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Welcome to the Total Soccer Show, it is our 2026-27 Premier League previews everybody! Yes the Premier League is back and on this episode we're going in depth on defending champions Arsenal, defending Europa League champions Aston Villa, defending Tyler Adams possessors Bournemouth and defending power by sports betting champions Brentford and Brighton. Let's go! My name's Ryan Bailey. Join me today. Say hello to everybody to the Taylor Rockwell, hi Taylor, how are you? Hello Ryan Bailey, I am lovely, it is lovely to be here with you all once again, I am recording remotely but excited to talk about, AFC Bournemouth, your Europa League competitors and yes the current employers of Tyler Adams now and forevermore, question mark we think maybe possibly hopefully? In perpetuity, yes indeed, joining us also Graham Rutherford say hello Graham, how are you doing? I am very excited for the start of the season and for these episodes I thought in the post world cup kind of melee, that wouldn't be, but it turns out I am and there's only so many movies and TV shows and documentaries that I can watch project heal me and not so much up to the hype, but hopefully this primary league season is going to be up to the hype. Joe seems shocked by my project heal. I cried several times watching that movie, it was lovely. What? Yeah, what? Pet. Joe hasn't watched it. Let's back up. Let's back up. The whole bit with the rock, the whole time. It was beautiful. Oh, the cello little Pixar sidekick, yeah, that was cute. Don't you dare use Pixar like it's a regulatory term Graham. I know. That wasn't quite in character. I'll take that back. Wow. Very good. Okay, Taylor is talking about Bournemouth as noted Graham on Brentford. Joe is going to be telling us about Aston Villa, hi Joe, how are you? I'm glad you've watched a movie. Oh, thanks, Ryan. Yeah, I can't believe this didn't come up already. I'm pretty sure we already talked about this and I said that I cried. But either way, it was, it was just delightful. I also saw Spider-Man the other day. So, you know, that's two movies that I've seen in the streets. Yes, swinging. In the sheets of swinging. I like it. That was a good movie. I enjoyed it. Oh, boy, after a rip-roaring start on our Premier League previews, we love to see it. If you want to see more of us, by the way, this week and every other week, we have a Patreon Patreon.com slash total soccer show. On that bonus feed, we're going to be talking about the chat almost called it the Charity Shield. The community shield. No charity. No charity for you. It's a community shield, which was on Sunday, of course, Man City in Arsenal. Plenty of that on the bonus feed. And we're also talking about, hey, Scotland, go and got yourself a manager for your team. We're doing it again. Yeah, good. Are we money? No, nobody knows. Maybe that's what we'll call them, Joe, because nobody can see his name over here. And maybe the Scottish F.A. here at the fans wanted pasta co-glue and got a little bit mixed up. But we've got a new guy. So, let's talk about that on the Patreon. Hmm. Plenty on the Patreon. Patreon.com slash total soccer show. Also access to our Discord. All the cool kids are there, please. And thank you. All right, let's get straight into our Premier League previews. We're doing them all week long here on total soccer show. We got some Premier League predictions coming at the later stage of this week on the feed as well. I'm going to start proceedings with Arsenal. I'm going to tell you a little bit about them, just to give you an idea of the format. Similar to what we've done in previous seasons. We're going to talk about what they did last season, what the each team has done over the summer. Talk a bit about their manager, whether Scottish people can pronounce their name or not, apparently, is a thing. Style of play, key players, and in total soccer show, true style, we give a very specific prediction for each of the Premier League teams. Arsenal, you're alphabetically first, therefore your first here. Hey, community shield, we're going to talk about that on the bonus feed, very impressive win for Arsenal. On Sunday, should it have been that easy? Might say more about Manchester City than it does about Arsenal. That game will get to that a bit later on, but obviously a very, very good start for Arsenal who've had a more robust preseason than Manchester City, I've suggested as well, quite a few games they've played already at this point. But talking about last season, anyone remember Arsenal got to, they did quite well, didn't they? I hadn't described my brain, I don't recall. They did quite well. They won the Premier League for the first time since 2004, when they were invincible, of course, they go. Now it's coming back to you. It's been a while. I know we had a work up. That was their fourth Premier League title, their 14th league title in total. The 22 year of weight was over. And now they might go back to back, we'll talk about that a bit later. Also you might recall that Arsenal were in the Champions League final last year and they took it to penalties against PSG with that obviously miss still in orbit somewhere. So they did that, obviously that campaign were quite a lot of injuries and they might be starting this season. In fact, they are starting this season with some injuries post World Cup as well. The mission here, and I think the standards are much higher Arsenal than they may have been a season or two ago. So the mission is obviously to retain the Premier League trophy. The last time they did that was 1935, back before soccer was invented. Only three Premier League managers have retained the Premier League crown. Anyone want to take a pun? Oh, oh, oh, Ferguson. Renewal. Mm-hmm. Oh, Goddewal. Yep. Yay. That was fun. It was for everybody else. There we go. Excellent. Good job. So Arsenal. Renewal quick. I believe it's Merino, Guardiola and Sherlock Ferguson. Oh, man. I wish I got this one. Good job, Tim. Well done. Very good. I might be able to let you have a guess later. Arsenal finished in the top two in the last four seasons. The opportunity to retain the title with Manchester City looking a little bit uncertain, early days, of course. Maybe they don't have a real clear challenge at this point, Arsenal thought the Premier League title. It's with the bookmakers and the number folks. Feels like to me. There's a bit of a new vibe down at the Emirates Towers. Last few seasons, maybe, things were governed by fear of failure. What if we don't do this? We need really need to get this title in the bag. Now there's this expectation to succeed, I will suggest. So yeah, they start off by the way this weekend, this coming weekend, against newly promoted Coventry City, who'd be hearing about in tomorrow's episode from Taylor Rockwell, the aforementioned. So perhaps you could argue that's a favorable start for Arsenal for this Premier League campaign. What have they done over the summer? They got quite worn out of the World Cup. They also made some signings. Arsenal promised, well, the cronkeys promised a strength in Arsenal over the summer. I believe they've done so primarily with Bruno Gamarish in the middle of the park, over $100 million he cost Arsenal. Statement signing of new castles kept in there very much. He improves the team as a playmaker, box-to-boxer, and perhaps most importantly takes a bit of the load off of Declan Rice, who needs the load taken off of him, certainly at this point in his career. A very good signing for their needs is Bruno Gamarish, I would argue. We've also got the arrival of Greece forward, Christos Zonis, to replace Leandro Trossard. He's good. I think that's good in the community. In the community she owed, he was involved with all the good stuff. So I'm feeling good about him, Greg, are you? Yeah, I mean, he was one of the players who reptiles to shreds for this Greece team that's definitely going to do something over the next few years with a minute of young talent that they've got. So we've got a preview of how good he is, and yeah, he's looked brilliant in preseason. He's not, he's not vanishes, junior, for Arsenal. There's still some disappointed that they weren't able to land that deal, but I get the sense that Solus is going to be a starting figure. Unless they bring a superstar in for that left wing position, I think the way things are shaping up, he's going to have that position for the start of the season. So I like him a lot. Yeah. Likewise, it seems that way, very similar numbers to Trossard as well. Superplacement for him. Trossard now at the Shictus, of