EPL - The English Premier Leagues 3 Best Football Players From Each Team 2012 / 2013
English Premier League
This Hub is about every English Premier League club and who, in my personal opinion, will be their key players, keeping it to one attacker, one midfielder and one defender. I have written my brief take on each team and then selected the players with pictures of each one, feel free to leave a comment after you have finished reading, hope you enjoy the Hub.
Arsenal - The Gunners
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeAston Villa - The Villans
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeChelsea - The Blues
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeEverton - The Toffees
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeFulham - The Cottagers
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeLiverpool - The Reds
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeMan City - The Citizens
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeMan Utd - The Red Devils
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeNewcastle - The Magpies
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeNorwich - The Canaries
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeQPR - The Hoops
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeReading - The Royals
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeSouthampton - The Saints
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeStoke - The Potters
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeSunderland - The Black Cats
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeSwansea - The Swans
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeTottenham - Spurs
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeWest Brom - The Baggies
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeWest Ham - The Hammers
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeWigan - The Latics
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeClubs And Players
ARSENAL: Yet again they are having to come through a change in personnel, losing Robin Van Persie to Manchester United and Alex Song to Barcelona are two very big losses for them, however they have also brought in a few decent new faces and my three top players for them simply have to be: Lukas Podolski #9, Santi Cazorla #19 and Thomas Vermaelen #5.
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ASTON VILLA: Bringing in new manager Paul Lambert seemed like a decent prospect with how well he had done with Norwich, but it's not really been happening for them as of late, after a few more games they should be back to their normal ways of trying to grind out the odd decent result here and there, my three best players for them are: Darren Bent #9, Karim El Ahmadi #8 and Ron Vlaar #4.
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CHELSEA: With the loss of Didier Drogba and the poor form of last seasons Fernando Torres, it didn't really look very good on the attacking front for Chelsea, however during the transfer window they made some very decent signings in the form of Hazard and Oscar, Hazard has already shown the Premier League what he's about. I'm sure Torres will thrive on being the main front man and already we have seen his abilities in linking with Hazard forming a very nice partnership indeed, These are my best players from Chelsea: Fernando Torres #9, Eden Hazard #17 and John Terry #26.
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EVERTON: After last seasons success of finishing 4 points higher in the Premier League than Liverpool, Everton will be looking to build on that for an even better campaign this year, they have already got off to a flier with wins over Manchester United and Aston Villa, unfortunately falling to defeat at the hands of West Brom. They have also reinforced their attacking foray of players with the likes of Steven Naismith and Mirallas. Not too difficult for me to pick out these 3 as their top players: Nikica Jelavic #7, Marouane Fellaini #25 and Leighton Baines #3.
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FULHAM: Usually finishing mid-table every year, this season looks set to possibly be one of their worst, to lose a certain key influential attacking midfielder Clint Dempsey to Tottenham is bad enough but to lose Dembele as well is pretty disastrous. I expect Fulham to finish lower than they did last season and these are my top players for them: Dimitar Berbatov #9, Damien Duff #16 and Brede Hangeland #5.
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LIVERPOOL: New manager yet still seems, same Liverpool. Letting Andy Carroll go out to West Ham on loan was a strange one, Brendan Rodgers said he only let him go as he planned on bringing in somebody else, Clint Dempsey, but having not bid enough lost out on him to Tottenham. Liverpool have paid over-inflated prices on players many times before yet would not stump up an extra few million pounds for proven quality? Liverpool fans must surely want some stability within the club, sacking Dalglish for finishing a miserable 8th position last season, yet he won the League Cup and took the club to the FA Cup final. Lets hope to see improvements under Rodgers. Top three players are: Luis Suarez #7, Steven Gerrard #8 and Daniel Agger #5.
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MANCHESTER CITY: Having spent an absolute fortune in the past couple of years on new players, they also brought in a lot of new players on transfer deadline day. Man City only just won the league with the last kick of the ball in the last game of the season. Yes, they won the Premier League, but not very convincingly for the amount of money they had spent, Chelsea done it better from 2004 for a few years. More is expected from them this season with the return of Carlos Tevez seeming to be the key. Three of their best players include: Carlos Tevez #32, Yaya Toure #42 and Vincent Kompany #4.
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MANCHESTER UNITED: Having won the last game of the season, they were finishing top, but Man City had 3 minutes of injury time to complete, scoring twice to beat QPR ending Man Utd's reign as champions. This year Alex Ferguson has invested in the squad bringing in top Bundesliga player Shinji Kagawa, young midfielder Nick Powell and a young attacking full back Buttner to rival ageing Patrice Evra. With Vidic back in action following a lengthy time out due to a bad injury brings me to my 3 top Utd players, the three V's: Robin Van Persie #20, Antonio Valencia #7 and Nemanja Vidic #15.
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NEWCASTLE UNITED: Last season was a sensational one for Newcastle, really pushing for that Champions League place, but unlucky for them Chelsea won the thing which put Newcastle out. Having kept hold of all their star names this summer, they will be looking to build on last seasons great success and only time will tell if they can complete last seasons heroics. Three key players for them are: Demba Ba #19, Hatem Ben Arfa #10 and Fabricio Coloccini #2.
