For years, the Premier League was nothing but a two-team race between Manchester United and Arsenal. Chelsea and Manchester City spent their way into the running for the title, and Liverpool occasionally showed flashes of their long-departed glory years, but ultimately most Premier League seasons felt like a series of exhibition games designed to pad out the schedule beside the glittering confrontations between top clubs.
This year, the big teams may well dominate the standings again. But as the English season kicks off today, it's the clubs in the tier just below the top that are providing much of the excitement.
Take Crystal Palace, for example. Under manager Alan Pardew, who took over halfway through last season, Palace clinched a finish in the top half of the standings — and quickly became everybody's favorite team to watch, thanks to a commitment to an attacking, pass-first style. In the summer, Pardew brought in French international midfielder Yohan Cabaye to mastermind a further offensive leap forward in the hopes of more than just a top-10 finish. The Eagles can't be ignored, as Manchester City, Liverpool, and Tottenham know; all three powerhouses lost to Palace last spring.
Several other clubs have similar stories. Southampton manager Ronald Koeman overcame the preseason sale of perhaps the Saints' five best players to guide his team to seventh in the standings, and a berth in the UEFA Europa League. Swansea City, like Crystal Palace, has a reputation for playing an offense-first style that's easy to watch. Even Stoke City, who for many years employed a brutally physical style that bordered on vicious, has remade itself under manager Mark Hughes as an offense-minded club and has signed a number of former Barcelona youth players to go with its new direction.
None of these teams will challenge for the league title this season, at least not yet. Chelsea, last year's champion, is again the favorite, and both Manchester City and Manchester United have spent big to retool for challenges of their own. Arsenal signed goalkeeper Petr Cech from Chelsea to help shore up its defensive weakness, and is a trendy darkhorse title pick for some experts. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is under huge pressure to deliver after spending without realizing big results, while Tottenham is feeling comfortable with a familiar team in place — as well as 22-year-old phenom Harry Kane, who scored 31 goals for the Spurs last season.
Those six, though, will have to watch out for the teams below. The new breed of attack-minded, exciting teams are here.
Short takes
• Last week, the Los Angeles Galaxy ended up in the strange position of announcing another big-name signing, forward Giovanni Dos Santos, in the same week that starting goalkeeper Jaime Penedo abruptly quit the club over his contract. It was a stark reminder of the two-class system in MLS — big money for big names, little for the rest. With barely half a season gone in the first year of the five-year collective bargaining agreement, player discontent is growing, especially as the league continues to announce new sponsorships and TV deals from around the world. I'm not sure this labor situation ends well.