course. What else have we got to talk about here? We have Vinnie, Jr. They didn't get him. Did they? They've tried really hard. I might have helped give him because of suckers injury concerns in recent times. Hey, they tried, guys. They tried. I knew that. I knew that. To be clucked out. They didn't get to do that. They tried really hard. But we knew that. They tried. They tried. They also tried to get. I'll try to get extra content from Villa as well. One might have been more in process this week, we will see. They had a good preseason. I should say with the community shield, also actually not that great in terms of wins and losses. I know that doesn't count much. But we got Max Downman on the field, scoring and shining in a game against your owner, lost to Patisse, lost to Dortmund and a draw with Como. They did the unthinkable as well. They played MK Don's in a closed door friendly. Closed door games for MK Don's are very similar to their open door attendances, just you know. I knew that was Arsenal. Yep, yep. Their manager is Michaela Teta, the longest serving Premier League manager after Pep Guardiola's departure. Apparently he's going to be signing a new contract after entering the last year of his current deal. I imagine that's an easy decision for Arsenal to make at this point. He could be the key for Arsenal. Consistency, he provides. All the other big boys have changed their managers. Arsenal have not. There are nine new Premier League managers this season, Michaela Teta, not one of them. I think we're all reasonably familiar with what our Teta does, set pieces, wrapping up the opposition at corners. Might be a bit more scrutiny this season, given some of the antics in the last season, that win over West Ham in May was quite controversial. If you remember, Caster Minds back to that with the West Ham, they equaliser being disallowed, such and such. Got that style that aggravates opponents, quite physical, possession-dominant, positionally disciplined, emphasis on creating overloads, particularly in the wide positions, getting those wide players to isolate the fallbacks is very much a hallmark of the Ardetta style. This team can win ugly as well, which is a very good hallmark. Other team that does very well, they're difficult to play through, of course. I've mentioned some of the key players already, but key injuries, I think, is something that might define Arsenal, certainly in the first half, opening part of this season. Declan Rice's workload is going to have to be managed very carefully. He's got some neural pain in his hamstring and lower back. He's been managing since December. We saw him managing that through the World Cup, of course, as well. Kyosaka, similarly at Ham to manage his workload. William Sleaver, we didn't see him in the community shield. You're in Timber, also, as a growing injury. We're not sure when Sleaver's coming back. I think I'm not sure. I've seen any definitive idea of when he comes back. He's absent in pre-season. They had a lost adortment, I mentioned, a 32 loss, a lot of fans saying that kind of showed their defensive frailty, the lack of Sleaver, in that game. So we'll see how much that impacts them. What I am hoping to see is a bit more maxed down than mentioned in his name already. 16-year-old, he's 17 in December. Hope he gets a bit more playing time this season. And as mentioned, he's already done well in pre-season, so we shall see. Success for this team, as I say, I think it's a win or it's a second place. I don't think much below that will be very acceptable for Arsenal at this point. Final four of the Champions League, they expect to get the sammys in the Champions League as well. And a serious FA Cup run. That's a lot on the plate for Arsenal, but that's basically where they're at in terms of expectations. I don't think much less is acceptable. One last thing for you. I know I've been talking a mile a minute, but I'd like to give you my very specific prediction. Arsenal Football Club this season, they will have an average possession of over 58%. Hmm. Do you need anything for you? Last season, they had a 56.1% average possession, Taylor's none. Shaking his head is not doing it for him. And I think we knew that we would all shake our heads. I think you're not doing it. Oh, no, it's fine. Keep going. Last season, 56.1% around 51% against the top half teams, around 65% average possession against the bottom half of the Premier League. They were fourth in the league for possession. Who wants to guess who had a higher average possession than Arsenal last? Manchester City. Yes. Two more. Right. Liverpool. Not Brighton Liverpool. Yes. One more. This is surprising one. Chelsea? Chelsea. Yeah. There you go. It wasn't good at the quizzing today. Arsenal specifically want the ball in the final third. They want the ball in certain positions on the field. Arsenal, ESPN excuse me, calculated they had 62.4% possession in the final third last season. So obviously they're quite dominant in certain areas of the field. I think the difference maker, perhaps, for the average possession going up. My rationale for this is the aforementioned Bruno Gabbardish. I think he's going to improve that possession structure, comfortable receiving the ball under pressure, progressing it forward should dominate in the middle even more. Hence, I'll go there for over 50% average possession, thanks to Bruno. We do talk about Bruno Graham. We do. On this show, another Pixar reference there. Ryan reminds me of what the possession show was against the top teams, however you define it. 51% in the top half. Yeah. So I think that's key, right? Because that is where I want to see evolution from Arsenal. I think it's where a lot of their own fans want to see evolution as their ability to impose their game on the strongest opponents. Because as much as they have made a huge amount of progress under Michaela Teta, there is a real sense now, particularly with the amount of change at the top end of the Premier League for this season. There's an opportunity for them to become the predominant force in the Premier League in the way that man's city were for a long time, maybe not for quite as long a time as Manchester City, but they seem very firm favorites for the title this season, but they are going to have to turn the dial to be more imposing against the best opponents, particularly in the Champions League if they want to win that competition or win multiple trophies in the season. And watching them in the community shields, I was a little bit fearful that Arsenal were just going to be burnt out after last season and then the World Cup. So Leibas out injured, SACA still getting up to speed, Declan Rice played over 5,500 minutes for club and country last season, which is a little more than anyone else in Europe's big five leagues. So I don't know. I saw a club of him walking into preseason. He was like limping. So I don't know how long it's going to take him to get up to speed. So I was a bit fearful that Arsenal were going to be a bit jaded in that game. And there wasn't a bit of that at all. And actually players like Martin Odegard, I thought had his best performance, I know it's the community shield, right? But the way that he was able to create in that game, scored a brilliant third goal, he's the kind of player. If we get more of him that he could make a difference for Arsenal this season. So that's where I want to see them make an evolution this year. There we go. Anyone going to challenge me that Arsenal won the Premier League? I think they're going to win the Premier League. I mean, I don't feel good about anybody winning the Premier League, but I think Arsenal is the one I feel the least bad about. The continuity angle you mentioned Ryan I think is spot on. Just look at the lack of business that Arsenal did. And I mean that complimentary fashion. And you couple that with the fact that there is legitimate carryover from what they built last season. And that they do something different than I think most of the other big clubs on the plan. I think that gives them something of advantage as well. They would be my pick if you really gunned ahead of me today. I won't do that. Just say no. No pressure. Not even for the gunners. Hey, let's can it it up. All right. What say we'll take a little pause and when we come back, Joe is going to tell us about Asden Villa. Taylor is going to tell us about Bournemouth. All right. We'll agree. Let's break. See you in a bit. Total soccer show. Welcome back to Premier League previews. Part one. We go now to the village of Asden, Joe Larry, tell us all about Villa who finished fourth last