The 2018/19 Premier League season gets started on Friday evening, but what’s new to look forward to once the action beings?
The new campaign kicks off with a clash between Man United and Leicester City at Old Trafford – the first of 380 matches over the next nine months.
Liverpool open their account with a home clash against West Ham on Sunday afternoon, with the Reds tipped to push favourites Man City all the way in the title battle.
Every year, numerous changes are made in the Premier League, whether it be related to personnel, rules or many other initiatives.
Here’s what’s new ahead of the upcoming season.
3 New Teams
Rarely has there been such hype surrounding newly-promoted clubs, certainly in the case of Wolves and Fulham.
Fellow newcomers Cardiff City may not bring a lot to the party under Neil Warnock, but the other two have spent big this summer and play an attacking brand of football.
Whether it be Wolves‘ Portuguese-heavy group of players or Fulham‘s plethora of new arrivals, from Jean Michael Seri to Andre Schurrle, watching them is going to be a lot of fun.
From a Liverpool perspective, it will be interesting to see how former youth team product Conor Coady fares at the top level, with the 25-year-old captaining Wolves.
Loads of New Signings
It hasn’t been the busiest of summers from the top clubs as a collective, but Liverpool have outperformed their rivals comfortably in the transfer market.
Alisson, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri are huge signings who can inspire the Reds to a title challenge.
Elsewhere, Riyad Mahrez will only enhance City’s squad depth, Jorginho will be an excellent purchase for Chelsea and Arsenal should be strengthened by the likes of Bernd Leno, Sokratis and Lucas Torreira.
Everton went mad on deadline day, in particular, signing Bernard, Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes, while Wolves and Fulham‘s spending has been well-documented.
West Ham are another team to watch, with Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko and Issa Diop making them strong contenders to finish seventh.
There are good new players to watch galore – more so further down the table, interestingly.
7 New Managers
Nuno Espirito Santo and Slavisa Jokanovic masterminded Wolves and Fulham‘s respective promotions to the Premier League – they will now get the chance to prove their talent in the top flight.
Warnock, meanwhile, is back to show that he can cut it in the Premier League, despite often failing to thrive as much as in the Championship.
Arsene Wenger’s exit brought an end to 22 years at Arsenal, with Unai Emery the man tasked with taking the club forward.
The former Sevilla boss has undoubted pedigree, but how tough will he find filling a void left by such a giant figure at the Emirates?
Maurizio Sarri begins life as Chelsea manager, with the Italian set to adopt a creative playing style not often seen at Stamford Bridge this century.
There is also change at Everton, with the dour Sam Allardyce era over, unfortunately, and the impressive Marco Silva now in charge.
Manuel Pellegrini takes the reins at West Ham.
1 New Stadium
While 19 of the current Premier League clubs starting the new season in well-known surroundings, it is all change for Tottenham.
The north Londoners may have had a bizarre transfer window, signing nobody during the summer, but they have a new home to look forward.
Having played at Wembley last season – they face Fulham there on August 18 while work is completed on the new ground – they start life in the cleverly-named Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 15, against none other than Liverpool.
Wouldn’t it be great to spoil the party?
New Ball
It doesn’t matter how old you are, the announcement of the new Premier League ball will always bring an element of excitement.
The Nike Merlin has been called the “most advanced yet” and while balls used to have 32 panels, this one has only four, which is a world-first.
Absolutely fascinating!
New Rules
The Premier League have confirmed that, “a totting-up system similar to player cautions has been introduced this season for breaches of discipline during matches by managers or other members of team staff in the technical area.”
Although yellow and red cards won’t be issued, managers will be told of their misdemeanour immediately, with retrospective bans eventually coming their way.
Sanctions will be inflicted after four, eight, 12 and 16 warnings.
Booking and red cards to players will now only be competition specific, meaning a sending off in the FA Cup will not see them banned for a Premier League game, for example.
2 New Refs
Where better to finish than getting you accustomed to the new referees that we can blame bad results on?
There are only two new faces added to the league – Simon Hooper and David Coote. You can picture them before you even see them!
The duo have refereed Premier League games before, but they are now officially promoted to being regulars.
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