17.09.2021 - The Premier League is the most watched football league in the world. It is broadcast in 212 territories to an immense 643 million homes, and has a potential TV audience of a staggering 4.7 billion people. That’s a lot of football fans. Now that the 2021/22 Premier League season has kicked off in England, it’s an understatement to say that most of these fans are ecstatic about their team’s chance to make this season truly one to remember.
In fact, if you head over to Sporf, you can see which teams’ fans are more optimistic than others.
Whether their team are looking to challenge for the title, battle to make the top-four, snag a Europa League place, or even stave off relegation, there will be many twists and turns that will delight and enrage them along the way. After all, that’s one of the main things that makes the Premier League so popular; its intense competitiveness.
One of the main things that fans wish their team would do though, is to play entertaining football. Nothing gets a fan more excited than a beautifully crafted goal; one where the passing is slick and adventurous. It’s incredibly hard to achieve though, especially on a consistent level, and it takes a manager that is willing to be expansive and brave, as well as obviously having the players available to execute it. Yet, when it works, it is a sight to behold.
Here, then, is a quick look at some of the most thrilling teams to watch this Premier League season.
Manchester City
Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has prided himself on getting his teams to play possession-based football, that has his players passing the other side into mere irrelevance. Think back to his days at Barcelona between 2009-2012, where his midfield of Xavi and Iniesta would take such good care of the ball, that it must’ve been related to them. Passing it round in pretty triangles that had their opponents tiring from the first whistle. It won Barcelona a lot of trophies, and had many people fawning over it, but also, it had a lot of detractors who labelled the style as boring.
Now in his sixth season at Manchester City, Guardiola has already cemented himself as one of the top three managers of the Premier League era, as you can read about here at Online Sport Managers. In that time, he has seemingly fine-tuned his possession-based style to be much more incisive.
Instead of, relentlessly, passing the ball around the midfield, his City side will now rapidly cut through the opposition in a clinical and devastating way. It now takes The Citizens a blink of an eye to have the ball in the back of their opponents’ net. It’s no wonder that now they’ve added Jack Grealish to their already stacked squad, the team are favourites for the league title, and even one of the favourites for the Champions League trophy.
West Ham
What a year West Ham have had. Their fans came into the 19/20 season fearing the absolute worst for the club. David Moyes had just been appointed their manager again (after a rather disastrous term the first-time round) and no one expected them to do anything other than struggle and most probably be relegated. What actually happened? Moyes not only buoyed the club, but had them finishing all the way up in fifth, narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification. Their fans were quite rightly, over the moon.
What was equally impressive, was that The Hammers looked great whilst getting the results. Their play was quick, they counter-attacked magically as a team, and they defended resolutely when they needed to. Not surprisingly then, pundits are now predicting big things for West Ham this season. Moyes seems to be going from strength to strength and doesn’t seem at all fazed by the extra attention. Add to that, the fact that their striker Michail Antonio has started with a bang, already scoring four goals, and it looks like being another fantastic season at the London Stadium.
West Ham have been getting stuff done off the pitch as well, as they have a huge sponsorship deal with Betway, the biggest in their history. The sponsorship reflects how many lovers of betting enjoy watching football. If you’re one of the many, then websites such as Asiabet are here to make your life easier. They bring the best sports betting sites on offer, and list them for you to choose your favourite. You’ll also be able to find lots of cash-back betting deals, which are perfect for betting on the footy.
Brighton
Graham Potter took over as manager of Brighton in 2019 from Chris Hughton. Hughton had worked absolute wonders to get Brighton promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history in 2017, and even kept them up the next season. However, by the second season, the club seemed to be stagnating under Hughton, and the owners decided that it was time to part ways.
When Potter was then brought in, fans at the Amex Stadium were upset that Hughton had been given his marching orders, after everything he’d done for the club. Yet, they were also enthusiastic to see what Potter could bring, as he was renowned for being a more attacking coach.
Last season was a relative success, in that The Seagulls managed to stay up, finishing fifteenth, and they did play some scintillating stuff. However, they just didn’t finish off enough chances to take themselves further up the table. This season, though, Potter has had more time to work his magic on the side, and in their opening few games they were both enchanting and clinical. Plus, they’ve added even more quality with some good transfers, including Spaniard Marc Cucurella, which was reported on Eurosport.
