin Núñez headlining the fresh crop of summer signings.
With a World Cup set to pause the Premier League over the holiday season, we could have plenty of surprises as the players begin to return to club action.
Last season’s champions Manchester City retooled their squad over the summer and will enter Matchday One as the heavy favourites to complete a historic three-peat.
City will have an obvious title challenger in Liverpool who have similarly been one of the more active club’s in the transfer window, as Jurgen Klopp looks to make it a third-time lucky.
There’ll be plenty more to play for in the remaining Champions League spots, with Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United all expected to finish off the season in the top four.
Can anyone challenge City? Who will miss out on Europe? Are there any potential Leicester City miracle outcomes? Let’s separate the pretenders from the contenders in our Major Guide.
The Contenders
Manchester City
City enter the 2022/23 season as the firm favourites to claim their fifth title in six years. Pep Guardiola has made some adjustments to his team over the summer break, notably securing Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips for a combined fee of £96 million GBP ($163 million AUD).
Often criticised for their overspending, City have recorded a neat profit after moving Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal, whilst allowing Raheem Sterling to join Chelsea. The outgoing transfers for City showed to everyone in the league that they don’t consider the two London-based sides as threats to their championship hopes. Although Haaland is unproven at the highest level of domestic football, in this current City setup he is destined to become one of the league’s great poachers. The blue-side of Manchester may yet again be lifting the Premier League title come season’s end, even if the new signings don’t work out.
Liverpool
The boys from Merseyside are back with a new-look attacking line eager to catapult themselves back on top of the table. Liverpool’s long serving front-three declined last season and left Jurgen Klopp with no other option but to add some fresh faces to the mix. After allowing Sadio Mane, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino to all leave the club, Liverpool brought in arguably the hottest property on the transfer market, Uruguayan striker Darwin Núñez from Benfica. Alongside the league’s equal-top scorer in Mohammed Salah, the 23-year-old could form the deadliest striking duo in the world.
With reports the Reds are finished on the transfer-front, Klopp now has the task of trying to take down City and potentially complete the much coveted treble that has eluded the club since 1983.
Expecting Champions League
Chelsea
Chelsea have had one of the more interesting transfer windows out of all of the top clubs and they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. The Blues had their playing stocks depleted, especially in defence with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen both leaving for either side of the ‘El Classico’ derby. The arrival of Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, and the return of Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja from loan has given the Chelsea faithful plenty of reasons to feel confident this year, but one major question still remains – who will Thomas Tuchel play at striker?
With Romelu Lukaku back in Milan and Timo Werner on the brink of departure, it looks like the responsibility of a number nine will fall onto Kai Havertz. Tuchel looks set for a massive end to the transfer window as he prepares to attempt to return Chelsea to the promiseland.
Tottenham
The Antonio Conte revolution is in full-swing in Tottenham, with six major signings capping off a successful transfer window. Amongst the notable signings are Jed Spence, Ivan Persisic, Richarlison, Yves Bissouma and Clement Lenglet. Importantly for Spurs they’ve strengthened positions in which they have struggled in seasons gone past and have lost little to no players. Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min return looking to somehow eclipse their combined 40 goals from last season.
Conte’s impact on the team on and off the field has been evidently growing and has returned them to the Champions League for the first time since 2019. It is yet to be seen whether Spence, Richarlson and Bissouma are cut out for a big club with ambitions to go far in Europe, but the rest of this squad looks set for an even bigger season.
Arsenal
The Gunners are one of the more interesting sides of the ‘big-six’ as they enter the new season after raiding Manchester City for Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus.
After losing their striking duo over the last six months, Mikel Arteta has given the squad a youthful overhaul that looks ready to compete for a top-four spot. Arteta now looks more comfortable as the manager and his presence at the club has been a much-welcomed breath of fresh air for Arsenal fans worldwide. The Gunners will be disappointed with anything below a top-four finish, but as they have done in recent years, another successful domestic cup run could satisfy the needs of owner Stan Kroenke
Manchester United
It’s the beginning of a new-era for the Red Devils, with Erik ten Hag looking to implement his successful style of football on what has been an incredibly underwhelming United squad. The dutch-man wasted little time getting the ‘band back together’ at United, signing fellow country-men Tyrell Malacia and his former defender at Ajax, Lisandro Martinez. The United board went through a massive clean out in the summer and have shown a lot of faith in the Carrington youth players to step-up and fill in for the experienced players that have departed. United’s chances of a top-four finish will heavily depend on if Cristiano Ronaldo stays committed to the project at Old Trafford and if ten Hag can lure Frenkie de Jong away from Barcelona. If the two transfer sagas can work out in favour of the Red Devils, it should signal a return to the top-four.
The ‘Leicester City Miracle’ Hopefuls
Newcastle
With an influx of cash into Newcastle United, they look set for a massive leap into the top-half of the Premier League table. Newcastle didn’t go out and sign Kylian Mbappe like most people thought, but surprisingly they spent their new found money in a sensible fashion, with three quality players costing them £58 million GBP ($101 million AUD).
Eddie Howe came close to manager of the year last year and will be a name to keep an eye on in this award race. St James Park will be buzzing this year with the hopes of a European place finish that would cement the Geordies’ amongst the elite in the continent.
West Ham
The Hammers were everyone’s second team last year (except if you’re a Millwall fan), as they reached the heights of a European semi-final and finished back in the final European place. West Ham’s most important piece of business was hanging onto Declan Rice and Jarryd Bowen, who were both tipped with moves away from the London Stadium. David Moyes secured the signature of Italian international Gianluca Scamacca, who will give Michail Antonio some much-needed competition in attack.
The Irons will be in Europe for the second-consecutive season and it is yet to be seen whether the staggering amount of games scheduled for this upcoming season will take its effect on a squad full of players hopeful of making the trip to Qatar.