season. I've been hearing a lot about one of their promising young forwards. Brian Major. Oh. I'm sure he's going to come up in your preview. Tell us more. He very much is going to come in my preview. His section expanded after the Super Cup the other day, but he was already in the list before then. Now, what did Asden Villa do last season? Ryan said already they finished fourth with 65 points. It was a great season for Villa, truly. I mean, one that I think fans will remember for a long, long time, qualified for the Champions League based off of their league finish. Then they won the Europa League just to make darn sure that everybody knew they were going to be in the Champions League. They beat Freiberg in that final. It was a bit of an up and down season for Villa. I suppose all things considered but far more up than down. They were winless in their first five in the league than they won 12 of their next 13 and then kind of mixed results until the end of the season. Maybe a situation where Villa did bend a bit from some of the traditional large clubs, not having good seasons whatsoever. They also were 12th and expected goal differential, which we talked about a good bit last season, just how effective Villa were at converting shots from distance. They have now lost though one of their big long shot boys, Morgan Rogers. So in terms of what they've done this summer, they sold Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for 138 million euros. He started 37 games last year. He had 10 goals to assist in the league. It was a record fee for a British player. He's gone. So that's a major attacking contributor that they are going to need to find production elsewhere now in his absence. Yuri Telemans is off to Manchester United for 41 million euros. He started 21 games for them last season. Had four assists in the Premier League. Good ball mover at the base of who and I am where he's midfield. Lucas Dignier is off to PSG for 7 million euros. He started 21 games last year. Six assists was productive for them going forward. As Reconza read, you mentioned him in the last segment. He might be leaving for Arsenal. It's a little bit of a will he won't he we don't really know. It seems like a not insignificant chance that he does end up moving to Arsenal as they look to replace the lead. But in the short term, that would be a big blow. He started 34 games in them last year. Leon Bailey looks at to leave another mainstay. Maybe the the most asked and villi player in my heart and he Martinez has had a will he won. He with you. They all summer long. It looks like he won't. Humans soccer goalkeeper, not fuzzy dog, just to be clear. The one who also bet farewell to Arsenal last year and then you know, stayed and played a full season. That's exactly right. Today Graham is one year anniversary of Amy Martinez, the cat food, not the Argentine goalkeeper being in my house. It could have been both. There's a sign. There's a sign. Well, TV remote, switch up, change. What was that game again? It doesn't matter. Everything is pointing to we don't know what's going to happen with Amy Martinez. But if he ends up moving, there's been reports that he would like to play somewhere other than England. They've also seen a set piece coach, an assistant coach and an individual coach exit. We should also note, terms of World Cup injuries, Amidu O'nana, the Belgian center made who made 21 starts for them in the league last year. He tours ACL and the World Cup and will miss a huge chunk of this season as a result. Lots of he outgoings or at least maybe a couple of outgoings more beyond the ones that are actually official, that trio of more meaningful ones. But some really incoming as well and I'm interested in a lot of this business for Villa. The midfield leader to refresh with those outgoings. So they signed Yon Manzambi, the World Cup Wonder Boy who was already for sure on the profiles of all the base clubs on the planet for his play with Fryberg. 60 million euros, 20-year-old Swiss midfielder can play as Nate can play as a 10 and can play in the half-spaces. I really like Manzambi. Jaw Gomez has joined the 25-year-old Brazilian center made from Wolves. He's coming in for 40 million euros. I think you can see a pretty clear through line from Telemens exit to Jaw Gomez's arrival. They've also added young 20-year-old center golf center back, Madu Coba, Cisei, from last four or 5.5 million euros. They also are, apparently, close to adding Zain Suzuki. The could have been USman's national team goalkeeper who plays for Japan as their regular starter was at Parma last season. Yuvei were in for him. PSG were in for him. Now it looks like he's going to end up at Villa, which is adding more fuel to the fire of Willemium Martinez, human goalkeeper Go or stay. They're likely adding Mateo Rujeri, the 24-year-old left back from Athletica Madrid to help cover for Luca Dena's exit. They're also, apparently, interested in Erwan Basaka at right back to give some competition to Madi Cash. That doesn't seem like a surefire thing, but it could happen. Maybe the biggest name, though, across the board here that they've added is Alejandro Garnacho, the polarizing 22-year-old Argentine-winger. He's coming in on loan from Chelsea. There's an obligation to buy here if certain incentives are hit. Number of appearances, I believe, is the key there. He's a talented player. You take a swing on him. You don't play him a lot if you don't think he's going to stick around and you don't have to buy him forever. So, I quite like a lot of Villa's business. I don't think they're hugely better. I don't think they are hugely worse, either. So, it is a little bit of a wildcard. I think they are due for some natural regression after last season anyway, but I don't think that they have had a bad window, despite losing probably their best player Morgan Rogers. Maybe that's how high I am on Monzambi. I like getting younger, deeper in midfield with Gomez. I like some of the swings that they're taking on a player like Garnacho as well. So, I think there's real potential here for Aspen Villa, and then I amry, who is, of course, the manager of this club, the 54-year-old Spaniard, from the Bass Country. One of the incredibly large number of top-level coaches from Bass Country, a line that I will be reading verbatim on several more of my previews between now and the end of this week. He is former PSG Arsenal and VRL manager who has been at Villa since 2022 in the fall. He's the second longest-serving manager in the league, which kind of blew my mind. He's had a ton of success at Villa, especially relative to expectation. Only Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City have amassed more Premier League points in the three and a half years since Emory has arrived. That is a jaw-dropping statistic. For a manager of a non-major club to be in that category, it's tremendous. I mean, in the 2022-23 season, he took over Villa where 16th in the league, just one point above relegation, then they won 15 to 25 league games in Finters 7th, which was the highest the club had finished in more than a decade. Then they finished fourth, then next year made the Champions League, then they made the quarter-finals, then that Champions League run the following season, then last season, they did the stuff that we already said. Very impactful manager at Unai Emory. Unai Emory fact, ooh, everybody wants one. His grandfather can see to the first-ever goal in LaLiga. I don't know. That's true, though. Don't double-check that. But it is 100% true. Style of play for Unai Emory. His attacking play, I would say, is mixed in terms of the principles involved. Sixth in possession, but really more long pass heavy and more direct than the truly patient teams in the league last year. They liked to counter. A lot of times it was Telemens and John McGinn, he had the great backside. They would conduct counters while you had Morgan Rogers and Oli Watkins pushing forward higher up the field. They tend to possess out of a 4-2-3-1. I think that will probably stay the case this year as well. There was some fluidity there, of course, but they will build from the back at times, but also quite direct. Again, it's mixed. I think in how they play, they can be a bit chameleonically in that way. Defensively mixed as well. They were 11th in PPDA last year. Passed as a lot of per defensive action in indicating an indicator of pressing consistency. They were not the most pressiest of the pressing teams, but they also weren't a total low-block and bunker team. A lot of mid-block out of a 4-4-2 when they press it off and man-to-man and they do like to