Five Talking Points In The New Premier League Season

Manchester City face a strong challenge from Arsenal as the champions look to win an unprecedented fifth successive Premier League title. Liverpool start a new era with Arne Slot replacing Jurgen Klopp, while Erik ten Hag is under pressure to deliver at Manchester United after narrowly avoiding the sack. Let's look at five things to watch out for when the new season gets underway on Friday:

Slot's big shoes to fill

Liverpool fell short of giving Jurgen Klopp a glorious goodbye as they stumbled down the final straight last season to finish third.

Arne Slot has the unenviable task of replacing the German, who restored the Reds to the top of English and European football, while also bringing his larger than life personality to Anfield.

The Dutchman will struggle to match the cult of Klopp, but the early signs are positive that he can continue to win on the field.

Liverpool have swept all before them in pre-season, beating Arsenal, Manchester United and Sevilla.

But they are yet to make a single signing in the transfer window.

Martin Zubimendi of Real Sociedad has been linked as a potential new anchor for the midfield.

Slot has spoken of the similarities between he and Klopp's style of play as one of the reasons he was poached from Feyenoord for the job.

And he will be hoping for a fast start to ease any fears over Klopp's departure with a kind run of fixtures in the early months of the season.

Arsenal's time?

Only once have Arsenal ever won more points in a Premier League campaign than the 89 they collected last season and it was still not enough to dethrone Manchester City.

Fuelled by that painful near miss, Mikel Arteta's men are the coming force in English football.

The Gunners have steadily improved over the past