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2017-18 Premier League Thread

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
Recapping last season, Chelsea won the Championship by 7 points over Spurs. Man City and Liverpool wrapped up the top 4. At the other end of the table, Hull City and Middlesbrough were one and done teams while the clock finally struck midnight on Sunderland and they were relegated. After 1 year in the Championship, Newcastle were promoted back to the Premier League as champions. Brighton & Hove Albion finally broke through and claimed the other automatic promotion spot while Huddersfield Town won the playoff. Both Brighton and Huddersfield Town are making their Premier League debuts, with neither having been in the top flight for 30+ years.

NBC still has the rights to broadcast all games in the US but there is a twist. As discussed earlier this year, the overflow games will now be behind a pay wall, with NBC Sports Gold available for $49.99. They'll have 130 matches on the Gold package, which leaves 250 on linear channels.

For the first time ever, the season kicks off on a Friday:

Friday:
Arsenal v. Leicester 2:45/19:45 NBCSN

Saturday:
Watford v. Liverpool 7:30/12:30 NBCSN
Chelsea v. Burnley 10:00/15:00 NBCSN
Everton v. Stoke CNBC
Crystal Palace v. Huddersfield
Southampton v. Swansea
West Brom v. Bournemouth
Brighton v. Man City 12:30/17:30 NBC

Sunday:
Newcastle v. Spurs 8:30/13:30 NBCSN
Man U v. West Ham 11:00/16:00 NBCSN
 
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Thank you. I was too lazy to do this one myself.

Go team!

Oh, and I officially abandoned trying to support anyone other than Villa, who will spend another season slumming in the Championship.
 
Doesn't "slumming" imply they don't belong there? :)

I'll still be "Casual PL Fan"... will look for a game when I'm up and around the house on Saturday morning, but don't believe I'll be picking any sides.... (although if I did, Kurtz's Spurs may be the ticket, if only because it seems obvious that a Hurricanes fan would be rooting for Harry Kane's team)
 
Hurtful. If you're talking about history and prestige of the organization, they absolutely don't belong there. If you're talking about how they've been run over the past five years or so... yeah, that's where they belong. I expect with a competent manager at the helm, they should at least make a strong push to get promoted.
 
Absolutely I'm saying that Villa don't belong in the Championship. No more than Everton or Spurs or City (pre Sheik City) do. We may not be the creme de la creme, but we're the whole milk just under the creme, not the clumpy junk at the bottom of the jar.

I agree with VDC and will go a step further ... a whole season under Steve Bruce SHOULD land Villa back in the Premier League. Key word should.

As for the 2017-18 EPL ... I'm going to be rooting for the small dogs to stick and the undeserving dogs to fall. I really don't have a dog in the top flight so I'll be watching those horses run just for entertainment purposes. But I'd love to see Brighton and Huddersfield (not to mention Burnley and Bournemouth) stick around and for some of the proponents of dire, defensive survival football get sent packing. Looking at you West Brom, but there are others. Sunderland finally got what they deserved last season and I'm hoping the script writers favor sides that actually try to score this time around.
 
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Arsenal 4-3 Leicester

Arsenal score twice in the last 10 minutes to beat Leicester. New guy Alexandre Lacazette got the gunners going in the 2nd minute and that was their last lead until Giroud scored in the 85th minute.
 
Wrapping up the weekend activity:

Watford 3-3 Liverpool
Chelsea 2-3 Burnley
Crystal Palace 0-3 Huddersfield
Everton 1-0 Stoke
Southampton 0-0 Swansea
West Brom 1-0 Bournemouth
Brighton 0-2 Man City
Newcastle 0-2 Spurs
Man U 4-0 West Ham

Watford got a stoppage time goal to draw with Liverpool. Chelsea lost Gary Cahill to a straight red in the 14th minute. Fabregas picked up his 2nd yellow in the 81st minute as Chelsea finished with 9 men. Burnley scored all 3 of their goals in the first half and held Chelsea off, with Luiz scoring late even down 2 men. The Blues may have some trouble defending their title. Brighton held off Man City until late, with Aguero scoring in the 70th minute and then an own goal in the 75th. Wayne Rooney scored Everton's only goal in his first appearance back with the Toffees. Man U looks to have spent their transfer money wisely as Romelu Lukaku scored twice and Nemanja Matic put a little steel in the central midfield and freed up Pogba to be more offensively minded. I think Chelsea is going to regret letting him go.
 
Chelsea certainly had some issues defending their last title and this season doesn't look to set up much differently. They'll find some form eventually, but the two Manchester clubs seem loaded for bear (provided that keeper holds up for City) and they will probably have trouble catching them.

Great to see little Huddersfield knock back 3 points to get things started.
 
Spurs weren't too keen on breaking in Wembley by facing Chelsea, but they've been handed a gift with Cahill, Fabregas, and apparently still Hazard, Bakayoko, and maybe even Pedro in the box for the game. They'd better take advantage of it.

And FWIW, Burnley did a shameful job of turtling at the end of that one. They were lucky to win up two goals and two men.
 
Spurs weren't too keen on breaking in Wembley by facing Chelsea, but they've been handed a gift with Cahill, Fabregas, and apparently still Hazard, Bakayoko, and maybe even Pedro in the box for the game. They'd better take advantage of it.