press against inferior teams. Many players, a lot of the guys that I mentioned, maybe Martinez and cons will be around. Maybe they won't. There's been replacements brought in. Certainly for Martinez, if that is the case, Maddie Cash, maybe Womba Socket right back. You could look at Ian Madsen and probably Rujeri left back, finding a way to battle for those minutes. Bupakar Kamara should be back in central midfield after recovering from his injury. John McGinn and Bupondia had a bit of a renaissance last year, Oli Watkins higher up the field. Then the youngster that Ryan mentioned, 17-year-old striker, Brian Madjo, he will play a part to one degree or another of this team this year. He feels like a guy with a wide range of outcomes, I suppose, as every 17-year-old is, made his league on debut for Mets last year at 16 or signed by Villa in January. There was a bit of a big hollow blue about his eligibility to play as an under-18 player. He has English eligibility. Anyway, boring stuff. All got settled. Now you can play for Aspenville this season. He started already and has been playing minutes for them before the Premier League season has gotten up and running because he started and scored against PSG in the Super Cup last week. He said that Emory is a huge fan of his. I'm sure that it's very true because when you watch this dude play, he's a giant. He doesn't move like a giant, which is complimentary. His ability to go and impact play in the box and also hold up play with some not raw on ball skill, really impressive. We could very much be looking at John Durand 2.0 here, but hopefully with maybe a slightly firmer head on his shoulders, I really like Madjo and he is one of the players I'm both looking forward to seeing in the league this year. That takes me to my VSP, which has nothing to do with him, but I suppose it could. Villa will only have one player, score at 3 plus goals from distance this season and by distance I mean outside the box. Last year, goals from long range for huge for Villa, they had a ton of shots from distance go in, 15 from outside the box, converted for them. Their shots from range, converted at a clip of 8.4%. On average, shots from outside the box typically convert at 3.6%. That is a staggering overperformance from Villa in that way. They were insanely successful at that stuff and along the way, they had 3 players. They had 3 of the 10 players who would score at 3 plus goals from outside the box in their squad last year. Again, Buendia, Morgan Rogers, they're not going to get that again. They're going to manufacture chances in different ways because they're going to have to. Can they do a good enough job at that to actually compete and try to claim another Champions League spot? The answer to that question is probably looming larger than any other for the coaching staff right now. That is one thing to watch for Villa. How do they create chances that aren't just hopeful pot shots? That's why I think they're probably only going to have one player score at 3 plus goals from outside the box this year. Joe, that's just like one key part of why I think this is a hugely transitional season for Asinville. Maybe they're able to stay competitive in that transitional season because I like some of their business and with you on that. But it's personnel, it's how they create opportunities and then the set pieces you mentioned it in passing, Austin McFee, who was their set piece coach, has gone to Chelsea as part of Javier Lanzo's new coaching staff and Asinville scored the joint most, joint most goals from set pieces across Europe alongside Arsenal. They were joined with Arsenal in the big five leagues last season. So that's a key part of how they score goals. Maybe they'll be able to keep up, you know, just because McFee's gone, doesn't mean that all the knowledge of that has gone out the window. But nonetheless, that is a big change. That's two really key parts of how this team scored goals last season that has a big old question mark ahead of it, and going into this year. Very good. Antonio Emory, by the way, Oudie Emory's grandfather, just the Google machine Tyler has confirmed to me that he was Real Unions goalkeeper, conceding the first goal in the Spanish top division history on February 10th, 1929. No more, you know. Thank you for providing that fact that no one else provided, I really appreciate it. There you are. Interesting, isn't it? Yeah. Is it great for a goalkeeper to be famous for a goal they conceded? No, no, it's not. No, it's not. No, it's not. Wrong place, wrong place. Wrong place. Wrong place. Wrong place. Wrong place. Wrong place. Wrong place. Wrong place. Wrong place. Taylor Oakwell, a F.C. Bull Muth time. Let's go. Not alphabetically first, except they are on some tables. It always confuses me. Yes. F.C. No less table. Talk about them. Yes. What did they do last season? The answer is a lot, which puts new manager Marco Rosa in a bit of a pickle. This is from the Guardian preview. Last season under Andoni Areola, the club absorbed the sales of key players, totaling more than $340 million. They didn't put it in dollars. I'm putting it in dollars. They did not lose a game after the sale of Antoine Simeño in the second week of January. And they qualified for Europe for the first time ever. So six place finished last season, qualified for Europa League. They are now in their 125th anniversary season. And under owner Bill Foley, who will soon have owned the club for about four years. They have built a new $40 million training facility. Last May, they reacquired the rights to the vitality stadium for the first time since they had to sell them due to financial difficulties in 2005. And now they have plans to expand pretty dramatically the size of the stadium. Admittedly, I think it's from like around 11,000 to around 23,000, but still that's quite the upgrade for a very small stadium. But it is a very like endearingly lovely stadium when you watch Bournemouth and you should, because they're fun. They've already started that expansion. I think it will be over 12,000 the capacity for this season. So it's kind of moving in the right direction. They have a lot of stability. They have a lot of vision for how they want to proceed. And I think Marco Rosa fits into that. Iriola has obviously departed at the end of last season. Marco Rosa was sort of lined up pretty quickly. He was sacked by her parted ways with life's sig last season after being there for a couple of years. And it went about the way it goes for Marco Rosa. And I'm skipping the key players for a moment because I wanted to ask you all, where are we on Marco Rosa? Like as a unit? Is he a good manager? Do we like him? Because I feel like there was a period where I thought he was the next up and coming thing. The next big thing. Then it kind of falls off. Then it goes back. Then it falls off. I think this is a very smart appointment, but I'm curious if the panel has any thoughts. Feels like Marco Rosa has to finish somewhere between 7th and 9th in the league. I don't know. That's just my, I don't know who casts that spell on him, but that's in my head, what has to happen? Yeah. 7th to 11th, I would say, is about what I got a 7-11, if you will, for Bournemouth this season. Welcome back to Rosa. Yes. Taylor Fonda in the summer. It's great. Grant's home away from home. But I think the Rosa signing will end up being very, very smart. He is not the only acquisition they've made for transfers. It gets, it gets confusing for a total of around $92 million. The biggest one I would say is of our Rodriguez brought in from L.J. for $29 million. He's a 22-year-old, six foot four-year-old, Spanish center-forward, left-footed, hardworking, good reads, very good runs, and a player that Marco Rosa had wanted to sign at Leipzig previously. He was one that was identified as a player that could help Bournemouth right away. I think Bournemouth had already had a good amount of data on him, so in he comes, and he is most likely to be the deputy slash maybe eventual slash maybe immediate replacement for Evan Eelsen up top. He took over at Winsomeno, the part of from Manchester City, and he had an okay season of Evan Eelsen, but it was not like the statistical attributes on fire sort of thing, where I think they're looking at maybe that as an area where they can certainly strengthen. They lose Marco Sinesee, they're long-standing center-back. He leaves on a free to go to Spurs, contract talks kind of broke down there. He wanted a move, and so he got one, Antonio Silva arrives for Benfica as a result for another $29 million, he's another 22-year-old player, but this one