Crystal Palace – Yohan Cabaye
The classy midfielder has entered his thirties now, but he remains as effective as ever for much-loved Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace as he was in his younger days. Despite not getting the chance to showcase himself at the Euros, Cabaye has the potential to help Palace beat any Premier League midfield on their best days.
The Frenchman’s partnership with Joe Ledley will be vital for Crystal Palace as they look set for another mid-table finish this season. Although they have strengthened in a number of departments with the additions of Steve Mandanda, Loic Remy and Christian Benteke to the squad, only Cabaye is of proven world-class quality and alongside the Welshman, he provides a solid centre for Palace to take on better teams on the counter.
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Everton – Ross Barkley
While they have flashier players like Belgian Lukaku in strike and Barca loanee Gerard Deulofeu as an inverted winger, Barkley has been one of the most consistent performers in the league ever since he broke onto Everton’s starting XI, 3 seasons back.
With 8 goals and 8 assists in the Premier League last season, he maintained the form he showed in previous seasons and served as Everton’s attacking hub. Although Everton’s defense leaked a number of goals last season, Barkley’s individual performance levels remained high and he emerged with a good return at the end of the season.
It is finally time for him to produce a high-scoring, high-volume and productive season to earn a much-awaited transfer to the world’s best clubs, and he would do well to grab it this season.
Hull City – Robert Snodgrass
While a knee injury has prevented Snodgrass from turning in significant time with Hull, his talent has not left any doubts. Often sought by financially better-off clubs over the course of his earlier career, Snodgrass will be playing his first full season for Hull this season following a bad knee injury against QPR 2 seasons ago. In his spell with Norwich, Snodgrass acted as their attacking hub, their main creative outlet.
With a not-so-great supporting cast around him barring the on-fire Abel Hernandez, the primary creative responsibilities for Hull fall on his able shoulders for the first time. At the age of 29, Snodgrass has the ability to produce a remarkable season and lead Hull into the Premier League top 10, should the rest of the team be able to capitalize on his pinpoint crossing, dynamic link-up play, shooting and setpiece delivery.
Leicester City – Danny Drinkwater
While forwards Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy have been reinforced with good support in the form of summer signings like Ahmed Musa, Islam Slimani and Bartosz Kaputska, Leicester’s title-winning midfield lost its most key player to Chelsea in the summer. With the departure of N’Golo Kante, it is now upon Drinkwater to lead the team and raise his level in midfield to give Leicester a good run this season.
Although it will not be possible for Drinkwater to replace Kante’s near-superhuman ground covering, the Englishman is technically sound, tactically aware and occupies the right spaces for Leicester in defense. While he is great at going forward, Drinkwater’s main role will be to aid Leicester’s ball retention in attack. Should he produce another season like the last one, he will surely be rewarded by Sam Allardyce with a more permanent run in the national team setup.