Considering how poorly they played their European games there last year, winning only 1 of 4 matches, I don't blame them. Just as a college football team is supposed to have a cupcake for Homecoming, I don't think you want to open a stadium with a Derby. I didn't see Chelsea this weekend, but they didn't look all that great the weekend before in the Community Shield. Yes, it's a pre-season match, but they started a first choice team.
 
Yeah ... that renting out Wembley thing. Not the best of ideas. Why doesn't anyone ever look at a ground share instead? It happens in Scotland all the time because nobody plays well in Hampden (national football stadium) or Murrayfield (national rugby stadium).
 
Yeah ... that renting out Wembley thing. Not the best of ideas. Why doesn't anyone ever look at a ground share instead? It happens in Scotland all the time because nobody plays well in Hampden (national football stadium) or Murrayfield (national rugby stadium).

And in Italy, Inter and AC Milan share San Siro, while Roma and Lazio share the Olympic Stadium. But I don't see any of Spurs London neighbors willing to share their stadium. Arsenal and Chelsea are non-starters. Selhurst Park, Craven Cottage and The Valley (Charlton) are about 10,000 fewer seats than WHL. Could they have moved into the Boleyn Ground before it gets demolished? Maybe, it's about the same size as WHL. But that's a long way away from WHL.

Believe it or not, Wikipedia has a list of all stadiums in London. Unused stadia like WHL and Boleyn Ground aren't listed but WHL seated just over 36,000 and Boleyn Ground just over 35,000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_London
 
And in Italy, Inter and AC Milan share San Siro, while Roma and Lazio share the Olympic Stadium. But I don't see any of Spurs London neighbors willing to share their stadium. Arsenal and Chelsea are non-starters. Selhurst Park, Craven Cottage and The Valley (Charlton) are about 10,000 fewer seats than WHL. Could they have moved into the Boleyn Ground before it gets demolished? Maybe, it's about the same size as WHL. But that's a long way away from WHL.

Believe it or not, Wikipedia has a list of all stadiums in London. Unused stadia like WHL and Boleyn Ground aren't listed but WHL seated just over 36,000 and Boleyn Ground just over 35,000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_London

Here's the thing ... would you rather have less ticket revenue for a couple of years or be less competitive? It's all a risk and a balancing act. At least in the current EPL era, nobody has pulled off that neutral site home ground scheme without taking a significant hit in the table. The big boys in London might not have been agreeable to a ground share, but it's not like there aren't other options with capacity in the mid 20s. Craven Cottage, the Den and the Valley leap to mind ... and Charlton doesn't sell out the Valley as it is. I'm sure their mercenary owners would have cut a deal. And it isn't the olden days when your supporters all lived in your borough.
 
Here's the thing ... would you rather have less ticket revenue for a couple of years or be less competitive? It's all a risk and a balancing act. At least in the current EPL era, nobody has pulled off that neutral site home ground scheme without taking a significant hit in the table. The big boys in London might not have been agreeable to a ground share, but it's not like there aren't other options with capacity in the mid 20s. Craven Cottage, the Den and the Valley leap to mind ... and Charlton doesn't sell out the Valley as it is. I'm sure their mercenary owners would have cut a deal. And it isn't the olden days when your supporters all lived in your borough.

The Boleyn Ground would have been the best choice, IMO. It's about the same size as WHL, so there wouldn't be a dramatic reduction in revenue. They still could have played their European games in Wembley. Craven Cottage and the Valley are about 30% lower capacity than WHL; The Den is about 45%. Could Levy live with that for 2 years? Who knows. Like you said, it's a balancing act. But could he afford 2 years of lower revenue knowing he has a construction loan on a new 61,000 seat stadium to deal with?
 
Yeah ... far be from me to tell Dan Levy how to handle his business. Or for him to listen for that matter.
 
The only ground sharing agreement that was seriously considered was with MK Dons, but that never made a lot of sense from a travel point of view. Not too bad a commute from the Spurs training facility in Enfield, but for the supporters, a real pain in the rear. And Boleyn Ground? Putting aside the fact that the Hammers didn't consider it good enough for them and tore it down last year, Spurs were no more likely to pursue that facility than they were the Emirates.

Really, though, the Wembley thing is all on the players. They played like crap throughout both European competitions last year, regardless of where they were or who they were against. Last spring they put the bottled finish of 2016 behind them; this year they need to put bad play at Wembley and in Europe behind them. Plain and simple.
 
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The financing package that Levy put together stipulated that principal repayment would not begin until 2020, so Spurs will have at least a full year to sort out their cash flows from the new stadium. Naming rights alone are expected to cover the interest payments in the meantime. And Spurs are likely, once again, to have the lowest net spend in the transfer window. Levy may be one frustrating SOB, but never question his money management.
 
Match Week 2. Only 1 of the 10:00 Saturday matches is on linear TV, you'll need the subscription for any of the others

Saturday:
Swansea v. Man U 7:30/12:30 NBCSN
Liverpool v. Crystal Palace 10:00/15:00 NBCSN
Bournemouth v. Watford
Burnley v. West Brom
Leicester v. Brighton
Southampton v. West Ham
Stoke v. Arsenal 12:30/17:30 NBC

Sunday:
Huddersfield v. Newcastle 8:30/13:30/NBCSN
Spurs v. Chelsea 11:00/16:00 NBCSN

Monday:
Man City v. Everton 3:00/20:00 NBCSN
 
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