has a hundred appearances for Benfica plus 20 for Portugal, so he is likely to be your starting center-back, and it's representative of what Bournemouth do. They're bringing in like 20 to 22-year-old players who for like a good amount of money, but you would assume will hit because apparently that's all Bournemouth do is just find gems, and then they'll move them on, they'll make that money, they'll continue to bank it, they'll continue to develop and grow. That is the ideal, but then you do have strange setbacks, like Alex Jimenez. Let's talk about him for a moment, shall we? $21 million, he was on loan last season. They trigger the obligation to buy because he plays so many games, but then I'm going to go with kerfuffle, I'm going to go with social media incident, I'm going to go with maybe don't send messages to people who you don't know how old they are, but either way, he has a bit of a social media issue, is iced out of the club and has now been loaned away to Fiorentina, and I feel like the less it about him, the better. So income's one due sentias. So in the same window, they are obligated to spend over $20 million on a player that they're immediately getting rid of, and then they spend another 12 to 13 million to bring in the right-wing backslash, right-backslash, right-fullbackslash, right-wing or slash occasional central bidfielder that we know Bournemouth can find ways to utilize. It's going to be a very versatile team with a lot of different contributing parts, and I think that's how Marco Rosa wants it. He is very much a coach, schooled in the club, gig and pressing, high-pressing, high-intensity system. Once aggressive high-pressing, once instant counter-pressing, fast vertical attacks, and it's built around what Rosa himself caused, emotionality, hunger, and activity, it feels like a good recipe for cards and occasional goals. He is a bit more flexible in his approach. He can adapt it, but for the most part, I think it's going to look roughly like a 4, 4, 2, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, and I think there's going to be a bit of variety and experimentation as we go. I don't think he's just going to go with a straight-up set standard 11 every single game, but I think the team itself is going to look very similar from one performance to the next. I think this is a smart appointment because I'm kind of buying into the idea that Marco Rosa is a coach who has a ceiling, essentially, and that ceiling is not a team that's challenging for the title. It's not a team that's going to go far in the Champions League. Even though he's gotten a life-sick there before, he feels like a coach who gets everybody on board, gets everybody bought into the system, but it's a really intense, really demanding system. And at a certain point, if you've got a ton of big personalities and big personas, maybe they don't want to do that. Maybe they want to adjust it. Maybe they want to adapt it. Both with Dortmund and with life-sick, he had good starts, players got bored, players got moved on, and then the kind of performance is dipped. They didn't have the consistency that they'd had to start. And I wonder if had a club like Bournemouth where the entire identity is like fight and survive and find a way to stay up, find a way to stay in the Premier League. That might be where he really does thrive and really does get a ton of buy-in. And so I think Bournemouth will be a really fun team to watch this season because they are very much underdogs, but also consistently punch above their weight. And they have so many good players in this team that are worth keeping an eye on. We can run through a few of them really quickly. Marcus Tavinier is probably their most important player in terms of goals, in terms of assists, in terms of effort and leading by example. He is a playmaker who functions kind of in like out-wide in the 4222. He's one of the two wider ones, but then they kind of move into the half-spaces when the fullbacks get more advanced. I think Tyler Adams will still be a key player for this Bournemouth team. You never know with injuries, you never know with fitness, and you never know with the new manager coming in. But he does seem like he is going to stay as one of the kind of two double pivots in the system that I've already outlined. I won't say the numbers again. And I think we'll be a little bit deeper of the two. Lewis Cook is probably likely to deputize for him if and when he's injured, which could be the first game. We'll find out soon. I mentioned some of the incoming signings, and I think those are just so important because I do think they make this team stronger. I think they solidify them in areas of need. And then in the other areas they were already stronger already had players like Ryan, for example, who comes in last season once the menu leaves. There's interest from him from Spain and Italy, notably Ramadrid. I don't know how serious that interest was, but Bournemouth hold on to him. And I think with a full season, I think he's going to be another really important player out on the wing. Eli Jr. Kruppi is what's going to be probably their most important player. 13 goals in all competitions. He became their top scorer after Cimeño left 19 years old from France, a strong debut after arriving from L'Oreal last summer, but he is now out three to four months after breaking him out of Tarsol. So there is some level of a question mark, a size of a question mark, what it comes to who's going to be scoring the goals and how functional that attack is going to look from the jump. But I, again, I think this is a Bournemouth theme that have like weathered the storm in the past, even with the new manager coming in, even with the, like, the height like highly successful season that they had under Iriola, I think they can still continue to improve and continue to strengthen and continue to be a really fun Premier League team. And with all that said, there's one name I have not said yet. And I do feel like I need to mention him for one of our co-hosts. Let's talk Ben Ganondoke, shall we? Yes. I think here's my VSP for you. This is ridiculous. I'm not going to get this. I'm going to get half of it. I'll say that. Ben Ganondoke will score his first Premier League goal this season and have his strongest tactical, statistical season, maybe tactical too, statistical season in England in terms of goal scored in all competitions, which doesn't sound like much because I don't believe he scored, as I said, a goal in the Premier League yet. I think he has one assist in the Premier League so far, but he does have a season in the champo with Middlesbrough where he got three goals and seven assists. So I am saying he's going to do as good or better than that. And that's, I'd love that. Not a small feat for a player that again has one assist in the Premier League so far. But last season, he missed a ton of time. He only gets, I think, 113 minutes in totality due to injury. And I think there's born a team with the Europa League with a bit more depth, but with the new manager coming in is still going to have so much rotation to do that. I think Ganondoke is going to get more starts than he did last season, not just because of the injury, but I think just because there's more games. But I think he's also going to get more minutes subbing on or coming on as an impact sub. And I really was impressed by him this summer with Scotland at the World Cup. I didn't think Scotland put him in a position to succeed necessarily, but I still think he tried. He tried to cook. He tried to create. He tried to take people on. He played with physicality and hunger and intensity and those are all the qualities that it seems like Marco Rosa and Bournemouth want. And I think he probably would have had a stronger season if he hadn't gotten injured. So I think this could be this start of a breakout for him. I don't know if this will be the breakout campaign, but it's insane to be talking about a player who is only 20 who feels like they've been around for 10 years at this point. But he is only 20. Still has a lot of room to develop and improve, but I think this could be a big jump of a season for him because I want it to be because I want Graham to be happy. So that is my VSP. I turned it to Graham before Ryan can be caddy. Thanks. Thank you for that. Also, yeah, it feels like he's been around for 10 years only because I've been speaking about him for the best part of 10 years. And he now has a name. He's actually got two names, rather than I believe we used to call him the kid with a big head. A few seasons ago, but he clearly has. He has a lot of