Premier League 2014-15: Season to begin after record spending

The Premier League season begins on Saturday
following a record summer of transfer spending in
England's top league.
The 20 top-flight clubs have invested an estimated
£647m - £17m more than in the whole of last
summer - with experts believing the figure could
reach £1bn.
Manchester United, under new boss Louis van Gaal,
kick off the season in the early game against
Swansea.
Chelsea start as favourites, while Manchester City
are the holders.
Premier League opening weekend fixtures
(all 15:00 BST unless otherwise stated)
Saturday, 16 August
Manchester United v Swansea (12:45 BST)
Leicester v Everton
QPR v Hull
Stoke v Aston Villa
West Brom v Sunderland
West Ham v Tottenham
Arsenal v Crystal Palace (17:30 BST)
Sunday, 17 August
Liverpool v Southampton (13:30 BST)
Newcastle v Manchester City (16:00 BST)
Monday, 18 August
Burnley v Chelsea (20:00 BST)
It is the second year in a row that Manchester United
start with a new manager, with Van Gaal looking to
improve on the seventh-placed finish achieved by
predecessor David Moyes.
The Dutchman is one of four new bosses in the
league, while 10 players have come in for fees of
£20m or more, with Alexis Sanchez's £35m move
to Arsenal the biggest so far.
The record summer spending comes with the Premier
League in the second year of a three-year TV package
with BT Sport and Sky, worth over £1bn per season.
The BBC will continue to show highlights every
weekend on Match of the Day, part of more than
12 hours of television coverage every weekend
across BBC One and BBC Two.
Prize money for the winners, including their share of
television money, is likely to be near £100m. Last
year, Manchester City earned £96.5m, £1m less than
second-placed Liverpool, who earned more as they
were on television more times.
Cardiff, who finished bottom and were relegated,
earned £62m.
The major innovation this
season is the vanishing
spray introduced at the World
Cup, which sees the referee
spray a white line, which
disappears after a short period,
on the pitch to ensure a
defensive wall stands 10 yards
away from a free-kick taker.
The season promises to produce
one of the most open title races
in memory, with five teams
expected to battle for the championship.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has gone two years
without winning a trophy, having won one in each of
the nine seasons before that, but has added more
than £80m of talent to his side this summer.
Spain internationals Diego Costa and Cesc
Fabregas come in, with club legend Didier Drogba
returning on a free transfer.
Biggest Premier League transfers of the
summer
Alexis Sanchez [Barcelona - Arsenal] £35m
Diego Costa [Atletico Madrid - Chelsea] £32m
Eliaquim Mangala [FC Porto - Manchester City]
£32m
Cesc Fabregas [Barcelona - Chelsea] £30m
Ander Herrera [Athletic Bilbao - Manchester
United] £29m
Romelu Lukaku [Chelsea - Everton] £28m
Luke Shaw [Southampton - Manchester United]
£27m (Could rise to £31m)
Adam Lallana [Southampton - Liverpool] £25m
Dejan Lovren [Southampton - Liverpool] £20m
Lazar Markovic [Benfica - Liverpool] £20m
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini won the
league last term in his first season in England but
has been hindered in the transfer market this
summer by a transfer cap for breaching Uefa's
financial fair play (FFP) rules - although he has
still spent £50m.
The club have also had their wage bill capped and
can only name 21 players, instead of 25, in their
Champions League squad.
After leaving his job as
Netherlands boss to take up the
position vacated at Old Trafford
by Moyes, Van Gaal has already
made his mark, bringing in
Spanish midfielder Ander
Herrera for £29m and making
Southampton left-back Luke
Shaw the most expensive
teenager in the history of
football - paying an initial fee of
£27m for the English 18-year-
old.
Arsenal, meanwhile, won their first trophy in nine
years when they beat Hull in the FA Cup final in
May, and are bidding for their first league title in 11
years, boosted by the signing of Barcelona forward
Sanchez.
The Gunners won the Community Shield, the annual
season curtain-raiser, 3-0 against Manchester City
at Wembley last Sunday.
Liverpool mounted a surprise title challenge last
season, leading the table at the beginning of May,
but may struggle for a repeat after selling 31-goal
top scorer Luis Suarez to Barcelona in a £75m
deal.
One of the major talking points of the summer was
Southampton's sale of five key players.
Following the departure of manager Mauricio
Pochettino to Tottenham, they sold Adam Lallana,
Dejan Lovren and Rickie Lambert to Liverpool -
who they face on Sunday - for a combined £49m,
plus Shaw to Manchester United and Calum
Chambers to Arsenal for £16m. They also loaned out
Dani Osvaldo, who was their £15m record signing
last summer, to Inter Milan.
Southampton hired Ronald
Koeman to replace Pochettino,
with Alan Irvine the other
new Premier League
manager, having taken over at
West Brom.
Seven clubs will represent England in European
competition this season, with Manchester United
missing out for the first time since 1989-90.
Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea qualified
automatically for the Champions League group
stages, with Arsenal needing to play Besiktas in a
play-off.
Everton, Tottenham and Hull will play in Europe's
second tier cup, the Europa League.
The three new teams in the top flight following
promotion are QPR, Leicester and Burnley.

It is well