5 Footy Accumulators PL Specials Ahead of the 2022/23 Season

Last season, Manchester City managed to win the Premier League title with 93 points, one more than their close domestic rivals Liverpool, who accumulated 92 points.

With both sides acquiring top centre forwards such as Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez, there is the potential that these two sides could get even better in the forthcoming campaign.

Meanwhile, Chelsea finished on 74 points following a poor second half of the season that saw them completely fall out of the title race after a promising start. Meanwhile, Spurs’ improvements under Antonio Conte saw them snatch the last Champions League place away from Arsenal, finishing on 71 points.

Inevitably, following the signing of Haaland, both City’s and the Norwegian striker’s expectations are through the roof having fired in 85 goals in 88 games at Borussia Dortmund.

In his first five opponents, the former Red Bull Salzburg man will have two potentially tricky away games at West Ham and Newcastle, as well as three home matches against the likes of Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.

Haaland famously took no time to adapt at all at Dortmund having moved in the January window of 2020 from Salzburg, as he scored eight goals in his first five matches. In an even stronger side that contains a series of creative talents such as Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and more, could he start even better at the Citizens?

Following the additions of Kalvin Phillips, Haaland and Alvarez, City are expected to win the title once again, having managed it in three of the last four seasons under Pep Guardiola.

Haaland will also be looking to replicate his goal record at Dortmund when playing in the Premier League, especially when considering the added creative talents around him in City’s side which is superior to that of his former club.

Last season, Spurs managed a top-four finish having significantly improved under Conte after the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo, and look to have added a lot of depth and quality to their ranks, following the signings of Fraser Forster, Djed Spence, Clement Lenglet, Ivan Perisic, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison.

Meanwhile, West Ham have qualified for European football in each of the last two seasons under David Moyes and will be hoping to add more players to their squad on top of Nayef Aguerd, Flynn Downes and the permanent signing of Alphonse Areola.

Newcastle were one of the most in-form teams in the division under Eddie Howe last season, having earned 38 points from their last 19 matches - in this period of time only Liverpool and Manchester City earned more. Since then, the Magpies have added the likes of Nick Pope and Sven Botman to their ranks.

Fulham will be hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself, having been relegated in both of their last two seasons in the Premier League (2018/19 and 2020/21).

As previously mentioned, City are the favourites for the Premier League title due to their dominance in recent years, as well as the recent additions to their squad which could even be further enhanced if they sort out a deal for Brighton’s Marc Cucurella.

Mohamed Salah will be looking to retain the Golden Boot having won it last year with 23 goals in 35 games. The Egyptian famously won the award in his first season with Liverpool via a record-breaking campaign that saw him score 32 goals in 36 games - the most a player has scored in a single season since the 20-team format.

Could last season repeat itself? Tottenham look to be in a strong position to compete for the top-four places in the Premier League following six summer signings, whilst Manchester United arguably haven’t made enough improvements to their squad which finished sixth place last season.

The Old Trafford club have seen their attempts to sign Frenkie De Jong stall in recent weeks, something which may hamper Erik ten Hag’s system if they don’t get the deal for the Barcelona midfielder over the line.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth have only made two signings so far, of which both were free transfers in the shapes of Joe Rothwell and Ryan Fredericks. As a newly promoted club, they could potentially be putting themselves in for a tough campaign if they fail to add quality to their line-up. On top of this, Scott Parker has two Premier League relegations to his name whilst in charge of Fulham.

Last season, City failed to score in just four of their 38 Premier League outings, with two of these being against Crystal Palace, whilst one was in a 1-0 opening day defeat to Tottenham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the other fixture was a 0-0 home draw against Southampton.

Having played a whole league campaign without a natural striker, this was an impressive feat, with Haaland and Alvarez added to their side, the likeliness of Guardiola’s men scoring in all 38 league games looks significantly better.

Jurgen Klopp’s side only failed to score in one Premier League match last season, which was in their last league defeat, a narrow 1-0 loss at Leicester City on 28th December. Even then, Salah saw a penalty saved by Foxes’ goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, meaning that in truth, they were incredibly close to scoring in every Premier League fixture last campaign.