ability. It's fitness as the issue for Ganondok as you referenced there, Taylor. Just turning it to another Bournemouth signing that they've made this summer, because they're so good at finding value in the transfer market, I think Antonio Silva has the potential to be one of the best additions in the entire league. Like what did they pay for him? $20. $29. $29. $29. $29. $29. $29. $29. $29. $29. $29. And he does seem to have, um, Lassie and seems to have stalled a little bit of Enfika, but that's what Bournemouth do. Like they find players who maybe haven't, they're not the top assets at that particular time, but they've still got the ability, they've still got the attack, the talent. And I would not be surprised if even in a year's time, the top clubs in the Premier League are looking at paying like three times or two or three times for him. I think you're going to stand in time. I laughed. I laughed as you said, Silva, because I was wondering which of the new Bournemouth players it was going to be because I've known a little bit about Alvaro Rodriguez, the striker that you mentioned, Taylor. I went through just to refresh my memory, Taylor, as you were finishing that. He finished in terms of non-penetly expected goals per 90 minutes and like almost exactly the same tier of players as Gonzalo Garcia, Aral Madrid is not full of them. Anton Griezmann, Adam Alalucman and Rafinha, this past season, of course, he's a different player than all of those players. But it's such a born-less signing, you go and look, oh, he scored seven goals in the league last year, whoop to do, you know, what's so impressive about that. Well, yeah, the underlying numbers are ridiculous. And he is another really promising young player. At this point, I just expect whoever born with lands to basically become a player that they can flip for twice as much as they got and hopefully helps them climb up the table along the way. Yeah, till I love that you highlighted those guys. And really, everything I read about him and then what I watched of him, it's just like he fits every single thing. He's got the physicality, he's got the Sasha Collegic and the Benjamin Cheshko kind of like height that I think Rosa has had at points. But then he has like the technical ability and control and the work rate. I think he's going to do great. I think Silva Graham, to your point, is another one who I think twice now, he has been kind of dropped from the starting 11 at Benfica at different points. I think largely because he's perceived as not being as good on the ball. And for all the world, that feels to me like a same universe as the Sunderland Scouts in Sunderland till I die being like, oh, he's a great player, he's got good technique, but he's wearing gloves. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if he's any good. He's wearing gloves. It always feels like Bournemouth are able to kind of like see through some of the haze. And again, we'll do some passing drills with him. He'll be fine. And then he'll be a hundred million pound center back that will sell next season. We'll be all right. So it does seem like they're able to kind of find the assets that they want that they need that maybe have some rough edges, maybe have some deficiencies that other clubs are going to then shy away from or don't want to have to kind of pony up the money that they would be required to pay. But once Bournemouth had that player for a season or a half season, then there's an established pedigree. Then they can bring them over. So it does feel like good business, even with Alex him and as now playing for another club, despite being made permanent about 12 hours ago. Just very quietly before we move on, and Selva has played 183 games for Benfield, he's 22 years old. He's got 20 Portugal caps and they've signed them for 29 million euros. I can't see anything but upside on him. I think it's a tremendous sign. He's old gold. I'd love to hear it. Very good. Thank you for making up for last season when I was optimistic about Bournemouth and all of you were like, they're getting relegated. Now everybody's way more positive on Bournemouth and I don't know what to think. Oh, so they get a finish full taste this season then. I think they are probably closer to 10th than they are six. I think that was an incredible season. I think Joe and Graham have already pointed out some of the deficiencies with themes ahead of them that maybe will be or that should be ahead of them that probably will be back to their more traditional spots there around. I think Bournemouth is just going to be a transition. It's going to be a new coach battling Europa League, battling Thursday night and then having to play on a Saturday or a Sunday. It's going to be a harder season but I think staying around mid table and maybe making into the knockout rounds of the Europa League is going to be a very fun season for Bournemouth supporters. Very good. Wonderful stuff. Let's take one more quick break when we come back. We've got some Brentford and Brighton coming at you. Join us then. Total soccer show. Welcome back to our Premier League previews. Couple of teams left in this episode spiritually paired by sports betting. I'm going to suggest. Graham Rutherford is going to tell us about Brentford who finished in the middle of the pack last year. What say you, Graham? Yeah. Brentford, a really interesting club. A club that have only recently, I guess, in the last few years established themselves in the Premier League. Before that, they were very much a lower league team. I think for a lot of their existence, Ryan Furtissé, kind of on a par with AFC Wimbledon around that level. So their rise in the last few years has been pretty incredible. They're actually originally a rowing club and then decided to adopt a new sport. And they had a vote and soccer narrowly beat rugby in the vote. So they were very nearly a rugby club instead. But last season, I just found that a fascinating little fact when I did my research. But Brentford last season, they defied all the preseason doom and gloom to have a very good campaign. And I owe them apology and apology because I tip them for relegation after losing Thomas Frank and so many key players. They did. They showed me and all the naysayers by having their joint best Premier League season. They finished in the top half. And for a long time, Luke Desmond qualified for European football for the first time in their history. That's where the one disappointment was because they fell away slightly. They faded a little bit towards the end of the season. They missed out on Europe on the final day. But I was still a season that really proved the strength of the Bournemouth model, which is pretty established at this point. That model has been tested once again over the summer. And Henderson has gone. He's joined Chelsea, which is not something I expected to say even a few weeks ago, particularly when he broke his wrist celebrating at the Aztec of England. I don't really get it, but Hendo played close to 2,000 league minutes for Brentford last season. So that is a pretty big hole to be plugged in central midfield. Igor Thiago is still a Brentford player when there are surely other clubs looking at him after season in which he scored 22 league goals, only Erling Halland scored more than him. But even with Thiago stating, the question is, can he do it again? Or was that a one off great season for him? So we're going to find out. In terms of incoming sightings, there is no question who the big new arrival is in my eyes and in the eyes of most Brentford fans and that's Mamadou Senghari. He was at the heart of the lawns midfield that pushed PSG so close in league on last season. And he had been linked with Arsenal and Liverpool and Manchester United. And there was even a tentative link to Barcelona for a while. So for Brentford to get him as a real coup, I don't think anyone expected him to go to a club of Brentford size. Elliot Anderson and Ezekiel Palacios, who plays for Leverkusen. The only players who averaged more possession regains in Europe's top five leagues last season than Senghari for long. So that is going to make him perfect for the way that Brentford played. I think a lot of fans believe that actually losing Hendo and bringing in Senghari while he has a bit of an unknown quantity in the Premier League might actually be an upgrade in their midfield unit. They've also brought in Jaden Antony from Burnley, who was one of Burnley's few impressive players last season in the Premier League and a young centre-back called Yannick Schuster from Redville, Salzburg. I could believe it's going to, particularly