Waiting is over - today the 2018-19 season of the English "Premier" league starts. With its beginning in England, the transfer window has also closed - teams had to finalize their squads yesterday.
The season will be opened by the teams of "Manchester United" and "Leicester" - they will meet today at 22:00 at the "Old Trafford" stadium.
The preparation of the "Red Devils" was not what Jose Mourinho dreamt of - most of the team leaders did not play any friendly matches due to the long World Cup, so we should not expect to see the optimal lineup.
In total, "Man Utd" played six friendly matches, out of which they only won one against Madrid's "Real". After a penalty shootout, the English vice-champions defeated "Milan", but could not beat "Bayern", "Liverpool", "San Jose Earthquakes", and "Club America".
In their preparation period, "Leicester" played five friendly matches. The "Foxes" celebrated victory twice, played to a draw as many times, and once lost to "Udinese". "Leicester" avoided matches with more famous clubs, so they did not face any major trials during preparation.
Most disappointed "Manchester United" fans not by the preparation for the season, but by the work in the transfer window, where "Man Utd", apart from the possibility to sell existing players, could not make any further moves.
Many hoped that Jose Mourinho would attract several center-backs to the team this summer, but failed to acquire any - negotiations for Toby Alderweireld and Harry Maguire, who were the two main targets, ended unsuccessfully.
"Man Utd" this summer added only three newcomers - Diogo Dalot, Lee Grant, and Fred. Only the latter Brazilian is expected to start the season in the starting lineup - about 50 million euros were invested in him, and now the Manchester team is expected to have a much more creative defense line.
"Leicester" had a fairly good summer - they invited players such as Jonny Evans, Ricardo Pereira, Danny Ward, Rachid Ghezzal, Filip Benkovic, Caglar Soyuncu to the team. The "Foxes", who have their World Cup star Harry Maguire, invited three more center-backs to the team this summer.
The "Foxes" lost one of their leaders Riyad Mahrez, but talented winger R. Ghezzal was purchased in his place from "Monaco". Despite the fact that "Leicester" will start the season without R. Mahrez, the work in the transfer window is quite positive.
Claude Puel's pupils have a good chance in these matches not because "Man Utd" did not strengthen their squad this summer, but because Jose Mourinho will start the season without some key players who are recovering from injuries. Antonio Valencia, Diogo Dalot, Marcos Rojo, Ander Herrera, and Nemanja Matic are not registered for these matches.
It is realistic that Paul Pogba will not be in the starting lineup, as he only started training with the team on Monday. It is unclear whether Jamie Vardy and H. Maguire will be able to help "Leicester". Jonny Evans, who had an injury during the summer, has already recovered and will likely run out onto the "Old Trafford" fortress.
Predicted starting lineups:
"Man Utd": (4-3-3) David de Gea; Matteo Darmian, Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling, Luke Shaw; Scott McTominay, Fred, Andreas Pereira; Juan Mata, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku.
"Leicester": (4-2-3-1) Kasper Schmeichel; Ricardo Pereira, Jonny Evans, Wes Morgan, Ben Chilwell; Wilfred Ndidi, Vicente Iborra; Marc Albrighton, James Maddison, Fousseni Diabate; Kelechi Iheanacho.
