The Return of the League
Daniel Wise
There is one certainty that I can always depend on in the month of August and that is the return of the English Premier League along with all the other leagues over in Europe. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not all about the big European clubs, I try to follow soccer around the globe. What this time means is that my intake of soccer grows about five-fold, and my weekend mornings are pretty much set in stone. I was a kid who really lived for those Saturday morning cartoons, and now as a 33-year old kid, I’m all about the Saturday morning soccer. So with the start of the Premier League coming up in a week, I wanted to write a quick primer to get my readers started. If this is your first time immersing yourself in the Premier League, this will help you get up-to-speed on what happened last season and how things are looking for the 20 clubs that comprise the 2019-2020 English Premier League.
The Basics of League Structure
The talk of the soccer world is about to blow up. Here’s what you need to know to stay on top of it.
In soccer, there are no conferences to divide the standings. Every team is situated into one group called a league table, and the table consists of 20 teams who are all vying for the championship. There’s no playoff at the end of the season, because the season itself determines the champion. Wins and losses matter, but what matters most is the number of points teams can accrue from wins and ties. A win counts for three points on the season and a tie counts as one point. Teams that lose gain no points for those games. That’s why there is a distinction between points and goals. Teams score goals to win games, and gain points for wins and ties, which affects their standing on the league table.
Every team wants to win the championship at the end of the season, but there are incentives for finishing in the top five places. The top four teams will gain entry into a European tournament called The Champions League while the fifth-place team enters a similar tournament called The Europa League. On the opposite end, the bottom three teams will face what’s called relegation. At the end of the season, the bottom three teams will be relegated to a lower league called the English Football League Championship. That lower league will send their top three teams determined via standings and a playoff to the Premier League.
Most teams in the Premier League play for survival as the top spots are usually inhabited by the usual suspects—those being the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Arsenal. Every so often, an anomaly happens and a mid-table team will pull off a miracle like the one Leicester City did in 2016 when they one the championship. Despite the predictable nature of those top teams, the league proves every year that any team can be competitive and even the giants are susceptible to losing against lower teams on the table.
Three Things to Know
Manchester City FC pulled off a successful defense of their previous championship season. Led by the attacking prowess of Sergio Aguero, the Sky Blues tore through the contenders and pretenders like they were that 3 AM bag of shredded cheese in the refrigerator. It was all due to the mastermind tactics of their head manager Pep Guardiola. Now, it wasn’t easy for them because they had to contend with an equally competitive Liverpool FC. Liverpool had its own stacked roster of world-class players and the leadership of Jurgen Klopp at the helm. The big story for them was whether or not their star striker Mohamed Salah could repeat his record-breaking scoring excellence from the year prior. Ultimately, Manchester City claimed the title on the final day of the season by edging out Liverpool on points.
The drama will be thick this season.
Manchester United and Chelsea FC had some coaching quandaries to deal with throughout last season. Manchester United started with the mercurial Jose Mourinho, a famous Portuguese coach who made a name for himself by winning championships with Real Madrid in Spain’s La Liga, and Chelsea FC in the Premier League. Manchester United had wanted that pedigree to rub off on them, but their campaigns were fruitless in regards to winning the top league championship. After a disastrous start to their 2018 season, Manchester United sacked Mourinho and promoted former club star player Ole Gunnar Solskjær to the head manager role on an interim basis. Ole was able to work his magic and recovered Manchester United’s season to such a degree that the club extended a full contract to him for several more years. On the other hand, Chelsea FC had troubles of their own with the brilliant if enigmatic Maurizio Sarri. The Italian had a hard time wrangling together a team of superstars with personalities to match. Eventually he parted ways with the club and Chelsea hired former club player and legend Frank Lampard to take the reins. Will his pedigree prove fruitful for the London-based club? We will have to see.
Three teams were promoted from the English Football Championship, and those teams are Aston Villa, Norwich City, and Sheffield United. Aston Villa and Norwich City were two teams that have bounced back and forth between the EFL Championship and the Premier League, but this is Sheffield United’s first time back to top-flight soccer since 2007. It’s always hard to predict how the promoted teams will do in the Premier League. It’s a hyper-competitive atmosphere where big money wins and anything less than the best can cut it for multiple seasons. This is where million-dollar clubs compete against the billion-dollar clubs, but you never know what can happen. If your keen to root for an underdog, these three would be great picks for your support. If they’re good enough to stay up in the league, you can take a special sense of pride in that you made a solid pick.
How to Watch and Follow the Premier League
You can’t really appreciate a sport if you don’t invest time into watching and understanding it. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, it was hard to really get into the sport as an American. It’s taken some time, but an exclusive broadcasting deal and a major investment by NBC Sports Network has helped grow the sport in the states. With a robust morning broadcast called Premier League Mornings, and a weekly roundup show called Men in Blazers, its easier than ever to stay on top of what’s happening in the league. It’s simple to follow because the game days are consistent. Prime-time game-days take place on Saturday and Sunday Mornings, while mid-week games will happen on Mondays and Wednesdays from time-to-time. Your best bet to get into the game is to keep it to your weekend mornings and then expand your viewership as you become more familiar with the teams and story lines. You can view the Premier League TV schedule here. As for staying on top of what’s happening on a daily basis, my go-to are mobile apps. The premier league has an official app for Android and iOS.
Helpful Links to Bookmark
English Premier League Website | Premier League News | Men in Blazers | Premier League Table
I hope this is the year that you’ll take time to really delve into the sport of soccer. America’s Women’s National Team just came off a rousing World Cup victory, so the interest is hot and the viewership growing steadily. When it comes to picking a team, you can pick the biggest teams or the fledgling ones. You can pick them simply by name like I did, or maybe follow a team if you visited its city on a vacation or a study abroad opportunity. What’s important is that you jut watch and follow the ups and downs that the teams will face throughout the year. Thank you so much for reading. As always, be well and watch more soccer.