So for those of you who live under a rock, the draw for the teams competing in the FM Premier League was completed on Friday. Today we’ll be going through each team one-by-one, previewing their season (baring in mind this was written before any transfers have gone in).
Arsenal
Transfer Budget: £46.5m
Last Season: 8th
Manager: Chasing Lamely
A rough season last time out for the Gunners, with 2 managers unable to steer them towards their targets, just barely qualifying for the European Combination League. A few signings defensively IRL will help their woes at the back, while the attacking lineup hasn’t changed that much but is still as lethal as ever. With a new manager into the league in the form of Chasing Lamely or Kriss Sprules, nobody yet knows how they will play, which could play into their hands as he could spring a few surprises and find themselves near the top, if he plays his cards right.
Aston Villa
Transfer Budget: £23.5m
Last Season: 16th
Manager: Fryman7 (again)
Business as usual for Fryman, as he gets drawn to be the manager of Aston Villa for the second season running. Not a great deal of transfers for Villa IRL, but the ones they have done has really improved the quality of the squad, so the gaffer will have some better players at his disposal. The only worry for Fryman is that everyone will now know how he plays, and with the same team it may become too similar unless he switches things up dramatically, but then again with improvements to the squad it could also work out for him.
Brighton & Hove Albion
Transfer Budget: £23.5m
Last season: 15th
Manager: CookieFM
Seen by some as one of the ‘joker’ teams to draw, due to their somewhat lower quality of playing squad, who else to draw them than the league owner! Hard to tell how things will go for them, after the previous manager steered them to safety with, lets say, hard to watch tactics. Many of the players used in last season’s 15th place finish were sold by the real club, but we will have to wait and see if Cookie can either replace them from within, or sign good enough players to steer the Seagulls to survival again.
Burnley
Transfer Budget: £30.5m
Last Season: 19th
Manager: Access Euphoria
Burnley are another team who are tipped to struggle, having done so last season and struggling so far in the real PL as well, all the odds seem to be stacked against the new manager to the league, and to be honest unless there are some tactical masterclasses, it’s hard to see anything other than a tough relegation fight for the Clarets. IRL transfers have been anything but inspired IRL too, meaning Euphoria hasn’t exactly been given much to work with. We will just have to wait and see if those expectations come to life or not.
Chelsea
Transfer Budget: £58m
Last Season: 3rd
Manager: CJPlaysFM
Another top 6 team drawn for CJ, who infamously got Tottenham in the bottom 3 places last season, so lets see how much he can screw over the Blues 😉 Chelsea have a considerably improved squad this season too, so CJ now has the likes of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz (among others) ready for him to use. Seeing as CJ went from manager of the year to relegating a top team, time will tell which side of CJ we will see.
Crystal Palace
Transfer Budget: £26m
Last Season: 14th
Manager: George Topper
Palace have largely the same squad as last season, the same squad that were fighting for a European place towards the beginning of last season, so George may be able to replicate that form, although his Arsenal team were notoriously inconsistent last season. Eze will provide an extra spark to the Palace front line, and if Zaha can get firing consistently the Eagles could be a surprise package this season.
Everton
Transfer Budget: £30m
Last Season: 7th
Manager: Lord Kalmus
Everton are another team who could be a surprise package this season, they definitely have the quality to upset the ‘big 6’ with the likes of James Rodriguez and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and they also have the manager to do it, Kalmus who got his Bournemouth team to 5th last season and definitely has the quality to replicate that this season. And if one or two of the big teams falter like they did last season, Everton could be top 4 finishers, and if they finish outside the top 8 their season will likely be deemed a failure.
Fulham
Transfer Budget: £22m
Last Season: N/A (Promoted from Championship)
Manager: SiMaggio
Being recently promoted from the Championship means it’s hard to tell what to expect from Fulham this season, they’ve made a lot of transfers that suggest they have the straight up quality to stay up, but the same thing was thought last time they got promoted and they then got rinsed by the league, so we will have to wait and see. The likes of Loftus-Cheek, Ademola Lookman, Alphonse Areola will certainly make SiMaggio’s job much easier, but they will still be one of the teams tipped to fight for relegation.
Leeds United
Transfer Budget: £23.5m
Last Season: N/A (Promoted from the Championship)
Manager: SuperrPengu1n
I think the hardest team to predict how their season will go is this one. Leeds could feasibly finish anywhere between 20th and 8th, so a lot of how their season will go lies on how much Super Penguin improves his squad with his budget (if he even chooses to at all given his dislike for Leeds) and also whether he decides to go how Leeds play irl which is very expansive attacking football which leaves gaps at the back, or whether he decides to play more defensively on the counter.
Leicester City
Transfer Budget: £33m
Last Season: 4th
Manager: UberWestHam
They performed wonders last season, taking advantage of teams around them doing comparatively worse (wonder where I first heard that one?) and seeing as most of their team is still intact with no major departures, the new manager to the league will have the tools to replicate his predecessor, but he will have his work cut out to try and do as well as they did last season.
