So what can you do for an encore?
A little over three months since arguably the most improbable run to a championship in sports history, Leicester City will begin it’s defence of their English Premier League title on Saturday morning when they take on Hull City.
Okay granted, I’m not expecting everyone to get up at 5:30 a.m. here in North Battleford to watch the start of the soccer season. Heck, I might be the only one who will be doing that this weekend.
However, with how amazing last season was, the 2016-17 season might be one of the most competitive in recent years in the 20-team league.
A lot of that has to do with what happened last year when Leicester City won their first ever top-flight title in their 132 years history.
After almost being relegated from the top league in England a year prior and entering the campaign at 5000-1 odds to win the championship, Leicester City were solid in all aspects of their game and easily dispatched more well-known and cash rich clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City.
As of writing, since a lot can happen before the transfer window shuts at the end of the month and players move from club to club, Leicester City has kept the majority of the side intact. Their two key attacking players Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez are back along with the core of an impressive defence.
With all that said, I don’t think they are going to pull off a repeat.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think they are still a fairly good side and they will be in the mix to win it all.
However, Leicester City now has to deal with playing in the Champions League, which features the top sides in Europe.
Not only will they be facing stiff competition, it will also add more matches to their schedule, which they didn’t have to deal with last year.
Also, the rest of the league has gotten tougher, especially with the big clubs bringing in new managers.
After a disastrous season by their standards, Chelsea has hired Antonio Conte who won three straight titles in Italy with Juventus and also managed the Italian national team for the last two years.
Then there’s Manchester United, who have brought in ‘The Special One’ himself Jose Mourinho to take over.
Manchester United hasn’t been the club it was since Alex Ferguson left with David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal doing rather underwhelming jobs as manager.
So in comes Mourinho, who has won everything there is to win as a manager for the last decade, even if his last season at Chelsea was nothing short of a tire fire.
With the club setting a world record by spending 105 million pounds to sign French midfielder Paul Pogba, to say that Manchester United is all in is an understatement.
Despite all of those changes, there are also teams that didn’t make loads of changes that should contend.
Tottenham Hotspur was really close to ending Leciester City’s Cinderella story last season and they have all of their big players returning, including impressive English striker Harry Kane who scores goals for run.
Although they struggled last year, Liverpool should be a much better side as well. A lot of that will come from their manager Jurgen Klopp who is someone that gets excited over everything that is happening. I’m a big fan of his and you can’t help but like the guy.
Plus you can’t forget about Arsenal. Manager Arsene Wenger has been with the club since 1996 and I would suspect that he’s very anxious to get his club over the hump for the first time in over a decade.
Then there’s my pick to win it all, Manchester City.
The amount of talent they have is impressive. They’ve won two titles in the last five years and they have so much money they can get anyone they want.
Oh yeah, and they have probably the best manager in the world in Pep Guardiola, who made Barcelona what it is today.
All in all, this should be a year to remember and one worth watching even if you’re not a soccer fan.
Though I may have jinxed everything and this could end up being a boring season, but that can happen when you predict the unpredictable.
Just look at Leicester City winning the league last season.
