The door on the 2022/23 Premier League season has only just closed, however, in less than a month, a new dawn will be on the horizon. Manchester City will enter the season as the reigning champions, just as they have done in five of the previous six campaigns. However this year, they do so as the newly minted treble winners, just the second time an English club has completed such a feat.
Back on June 10th, Pep Guardiola’s unstoppable winning machine brought the UEFA Champions League to the Etihad Stadium for the first time in the club’s history. It was the trophy that the club’s Abu Dhabi owners wanted when they purchased the club back in the summer of 2008 and 15 years later – after numerous heartbreaks and embarrassment – they finally got their wish. Add to that the Premier League title which they successfully claimed by negating the challenge of an upstart Arsenal team, as well as the FA Cup which they won by defeating cross-city rivals Manchester United at Wembley, and there you have it, treble winners.
Online betting sites in Canada have made them the overwhelming 1.74 favorites for the title once again next year but they won’t be short of challengers. The aforementioned Gunners have once again strengthened heavily, bringing in Chelsea’s Champions League winner Kai Havertz for £65m as well as West Ham United captain Declan Rice for a whopping £105m. Erik Ten Hag’s United are also recruiting well, bringing in Mason Mount from Chelsea and further additions are to be expected.
But the Premier League is considered as the best and most competitive league in the world for a number of reasons. One of those is the fact that any team can beat another on any given day. Three teams that will be hoping for a number of unexpected victories next term are the division’s newly promoted sides, and here is how we expect them to fair next season.
Burnley
Last year, Burnley solidified their status as perhaps the greatest team that the Championship had ever seen. Under the stewardship of Vincent Kompany, the Clarets racked up a whopping 101 points last season, and they did so playing a brand of football that Turf Moor had never before seen. The former Manchester City captain who now is their manager clearly learned from his time playing under Pep Guardiola, and he has implemented a possession-based style of play that is both easy on the eye and yields results.
Next season, the Lancastrians can be expected to have a similarly impressive campaign. In the likes of Josh Brownhill, Josh Cullen, Anass Zaroury, and Lyle Foster, they already have players of Premier League calibre in their squad. Add to that additions in the ilk of German centre-half Jordan Beyer who recently arrived from Borussia Mönchengladbach, and the future is certainly bright at Turf Moor. We expect them to certainly avoid relegation, and perhaps even push for a top-half finish.
Sheffield United
Another team that impressed last term were former Premier League outfit Sheffield United. The Blades had an impressive campaign in the English top flight back in the 2019/20 season, and only the campaigns postponement and the playing of matches behind closed doors robbed them of securing European qualification. The following campaign with more games played without their loyal Bramall Lane faithful powering them to glory, the South Yorkshire outfit suffered an embarrassing relegation.
They took a season to rebuild in the Championship but last term, they came back stronger than ever. Admittedly they were never much of a threat to Burnley’s assault on the league title, however, they still finished on 91 points, some 11 clear of third-placed Middlesbrough. And with players such as Bosnian defender Anel Ahmedhodžić, Norwegian midfielder Sander Berge and Senegalese striker Iliman Ndiaye, the club are ready for the next Premier League tilt.
As with Burnley before them, we don’t expect the Blades to struggle next term, and avoiding relegation should be the bare minimum. If they can build up a run of form similar to that of three years ago, perhaps a top-half finish could be achieved.
Luton Town
Finally, we make our way to the real-life Cinderella story of Luton Town. Nine years ago, the Hatters were loitering in the fifth tier of English football, the National League, which isn’t even considered the Football League. Five years ago, they were in the EFL’s basement division, League Two. However, back in May, they completed the most heroic of achievements when they defeated Coventry City on penalties to secure promotion to the Premier League.
Town will have bigger hurdles to face than those faced by Burnley and Sheffield United. Despite reaching the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, they are hardly primed and ready for their shot at the big time. Their first signing of the summer has been the free transfer of Republic of Ireland international Chiedozie Ogbene from Rotherham United.
Similar shrewd acquisitions are to be expected throughout the summer, and the Hatters will have to be more frugal in the transfer market than their counterparts. They will have their work cut out to avoid the drop this term, but last season all three promoted sides avoided the drop, and Luton will take hope from that as they embark on the upcoming campaign.
