Football Season Guide

Stoke enjoyed their most impressive Premier League season to date last year and continued what has been an unrelenting path of progress in the last few years. The Potters have moved on from the days of Tony Pulis and Mark Hughes has now firmly established himself as the man in the dugout. He is starting his third season in charge of the club and will be looking for more of the same exciting attacking play that characterised the last campaign. Stoke were still focused and solid at the back but they are now a lot more entertaining and inventive in the final third, with excellent wide players complementing powerful centre forwards. There is no reason for Stoke to keep doing what they have done in recent seasons and the ingredients are there for a genuine push for the Europa League places. That said, Stoke did lose key personnel over the summer and some of the departures will be tough to overcome. Asmir Begovic moved to Chelsea after a few stellar years between the sticks that established him as one of the very best keepers in the Premier League. Victor Moses is no longer around after enjoying a pretty good season on loan from Chelsea. Steven N’Zonzi, the unheralded midfielder who enjoyed a superbly consistent last season, is off to Sevilla and he may be the harder to replace. Steve Sidwell and Glenn Whelan can do a decent job as defensive midfielders but none of them is of the same level as N’Zonzi. The new name in the middle of the park is that of Marco van Ginkel, a cultured and flexible Dutch midfielder who has the basic qualities to be a big hit upon arriving on loan from Chelsea. Ibrahim Affelay is the most eye-catching of the summer signings as the former Barcelona man joined the growing contingent of Catalans at the Britannia. His career has been disrupted by a series of knee injuries but there is no doubting his talent and he may well experience the same renaissance that Bojan Krkic had last season. Hughes has been chasing another top wide player this window and is still holding hope to bring Andryi Yarmolenko, having been snubbed by Xeridan Shaqiri. Stoke already have a pretty good squad overall and there is no reason for them to at least match the top-half finish of the last season.