given Brentford's strength in the centre-back pool, I think, is going to be a developmental player. I'm not sure how much we're going to see of him this season. In terms of their manager, Keith Andrews is still their manager after a very impressive first season. He still has great here, among the best here in the Premier League in my opinion, and he has proved a lot of people wrong because most people, including myself, find his appointment a year ago pretty uninspiring. I still feel like people overlook him, although that's probably because there is recognition now that the gold in Brentford is in their model, and I guess it doesn't really matter who their manager is. But I think that's an unfair reading of Keith Andrews who did a good job of stabilising things last season. I think there is a world where the wrong appointment still could have destroyed things for Brentford last season. They didn't make the wrong appointment appointment, and Keith Andrews put his mark on this team while also being the continuity. Candidate, he was Brentford's former set-piece coach, and set-pieces are a big part of how they play. Slightly confusing, however, is the fact that they scored only ten set-piece goals last season, which was their lowest number in a Premier League season, yet no club in the Premier League last season was more reliant on free kicks, corners and throw-ins to generate shots. So that's a confusing statistic where they maybe didn't convert as many of those chances as they would have liked, but it's still a big part of how they play, I guess they could do with being a little bit more clinical within those situations this season. In terms of their general style of play, Brentford, I mean, they've played with the same principles for a number of seasons now, which is to say that they play a fast and highly direct game. They used to have the most lethal counterattack in the Premier League under Thomas Frank, and I think Keith Andrews has retained that quality as to a certain extent. It's maybe not quite as lethal as it used to be, but you'll still see fast attacks from them. Formation-wise, it is generally a 4-2-3-1, and they play Igor Teago as the attacking focal point. They get runners up to support him, and when it all comes together, Brentford are one of the most exciting teams in the league to watch, like Speed is their thing. I think Bournemouth, maybe last season, supplanted them as like the most exciting, potent counterattack in team, but Brentford still do a lot of that good stuff, and I'll quickly run through some of their key players here. I mentioned one already, Igor Teago, 22 goes in the league last season, went to the World Cup with Brazil, started the first game, then lost his place in the team, but he's one of the most reliable goal scoring strikers in the Premier League. He's strong, he's physical, he gets on the end of crosses, he takes up good positions in the box. There's a run with the ball, like the way that Brentford play, he has to turn and run with the ball. In that sense, he kind of reminds me of like a poundland remeil LaCaco, like I see a lot of LaCaco. I know you guys love the poundland reference when I bring it out. I think it's justified here. I really like their attacking line in general, which has Michael Damsgarde as they created a number 10 position. No Brentford player created more big chances than Damsgarde last season. Then it's Kevin Shada on the left, who I think fans believe was a little bit inconsistent, but it's still capable of producing a good moment. Then Dango Otara on the right and Otara came in from Bournemouth last summer. He's really quick to get into the box to be a penalty, but box presence, so he's an important player. And then defensively Brentford have a lot of strength. I'll just list off some names here, Chris Varrier, who was obviously good at the World Cup for Norway, Nathan Collins, Seth Vandeberg. They played two centre backs and a back four. They kind of rotate those three. I think all three are high level, all round defenders, capable of defending their own box. When he crosses in the air, they pose a threat from set pieces, all very comfortable in the ball as well. Then the final keeper, I'm going to highlight is Kevin Kelaher, who I think is one of the best goalkeepers in the league, made a couple of blunders towards end of the season, which ultimately may have cost Brentford with their European qualification or lack of European qualification, but he is generally a great shot stopper and is also quite modern in terms of how he can play out from the back as well. There is a lot to like about the Brentford squad, and so to finish off with my VSP, I predict that Brentford will be in the top three for set piece goals this season. That would be a huge up swing. They were 16th for set piece goals last season in the Premier League, but their set piece XG was 19. They scored just 10, as I mentioned, 19 goals would have put them second, so I think there is going to be a big correction there, because I haven't seen anything to suggest that Brentford won't be so focused on set pieces this season. Andrews is still the manager. I think last season was a little bit of a fluke, and as I say, I think they're going to be top three for set piece goals. Graham, do you think with their business and with that, do you think they're going to be better this year than last season, or how would you equate their summer really to how it will impact their season this year? Yeah, I mean, there hasn't been a huge a lot of business in terms of players who are going to replace starting figures, right? I mean, Senghari is the one coming in for Henderson. Henderson, they played 2,000 minutes last season, but I think towards the end of the campaign there was already the sense that Brentford actually needed to evolve from him. I don't think you could get another 2,000 minutes of him this season. So in that sense, like they've upgraded in a key part of the pitch, I think Senghari is going to be really useful as like a pivot for them as sort of like a two-way central midfielder. He's perfect for what Brentford needs. So in that sense, I guess they could be stronger, and when I look at some of this statistical, I've got some teams in these previews where they overperformed their numbers, and I'm kind of predicting they might fall away a little bit. I think Brentford did the other way around, like they, it's so impressive that they had such a good season, and then you look at a lot of their underlying numbers and actually they underperformed. So if they're able to keep a lot of the same principles again, then actually they could be looking at an even stronger season. The one question mark would be, can he get a Teago score 22 league goals in a season again, or was that a one-off? So I'm broadly positive about their chances. He can, yes. Thanks. Cool. I still like to see it though. Ah, wouldn't we all, wouldn't we all. As with the Brentford fans, I imagine. Thank you very much, Graham. One more team to talk about on this episode. That is Brighton, who are in their 10th consecutive Premier League season. What a time. They kick off home to Aston Villa on Sunday, but before that, they've got some Thursday night soccer coming. The conference league playoff round, everybody. Woo! They are going to Tromzzo about as far north in Europe as you could go home in the midnight sun. Lovely nice long trip to start the campaign with four Brighton. I imagine it won't be a strong starting first 11 going to Norway for that one, but that's where you'll see them first in action on Thursday. Last season, they finished eight. That was good enough for the aforementioned conference league qualification. They were sixth on Matchday 34. They lost three to last four games. They fell away a bit towards the end. I did a few teams, actually, a few teams I'm previewing. They celebrated getting to Europe after a three-neil loss to Man United on the last day, which you may remember. The fourth round are both cups as well. They finished between sixth and 11 in the last five seasons to eighth is right in the Brighton zone for them. Their top scorer last season was Danny Welbeck. He gone. We can talk about that a bit later as well. I think for this season, obviously, they're going to try and get in the Brighton zone around the eighth position finish again, but the conference league, I think, has to be a really strong target for this Brighton team this year. In the similar way to the West Ham and Crystal Palace going all the way, this is, I think, the teams of Brighton's ilk are treating this as easier to progress in than the domestic