Six Premier League teams who could regret not strengthening in key areas | Premier League

A round of games since the transfer window closed on Friday seems like an appropriate time to start wondering whether anyone made any glaring mistakes with their summer business, right?

It may be a little early, but many fans were disappointed that their club failed to sign anyone who was in a position where they felt there was a gap to fill. Were there any possible oversights in the transfer window? Premier League Did teams overlook a position they perhaps should have strengthened and might come to regret their decision? Here are six suggestions.

Chelsea – striker

Chelsea were closer to signing every player in football than to signing no one, but their failed attempts to sign a couple of players at the last minute Renowned forwards in Victor Osimhen and Ivan Toney showed they wanted to improve in attack. Coach Enzo Maresca admitted as much, saying a week before the transfer window closed: “If we have the chance to bring in a number 9 who can help us and make the difference, we will try.”

In the end, there were no further additions at centre-forward and Chelsea are heading into the Maresca era with Nicolas Jackson as their starting striker. Two goals and an assist in his first three appearances of the season is a good start. Only Manchester City (nine) have scored more goals this season than the Blues (seven).

However, the 6-2 win at Wolves Match aside, Chelsea have scored one goal out of the 3.38 xG in two games against City and Crystal Palace. In other words, they still have what it takes to waste time in front of goal.

Maresca apparently doesn't like Christopher Nkunku up front, Marc Guiu is highly rated but is only 18 and can't be relied upon yet, and João Félix has a lot of work to do to convince anyone in England that he can lead the attack.

Being in the Conference League is certainly an advantage, as Chelsea will have at least six more games this season in which Maresca can try new things and give his back-up strikers a chance to gain momentum and confidence. Time will tell whether he regrets not signing a natural centre-forward.

Manchester United – winger

Manchester United sporting director Dan Ashworth has explained the club's decision Download Jadon Sancho Without signing a replacement. “We felt we had enough depth in that particular position to be able to cover it,” he said. “We have four really good wide players, Jadon was the fifth, and that allowed us to make that decision.”

There is logic to that. With Amad Diallo, Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony, United have four good players for the wide positions, and there would have to be a fairly major injury crisis for Erik ten Hag to be left without options on either flank.

But there are reasonable questions to be asked about the quality of those options. Are they good enough for United to challenge for the top four and major trophies? Amad is a very promising youngster, but he has only started seven Premier League games and has just 727 minutes of action under his belt in England's top flight.

We all know how good Rashford can be, and there have been glimpses of that this season, although he has yet to be given a single chance. Alejandro Garnacho is another incredible prospect, but at just 20, he is still understandably inconsistent. Antony is now fourth choice and looks like he could end up being one of the most expensive flops in Premier League history. He has only been involved in eight goals in over 52 hours on the pitch in the Premier League for United, with three of his goals coming in his first three appearances. He has only scored twice in his last 58 appearances.

Newcastle – centre back

Newcastle failed to sign Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace for £70m, but there is surely a middle ground between spending a club-record fee and starting the season with only one fit centre-back. Especially when, in the first game of the season, that only fit centre-back (Fabian Schär) was sent off and given a three-match ban.

At least Newcastle don't have to compete in European football this season, but they're still short on centre-back. Schär's red card against Southampton left them with Emil Krafth (right-back) and Dan Burn (who has barely played as a centre-back since joining Newcastle) in central defence for the next two Premier League games and a League Cup tie against Nottingham Forest. Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles are not expected to return from serious injuries for a long time.

Newcastle have overcome this minor availability crisis in impressive fashion, remaining unbeaten and through to the next round of the Cup, with Schär back for the next game. But they will also be on the brink of another defensive crisis until at least January, and it could cost them dearly.

Tottenham – central defender

Tottenham spent much of last season with backup full-backs Emerson Royal and Ben Davies playing at centre-back, with Micky van de Ven suffering a serious hamstring injury in the autumn and Cristian Romero unable to go more than a few weeks without being suspended.

They signed a reinforcement in defense in January When Radu Dragusin joined He came from Genoa, but facing a season in which the Europa League will be played and there will only be three natural veteran centre-backs seems a little reckless. Two games into the season, Van de Ven is already injured.

Spurs played fewer games (41) than any other Premier League team last season, were knocked out of both domestic cups early on and missed out on European football, yet suffered a terrible injury crisis because they lacked depth.

With potentially up to 77 games left to play this season (they obviously won't play that many, but they are guaranteed to play at least seven more games (48) than last season), they could well use more depth on defense.

Manager Ange Postecoglou has mentioned the possibility of new central midfielder Archie Gray taking up the centre-back position if needed. Given that he is only 18, it is reasonable to question whether playing him out of position is best for his development.

Everton – A striker (in form)

Everton performed significantly worse than any other Premier League side last season (-14.9), scoring 40 goals from 54.9 xG. The next worst in this regard was relegated Sheffield United (-4.1). In other words, Everton were by far the worst team in the top-flight in 2023-24.

The worst individual offender was Everton's main striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin (-5.9), who scored seven goals at an xG of 12.9. Everton's substitute striker Beto was the sixth worst striker in front of goal, scoring three goals at an xG of 6.8, an underperformance of -3.8.

One way to look at these numbers would be to conclude that Everton deserved to finish even higher than 12th, which they would have been in had they not been docked points. The more pessimistic (or perhaps realistic) view of these numbers would be to say that Everton are lacking top-class players.

Everton signed Armando Broja on loan from Chelsea, but his move to Ipswich fell through because he is injured and Sean Dyche decided to sign him anyway. He is not expected back for another seven weeks, so no one should expect him to start performing at his best in Everton colours. He may not start performing at his best until late November. Our analysis before the start of the season suggested that Everton had the easiest opening ten games of the season of any Premier League team, and Broja will miss that entire run.

Their start – three defeats in three games with just two goals scored – indicates that they seem to be struggling in front of goal once again. Bringing in another (fit) striker might have been a good idea.

Manchester City – forward

Well then City could be at the top of the league with a 100% record, and Erling Haaland could We've just scored back-to-back hat-tricks, but we've managed to find a negative point in City's squad. Haaland can't play every game in every competition and City have no direct replacement in attack after The sale of Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid This summer.

It's worth saying that Pep Guardiola is more than capable of changing things up and playing without a traditional No.9. Just a few seasons ago, City won the title with the centre-forward position shared between eight players, with Phil Foden making more Premier League starts (10) in that position than anyone else.

But City are now more accustomed to playing with Haaland up front, and the team looks less prepared to deal with his absence now that Alvarez has left. Ilkay Gündogan has returned from Barcelona and could fill in as a false nine, and Bernardo Silva and Foden are also possibilities in that position. But would City be entirely happy with one of those three playing up front for an extended period given Arsenal's improvement in recent years? Perhaps not.