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NORWICH CITY: This is the team i struggled hardest for choose the three key players, looking through their squad and watching games, it seems the majority of Norwich players are 'average' without really having any stand out star men. Losing manager Paul Lambert would have been a major loss having guided the Canaries through consecutive promotions so lets see if Chris Hughton can do the business with a seemingly average team. I ended up choosing these as my top picks: Grant Holt #9, Anthony Pilkington #12 and Sebastien Bassong #5.
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QUEENS PARK RANGERS: Having recruited an absurd amount of new players, QPR still don't seem to really have any 'special' talents in their squad, recruiting Ji Sung Park from Man Utd was a good bit of business, along with him and Jose Bosingwa, they bring in some decent Premier League experience coming from great English clubs. I don't expect this team to beat the drop come the business end of the season and for me their key men will be: Bobby Zamora #25, Alejandro Faurlin #32 and Jose Bosingwa #19.
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READING: Being favourite for relegation at the start of the new campaign shows straight away that everyone thinks they will be going down, yet from what i have seen so far, they should just beat the relegation zone as the season closes. Reading have acquired some good signings for their team and the three players that are going to try help them stay in the Premiership will be: Pavel Pogrebnyak #7, Danny Guthrie #20 and Kaspars Gorkss #17.
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SOUTHAMPTON: Well, After nearly shocking everybody in their first game of the season against Man City, and VERY nearly beating Man Utd, goes to show Southampton mean business, yet i am still undecided whether they will cut it against the teams around them come the end of the season having lost 2-0 to Wigan in their second match, if they are to stay up, they will, without doubt, be hoping for excellent performances from: Rickie Lambert #7, Jason Puncheon #42 and Jose Fonte #6.
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STOKE CITY: Leaving is as late as can be, before signing Michael Owen for registering their Premier League squad for the season, I really am failing to see where he fits in. Stoke are renowned for being combative bully boys, Owen is far from it and if history tells us anything, he will more than likely be injured anyway. Having signed Charlie Adam as well, with his nasty challenges on Gareth Bale, should fit into the Stoke side pretty well. Key players include: Peter Crouch #9, Michael Knightly #21 and Ryan Shawcross #17.
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SUNDERLAND: I couldn't help but think that Sunderland have always seemed to be lacking a goalscorer for a few years but now having secured the services of Steven Fletcher along with Louis Saha, this changes my opinion. Sunderland will always have that goal threat they have been missing in recent years, with goals also potentially coming from midfielders Seb Larsson and new wing wizard Adan Johnson. Sunderland are looking to have put quite a solid team together under Martin O'Neal. Three vital men, for me, are: Steven Fletcher #26, Sebastian Larsson #7 and John O'Shea #16.
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SWANSEA CITY: Without doubt my second favourite team to watch in the league, exciting, quick and fluid play. Having lost Joe Allen to Liverpool, does not seem to have affected them much at all, especially with instant hit Michu on the scene. Unfortunately though in my opinion, their strike force leaves something to be desired, as much as i don't rate Danny Graham, i don't rate any of their subs at all either, they really should a proper goalscorer, the three to watch are: Danny Graham #10, Michu #9 and Ashley Williams #6.
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TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: Extremely poor start to the season under new manager Andre Villas Boas (AVB). Having recruited Dempsey and Dembele is exceptional and shows that they have a lot of ambition to compete for that Champions League spot, but they really need Bale to recapture last seasons performances. They are going through a slight faze at the minute with a shock change of manager, but they will soon be through it and pushing their way up the table, for me they will require these players to be on top of their game: Jermain Defoe #18, Gareth Bale #11 and Jan Vertonghen #5.
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WEST BROMWICH ALBION: Having stopped Everton in their tracks was a very nice result for West Brom with their neatly acquired squad, they show great team effort and commitment, It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they nick some points off any of the top teams, i find West Brom are usually under-rated by many people, never found out why, they have a good reliable team and these, for me, are the three to watch: Peter Odemwingie #24, James Morrison #7 and Jonas Olsson #3.
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WEST HAM UNITED: The acquisition of Andy Carroll was ideal for West Ham, he is tailor made for a team like them and he showed what he can do in his first game for the Hammers, unfortunately for him, coming off injured in the second half and now out for around 6 weeks. West Ham will have to try grind out some results occasionally but i do expect them to stay up, and the players that will help them do that have to be: Carlton Cole #9, Kevin Nolan #4 and Winston Reid #2.
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WIGAN ATHLETIC: I don't follow Wigan much at all to be honest, probably my second least knowledgeable club in the league, just ahead of Norwich. I do however, know a little bit about Franco Di Santo, great player for the club and he will thrive on his extra first team opportunities now Hugo Rodallega has gone, the key players include: Franco Di Santo #9, James Mcarthur #16 and Gary Caldwell #5.
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Finishing Off
I Hope this was of some interest to you and that you have enjoyed reading my take on each team and if you would like to leave a comment with any opinions you may have then please feel free to do so. Please remember this is all my own opinion, i'm not a professional sports pundit and peoples views may differ. Until next time, thank you.