cups. I think that's a very good target for them. Thursday to Sunday, as Taylor mentioned, that's sort of cadence of two games a week, which Bournemouth will have is a rhythm for them. It will be a new challenge, well, for the first time since 2024 for them. What have they done over the summer, Brighton? A lot of defensive rebuilding. Big center back signing from Tottenham is Luca Vyschkevic, teenager who's coming in because they, you know, they sold a center back to Tottenham as well, more on him shortly. They paid, they paid 46 million for him, spurt a 12 million for Vyschkevic. So he's appreciated quite well, should we say? That's a big fee. Like Vyschkevic was good in the Bundesliga and I kind of thought Spurs might try and integrate him, but what do you say, around 46 million euros? Yeah. That's a lot. Like, they're going to have to flip, I mean, the whole Brighton model as they flip these players, right? They're clearly have a lot of stock in him because he's going to have to be good for them to sell them for more than that. Well, Brighton, as I was alluded to, sports betting is in their blood. They made a bet here, haven't they? They've traded Van Hecker for Vyschkevic, basically, a younger model, pocketed a difference there. So we'll see if that bet pays off for Brighton. We'll be intriguing to see if it does, but Vyschkevic was at Hamburg, obviously last season, very highly rated. Also, it's on free kick duties, might be threatening your set-piece record for Brentford, Graham, you never know. A great positioning plate from the back as well. So we'll be interested to see how he gets on in Premier League, Pascal Stryk, has come in as a centre-back from Leeds as well, and a right-back replacing Joel Veltman, who's gone to West Ham. We have Kostinia coming in from Olympia, of course, as well. So very much, a defensive rebuild from Brighton, as Mo noted, and a slightly different profile, younger, more athletic profile of players for Babyboy Hurtsley here, aiming for a bit more stability at the back than last season. A couple of other players, as you mentioned, shout out to Johanna, coming in for 21 and a half million from AIK in Sweden, who'll be on the right side of attack as well. He's a player, Johanna, he's a real player. He's a soccer player. Yes. Is he going to come up later, more riders, or should I do my spiel now? Do your spiel. Do it. Okay. A really dynamic Brightwanger, who didn't play a whole lot of league minutes in the Auschwitz skin in the Swedish top flight, but had interest from Champions League level clubs, and basically, his Swedish club came out and said, we had bigger offers on the table, but he wanted to go to Brighton because he wanted to play now and really get a chance to get minutes. I think it's a brilliant move for him as a player. I think he could be sort of the next young Cuba Minta, who I was a huge fan of and still I'm a huge fan of, but he is, he's absolutely someone to watch on the wing as well. There you go. Praise from Lowry. Wonderful stuff. Is that it Johanna? Look out for him as well. They have, as noted, lost a couple of key players. Danny Wellbeck has gone to Chelsea as we noted, and Jampel Van Hecker has gone to Tottenham the other way from Fushkiewicz. That is a bit they have made this season. They are very much bankrupt by Sports betting's Tony Bloom as well, who's got interest in hearts. Will his heart be torn away from his boyhood club? I don't think so, but he's got his interest in other places as well, has Tony Bloom, Fabian Babyboy. That's still the manager at Brighton. He's got a three new, a new three year contract back in May. He's got two seasons in the bag already with Brighton. Sometimes a energetic presence on the sidelines, is that what we'll say for Hurtzler? I think that's what we'll say. Very much aligned with Brighton in terms of their identity and their long-term plan. He's getting increasingly popular with fans as well as Hurtzler and delivering good underlying numbers. The defensive rebuild I mentioned, presumably part of the Hurtzler plan here, control possession, intelligent build-up patterns, midfield strong, progressing the ball, doing all the good Brighton things, liking to attack from the channels as well, you know, pressing intensity and charts creation all big hallmarks of the Babyboy that we know about at this point we'll see what's about lovely stuff going ahead this season. They want the ball, they're not scared to get it vertical. I suppose there's a difference, maybe with Hurtzler's and Deserby with Brighton, maybe a bit less ponderous in the defensive third, I'd say, just getting it forward. I suppose there's a bit more what Hurtzler's all about, a bit more lightning and thunder should we say for them. Looking to create overloads in the final thirds, get the wingers with the one-on-ones, all the fashionable stuff that all the big clubs are doing basically is what Brighton are doing there as well. A staff from the Guardian, the two Manchester clubs will be only sides who scored more Premier League goals and Brian in regular play last season, that's a pretty impressive stat I'd say as well. So maybe that speaks to the high intensity, the vertical nature of Hurtzler's play as well. Some other key players to quickly touch on for Brighton, Shalampos Kostoulos who's filling in for the departed Danny Wellbeck, showed a bit of promise last season, might need to show a bit more promise this season I would suggest. Also his compatriots to Farnos, Timas is in contention, he's coming off an ACL injury as well. There is a feeling among the Brighton contingent they need to sign a striker, probably the biggest weakness they have is a proven goal scorer with the departure of Danny Wellbeck. So we'll see, they're great at build-up play, they're great at the chance creation, but we did see last season when Wellbeck was out, they did sort of suffer when the bit of putting the ball in the net which is quite the important bit. So Kostoulos would be expected to fill that role I would imagine. Also important for this team is the injuries to a few players, Matoma staying healthy is going to be very important for Brighton this season, I believe he's cropped at the moment. Evan Ferguson as well, getting back into some good form, I think will be pivotal for Brighton too, I believe he's carrying an injury at the moment as well. When is he not? Very soon. I honestly had forgotten about him, seems a long time ago that people were talking about him as a 100 million pound striker, but when he was hot stuff, he was hot stuff, right? Oh yeah, for sure, yeah, it's just the last couple years have been dire for him, he just can't sleep that. That's a shame, it's a shame. So hopefully he gets a bit more consistency in his game too. My very specific prediction is that the defensive rebuild will pay dividends for Brighton and Hove Albion, at least 12 clean sheets in the Premier League this season. That's what I'm going for. The defensive structure, younger, more athletic, they kept 10 clean sheets last season. So I'm going for at least two more this season. I'm putting faith in that newly built defense, the bet that they've made paying off. I think last season they can see the 46th or 3rd fewest in the league. I think they're going to be quite good defensively, they're going to be rigid, they're going to be finishing in the Brighton zone. I think they're going to get a deep run in the conference league as well. Ladies and gentlemen, Brighton and Hove Albion, I like it. Cool. Thanks. Good. Hopefully Brighton proved to because it seems like I suppose a lot teams at similar Brighton, so the slight tweaking of the formula they're doing here. So we shall see evolution, not revolution, etc. And so on. There we go. That is our first batch of Premier League previews in the bag. Episode two of our previews is to get a hit the feed on Tuesday in which we're going to talk about Chelsea, Coventry, Crystal Palace, Everton and Fullham. Don't forget Fullham, please don't forget Fullham. But for now, that's our Premier League previews for Monday. Taylor Rockwell, thank you very much indeed for your contributions. The pleasure was my, my friend. It's good to be back. It's good to be with you all and it's good to see Graham try to remember that Fullham exists. Never come on, Graham. Come on. Thanks, yes. Thank you very much, Graham brother. Thank you, Graham. Billy. Thank you, Joe Larry. Thanks, Graham. And thank you very much indeed, listener for joining us on this one plenty more Premier League previews to come down the pipe this week. But for now, bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
