Manchester City: Previewing the 2019-20 Premier League

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Newly Promoted Sides: Aston Villa, Norwich City, and Sheffield United.

All three newly promoted sides will likely find themselves in a scrap to stay up this coming season.

The talent gap between the Premier League and the EFL Championship has become much, much greater over the past several years. Because of the influx of TV Money that the Premier League’s contract brings in to each team, those who survive in the Premier League have a growing financial advantage over everyone else. That allows them to buy and retain some of the best talent in the world, making the talent difference between their sides, and the newly promoted ones, gigantic.

Survival is still possible for the most well-managed and talented teams. Occasionally, as we saw Wolverhampton Wanderers last season, a newly-promoted team can reach a high level of success. It’s just becoming much harder to do that.

Aston Villa

Out of the newly promoted teams, the one with the best chance of avoiding the drop this season is Aston Villa.

Villa had a solid roster of talent to build from before the summer began. James Chester has been a respectable player in the center of defense for them. They also had two of the better attacking options in the Championship last season in forward Jonathan Kodija, and attacking-midfielder Jack Grealish, the latter being one the best young talents in England.

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A lot of money was spent to improve the roster as well. Villa brought in former Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton, to compete for the top keeper spot. They bought one of the better center-backs outside of the top-six last season in Tyrone Mings, as well as promising young central defender Ezri Konsa from Brentford, and left-back Matt Targett from Southampton.

Villa also brought in Brazilian forward Wesley, former Manchester City defensive midfielder, Douglas Luis, and defensive midfielder Marvelous Nakamba from Club Brugge . All are very promising talents as well.

The talent is there for Villa to be good. Their keeper spot is competitive with three good options. Their back line has Premier League quality talent in at least three of the four spots. Their midfield should be decent as well, especially with Grealish pulling the strings. The greatest question mark surrounding this team is how efficient their forwards and wingers will be in front of goal.

Whether they avoid the drop will depend on just how quickly their new signings acclimate to their new team. As we saw with Fulham last season, spending a ton of money doesn’t guarantee your survival. However, Villa have put themselves in the best position to stay up. They have the talent and resources to do it.

Norwich City

Norwich City may be the best managed side of the newly promoted teams, but they will be facing a massive uphill climb to avoid the drop this season.

Norwich spent the second least amount of money of any EPL side in the summer window. Their big acquisitions were loans for goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann, Manchester City midfielder/winger Patrick Roberts, midfielder Ibrahim Amadou from Sevilla, and a free transfer for forward Josip Drmic. They did spend marginal money on right-back Sam Byram, and landed one of the more exciting young talents from the lower divisions of England in 17 year old attacking midfielder, David Adshead. However, it’s not particularly clear that either will be an immediate impact talent.

Beyond their buys, Norwich does have a few noteworthy talents. Young fullbacks Jamal Lewis, and Max Aarons, both have the potential to become Premier League quality players. They also have solid veterans like Mario Vranic and Alexander Tetty in midfield.

The talent in this team, though, is much further behind almost every other EPL team. Their forward line, in particular, may be the weakest in the league. The center of their defense also lacks established talent. They could be hammered, especially by the top sides.

If they stay up, it will be because of their manager, Daniel Farke. Even if you lack talent, a team that has a clear footballing philosophy, and is tactically sound can survive. That is clearly their best strength as they head into the season.

Sheffield United

Sheffield United will also find themselves in a massive struggle to stay up.

They did do reasonably well in the summer window, bringing in forwards Oliver McBurnie and Lys Mousset, as well as solid Championship players in attacking midfielder Luke Freeman, and winger/midfielder Callum Robinson.

What will put Sheffield United in the most danger, though, is their lack of creative talent. The center of their midfield may be the weakest of any side in the Premier League. Even if they have two decent forwards who can finish chances, they may not be scoring much because they don’t have obvious talents that can create chances on a consistent basis, both there or from out wide.

Their defense may also be an issue too. Though their tactics set their defense up well (they conceded only 41 goals in 46 last season, tied for best in the Championship) the talent in their back-line is not stellar. Things could unravel rather quickly if their tactics fail to cover for this.

If they stay up, it will be by grinding out results in low-scoring games on a consistent basis. Fighting to do that will be a massive challenge for them this season.