Liverpool
Transfer Budget: £64m
Last Season: 1st
Manager: FMGinge
Last seasons Champions come back to protect their crown, and although their squad remains largely the same, it is still more than good enough to dominate once again, and with Diogo Jota and Thiago improving the squad depth they still have explosive firepower to win the league with the right tactics. FMGinge did a decent if unspectacular job with Manchester United last season which fell away towards the end, and so now he jumps across to the other Northern Reds to see if he can do a better job.
Manchester City
Transfer Budget: £103m
Last Season: 2nd
Manager: Vulrak
I mean seriously, how lucky can one person get? Liverpool last season, and now Manchester City this year. I’m calling it now, he’ll get Chelsea next year, you watch. Anyway, once again he has the quality in the squad and also the managing ability to win the league as he did last year, and with more money at his disposal you have to say that City are the favourites. It remains to be seen if anyone at all will be able to stop them.
Manchester United
Transfer Budget: £66.5m
Last Season: 6th
Manager: Old Man Sudor
The former EFL manager tackles the big time, and it is big time indeed as he gets drawn to manage Manchester United in his first season in the EPL. A somewhat disappointing campaign last season, only managing to finish 6th, well off the leaders, they will be looking to bounce back in a big way (and hopefully do better than their real life counterparts are currently doing). Cavani, Telles and van de Beek will help going forward, but there will still be problems at the back unless Old Man Sudor does some wheeling and dealing with some more defenders.
Newcastle United
Transfer Budget: £26.5m
Last Season: 12th
Manager: DaveFM
Another team who is hard to predict, I would imagine mid-table obscurity is in Newcastle’s future, although the signing of Callum Wilson who is notoriously overpowered in FM may give them the odd big scalp or two. Defensively they may still struggle, but that can be said for most of the teams in the bottom half. Lets see if Dave can find a tactic on the steam workshop that will work for his Newcastle team!
Sheffield United
Transfer Budget: £27m
Last Season: 20th
Manager: FMTerrabull
The team many predict to finish rock bottom and replicate last season’s hopelessness, the simple reality is their squad is championship quality, and will be very difficult for Terra to do much with. They did get to a League Cup final, but they had a quite simple route there and so it isn’t exactly proof of their ability. Unless Terra can work some magic with transfers and tactics, she will be resigned to relegation unfortunately.
Southampton
Transfer Budget: £25.5m
Last Season: 11th
Manager: DodgeeGamer
Another team who, like Newcastle, could well be resigned to mid-table obscurity unless they do notably terrible or notably amazing. Danny Ings and Che Adams certainly have the potential to give plenty of teams a 1-2 punch, Ings being among the top scorers last season, and I’m sure Dodgee will be happier now that he hasn’t got to deal with Sheffield United anymore! Anyway, it’s hard to predict that this team will do much more than just sit in mid-table all season.
Tottenham Hotspur
Transfer Budget: £42m
Last Season: 18th
Manager: Alex Venthem
Surely the new boss can do better than his predecessor CJ, who somehow failed to steer Spurs to even survival last season, so expectations will be somewhat lower for Alex, who did a decent job with sh*thousing his way to survival with Brighton, and some might say he is being rewarded with the Spurs job. With both of Spurs’ managers last season citing problems with morale, and with morale now being set to perfect across all squads, now is the chance for Alex to get Spurs to where they belong: the top 4.
West Bromwich Albion
Transfer Budget: £22m
Last Season: N/A (Promoted from the Championship)
Manager: FM Teacher
The final of, in my opinion, 6 teams who could get relegated, West Brom are another unknown who nobody really knows yet how they will fare back in the Premier League. IRL they are still without a win, but this is FM so anything could happen. I think this is another case of Ryan trying to make the most of his transfer budget, although he has proved himself capable last season having a great start with Crystal Palace, he certainly could replicate that and try to make an early gap to the bottom.
West Ham United
Transfer Budget: £26m
Last Season: 13th
Manager: Macbearded
Another possible surprise package, West Ham have always seemed to have bags of quality in their squad but never quite the teamwork and cohesion in the team to take advantage of that, and while Macbearded had a very good start of the season with Burnley in the previous campaign, his end of season was frankly terrible and ended up in the bottom 3 by the end, he will just need to hope that it’s more of the former instead of the latter.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Transfer Budget: £31m
Last Season: 10th
Manager: RampantFM
A disappointing season last time for Wolves, but this time they have a more than capable manager in the form of Rampant, who certainly was rampant indeed with his Norwich side that had no right being as far up the table as they were, and now with Wolves he could easily be up there fighting in the top 8, maybe even the top 4. Jimenez in the beta has proved to be a class striker (known thanks to the Beta Battle) and given Wolves’ normally expansive style suits Rampant’s style as well, this could be a season to remember for the Scot.
Good luck to all of our teams. There will be a transfer summary and season predictions once the window closes.
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