Liverpool – Sadio Mane
While Daniel Sturridge’s injuries have forced Liverpool to find goals from elsewhere in the team after Luis Suarez’s departure, their attacking midfield sports a robust look this season. Sadio Mane, the new man from Southampton, has looked lively so far this season. His style of play – feinting past defenders and shooting from the edges of the box – will continue to bring him rich rewards with the Merseysiders.
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Now that he has the freedom to express himself alongside other talented players, Mane has to step up and increase his productivity with Liverpool. Should he be able to do so, his steep price tag will be quickly forgotten by fans and critics alike. Currently, though, he is the most consistent member of their front 4 – Coutinho and Firmino need to dial up their performances every once in a while during the season.
Manchester City – Sergio Aguero
City has the luxury of world-class depth in almost every position on the field – barring that of the striker. Even if they did have the depth, though, replacing Sergio Aguero is a job that most forwards in the world would be utterly incapable of.
Over the last 5 seasons, whether or not Manchester City have been able to win games regularly, they’ve always been able to plunder goals due to Aguero’s extraordinary poaching abilities whenever he is fit to play. While Kevin de Bruyne’s injury last season effectively derailed City’s Premier League campaign, they will still miss Aguero more sorely because also of the lack of alternatives – Iheanacho is not a world-class striker currently. Even in Saturday’s derby, Aguero was conspicuous by his absence.
Manchester United – David de Gea
While United have made a number of high-profile signings to bolster their squad in attack – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Henrik Mkhitaryan – their primary success driver is their stingy defense. Led by David de Gea, Manchester United retained an enviable defensive record for much of last season, barring a few high-scoring encounters.
With the signing of Eric Bailly this season, United have a big, strong, elite centre-half in front of the Spaniard, but he very much remains their most consistent performer, as well as their most important chip to retain. United has enough depth in other areas to compensate for their losses, but David de Gea belongs to the conversation of the best goalkeepers in the world, and not even Sergio Romero will be adequately able to cover his loss.
Middlesbrough – Viktor Fischer
Middlesbrough won promotion to the Premier League on the back of their stout defense, which allowed only 0.67 goals per game last season. While Premier League teams will pose immensely higher threats than Championship strugglers to their defense, they have reinforced well in this department, bringing in Calum Chambers, Victor Valdes and Brad Guzan.
Where they really need to step up their game is in attack – they scored a relatively low 1.39 goals per game last season. To that end, they will look foremost to their new signings, out of whom Viktor Fischer really stands out as the only attacking midfielder or forward with world-class potential and Champions League experience. If Fischer is able to adjust to his new surrroundings in England quickly, he can bring Middlesbrough out of the relegation struggle pretty quickly.
