From a false nine to a true nine, Manchester City will roll out Erling Haaland as last season's Premier League champions show off their marquee addition.
City won the 2021-22 Premier League with 93 points despite lacking a target man, pipping Liverpool on the final day of the campaign.
Liverpool, unlucky to come home second on 92 points, have made a big investment in buying Darwin Nunez from Benfica, a penalty-box predator like Haaland.
The 90-point mark is widely seen as a benchmark for a team's greatness, but managers always see room for improvement.
Here, Stats Perform looks at how 90-point-plus teams from seasons past have bolstered their ranks, and how they got on afterwards.
100 POINTS
Manchester City are the only team in Premier League history to hit the 100-point mark, doing so in 2017-18, and they offloaded former kingpins Joe Hart and Yaya Toure at the end of that campaign, making just one big investment by signing Riyad Mahrez (£60million) from Leicester City.
Already a Premier League title winner with the Foxes, the Algerian winger has added three more league medals in Manchester, including one in his first season.
99 POINTS
Liverpool denied City a hat-trick of consecutive titles by triumphing in the coronavirus-interrupted 2019-20 championship, finishing 18 points clear of Pep Guardiola's team. The Reds then spent the thick end of £75million to acquire Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich, Diogo Jota from Wolves and Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiacos.
They recouped around half of that by selling Dejan Lovren, Ki-Jana Hoever and Rhian Brewster, before finishing with 30 fewer points in the following campaign.
98 POINTS
City's encore to their ton-up season was made remarkable by the fact Liverpool were hot on their heels, finishing just one point back. This 2018-19 title-winning effort by City was followed by captain Vincent Kompany taking flight for Anderlecht, while Danilo, Eliaquim Mangala, Fabian Delph and Douglas Luiz also said goodbye.
Guardiola invested wisely as Rodri (£62.8m from Atletico Madrid) and Joao Cancelo (£60million from Juventus) arrived. Both became staple members of the City side, but their first season on Premier League duty, as Liverpool romped to glory in front of empty stadiums, was probably best forgotten.
97 POINTS
Liverpool must have wondered what it would take to topple City after the seismic 2018-19 campaign, although the Reds' Champions League win showed they were firmly on the right track. This 97-point haul is the highest total any Premier League runner-up has secured.
Jurgen Klopp decided no big adjustments were required, investing in Takumi Minamino from Salzburg (£7.25m) and Harvey Elliott from Fulham (£1.5m, rising to £4.3m). He had done his serious spending the previous year, securing Naby Keita, Fabinho and Alisson.
95 POINTS
When big-spending Chelsea landed a then-record 95 points in the 2004-05 campaign, the response from the Blues, in the headiest phase of the Roman Abramovich era, was to splash more cash.
Shaun Wright-Phillips (£21m) and Michael Essien (£24.4m) were newcomers as Jose Mourinho evicted Mikael Forssell, Scott Parker, Mateja Kezman and Tiago. The result of that trading? A second consecutive title as the Premier League points mercury rose up into the 90s again.
93 POINTS
Two teams have had 93-point seasons: Chelsea in 2016-17 and Manchester City in 2021-22. Chelsea's post-season dealings were especially notable for captain John Terry moving on to Aston Villa. The club cashed in as Juan Cuadrado went to Juventus, Nathan Ake and Asmir Begovic left for Bournemouth and Nemanja Matic joined Manchester United. They acquired Antonio Rudiger (£31m), Tiemoue Bakayoko (£40m), Alvaro Morata (£60m), Davide Zappacosta (£23m) and Danny Drinkwater (£35m). The spree didn't help much, though. Chelsea trailed in fifth in 2017-18, Antonio Conte sacked despite an FA Cup win.
City made Haaland their priority this year but also added England midfielder Kalvin Phillips (£42m) and goalkeeper Stefan Ortega (free), while Julian Alvarez (£14m) arrived after being signed in January. Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Raheem Sterling left.
92 POINTS
Manchester United were the first Premier League side to top 90 points, in 1993-94, albeit in a 42-game competition. After that title, United's second in succession, Bryan Robson left to become player-boss at Middlesbrough and David May (£1.4m) was bought from Blackburn Rovers. United went chasing a hat-trick of titles in the subsequent season but found big-spending Blackburn too strong. The record £7million arrival of Andy Cole midway through the campaign could not rescue Alex Ferguson's side, who tallied 88 points, one fewer than the champions.
Liverpool's 92-point season came last time out. It remains to be seen how Nunez (£64m) copes with the Premier League spotlight. Among a string of departures was Sadio Mane, who left for Bayern Munich. Mane scored 90 goals in 196 Premier League games with Liverpool.
91 POINTS
Manchester United followed their treble campaign with a 91-point haul in 1999-2000, before signing up France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez (£7.8m). They tallied 80 points in 2000-01, enough to finish 10 clear of second-placed Arsenal.
With Wright-Phillips and Essien on board, Chelsea notched 91 points in 2005-06. At the end of that season, the Blues swooped for Michael Ballack (free), Andriy Shevchenko (£30m), Arsenal's Ashley Cole (£5m, plus William Gallas) and John Obi Mikel (£16m). They were second best to Manchester United in the following season's Premier League, but enjoyed FA Cup and EFL Cup wins.
90 POINTS
Two teams have scraped the 90-point mark, Arsenal doing so in their 'Invincibles' season of 2003-04, with 26 wins and 12 draws. They signed young Dutchman Robin van Persie (£2.75m) towards the end of that campaign and he arrived in the summer. Newcomer Mourinho led Chelsea to the following year's title, with Arsenal runners-up.
Manchester United got to 90 in 2008-09 – Cristiano Ronaldo's last season before his £80million Real Madrid switch. Manager Ferguson then brought in Antonio Valencia (£16m), Michael Owen (free), Gabriel Obertan (£3m) and Mame Biram Diouf (£4million), with Valencia the only one to become a regular. With Ronaldo gone, Chelsea edged out United by a point for the following year's title.
Slot gets Klopp's nod of approval as Liverpool close in on Feyenoord coach
Jurgen Klopp has given his nod of approval to Liverpool's pursuit of Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot.
Klopp has just four games remaining as Liverpool manager, having announced his intention to leave back in January.
Liverpool's season is in danger of fizzling out, with Wednesday's 2-0 defeat to Everton in the Merseyside derby having dealt their Premier League title hopes a blow, while they also crashed out of the Europa League earlier this month.
This week, reports emerged Liverpool, who were disappointed in their pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso, had elected to move for Feyenoord's Slot as Klopp's replacement.
Slot confirmed on Thursday that the clubs were in talks and he was confident a deal would be completed soon, and Klopp believes the Dutchman is an ideal fit.
"I'm not involved in the process, but I like a lot about it, if he is the one and wants to take the job," Klopp said at a press conference ahead of Saturday's meeting with West Ham.
"I like the way his team plays football. All the things I hear about him as a guy – a good guy. Some people I know, know him. I don't know him, but some people who know him say he's a good guy. I like that a lot. So good coach, good guy. Looking forward for the club, if he is the solution, if he is the man, I am more than happy."
Expanding on what his replacement would be walking into at Anfield, Klopp added: "Best job in the world. Best club in the world.
"Great job, great team, fantastic people. [Slot] 'would' be taking a really interesting job."
'It's a poor season, not a poor football club' – Blades boss Wilder
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has defended Sheffield United, acknowledging it has been a bad season, but dismissing that the Blades do not have a positive future.
A midweek defeat to Manchester United means the Blades can be relegated back to the Championship should they lose to Newcastle United on Saturday.
The Blades are 10 points from safety with four games left, but even a point would not realistically be enough given they have a goal difference of -59, 41 worse than Nottingham Forest’s -18.
To make matters worse, the Blades will start their next season in the Championship with a two-point deduction for financial discrepancies.
"We're not saying everything is great," said Wilder.
"What we are saying is there is a load of optimism about the future of the football club.
"It's a poor season, not a poor football club. We've been in far worse positions than this as a football club, certainly over my time as a supporter, player and manager.
"So, we'll come again if the inevitable happens on the weekend. We'll try our best, as we did, like we did on Wednesday night at Old Trafford, to get a result for our club and our supporters – who yet again were magnificent."
Newcastle, meanwhile, are in the hunt for European football, and Eddie Howe wants a response following the 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in midweek.
Howe said: "We must learn and absorb all the lessons from Wednesday. Every game is so difficult, it is up to us to go into the game with the right mentality and let our players express themselves in the right way. We have to finish the season strongly, we are under no illusions on how important these fixtures are."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Newcastle United – Alexander Isak
Isak has scored in each of his last six Premier League home games, with only Andrew Cole (eight in 1993-94) and Alan Shearer (15 in 1996-97) netting in more consecutively for Newcastle in the competition.
Sheffield United – Ben Brereton Diaz
Brereton Diaz scored in Sheff Utd’s 4-2 defeat at Old Trafford – his fifth Premier League goal of the season since he joined on loan from Villarreal in January. With Oli McBurnie set to miss the rest of the season, Diaz will be the Blades’ biggest attacking threat.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEWCASTLE UNITED WIN
Newcastle are overwhelming favourites, and it is no surprise given Howe have lost just one of their last 25 Premier League games kicking off at 3pm on Saturday (W16 D8), going down 1-0 at Luton Town earlier this season.
The Magpies have scored in all 17 of their Premier League home games this season, with their 43 goals in total their most at St James’ Park in a top-flight campaign since 1996-97 (54).
Newcastle have lost none of their eight Premier League home games against promoted sides under Howe (W3 D5), with their last such defeat coming against Leeds United under Steve Bruce in January 2021. They also beat Sheffield United 8-0 in the reverse fixture at Bramall Lane – the most goals they have ever scored against an opponent in a single Premier League campaign is 10, doing so against the Blades’ rivals Sheffield Wednesday in 1999-00.
The Blades have lost three of their four Premier League away games against Newcastle, failing to score in each defeat. The exception was a 1-0 victory under Neil Warnock in November 2006.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Newcastle United – 71.6%
Sheffield United – 9.7%
Draw – 18.7%
Howe does not want 'constant speculation' over Guimaraes' future
Eddie Howe acknowledged he cannot control speculation over Bruno Guimaraes' future, though the Newcastle United boss wants it to end swiftly.
Reports emerged this week that Manchester City, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are all interested in the Brazil international, who has been crucial to Newcastle's rise under Howe, having been signed from Lyon in January 2022.
According to the rumours, Newcastle value their star player at a minimum of £80million.
And ahead of Newcastle's meeting with Premier League strugglers Sheffield United, Howe conceded the club cannot control the speculation.
"Having that was well planned and structured by the club, in a sense that there’s a sort of finish point," he said.
"We don't want constant speculation, it's not healthy for the player or for us.
"It goes without saying we want to keep him, I want to build our team around him. His form has been very good and he seems very happy and settled.
"He'll be thinking about a very busy summer ahead, where hopefully we can take the team, with him a big part of it. But we aren't in control of that so let's see."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
