2022/23 Championship: Vincent Kompany prepares Burnley for a bow and an open promotion race | Football news

news7f07/29/2022

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2022/23 Championship: Vincent Kompany prepares Burnley for a bow and an open promotion race | Football news

The Sky Bet Championship is back.

61 days have passed since Nottingham Forest beat Huddersfield in the play-off final at Wembley and finally returned to the Premier League.

Two days earlier, Marco Silva’s Fulham had ended a stormy regular season with the title, with Bournemouth finishing runners-up in Scott Parker’s and Peterborough’s first season, Derby and Barnsley’s relegation. League One.

The inter-season break is a week shorter than usual – due to this year’s World Cup in Qatar – but the Sky Bet EFL season is back up and running on Friday night, when Huddersfield host Vincent Kompany’s new Burnley side at John Smith’s Stadium, during a live game on Sky Sports Football.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the long-awaited debut of the 2022/23 season…

Opening weekend schedule

Friday, July 29

Saturday, July 30 (All 3PM KO unless stated otherwise)

Sunday July 31

Monday, August 1

Prutton’s opening weekend prediction

Who is David Prutton going to win the opening weekend of the 2022/23 Sky Bet Championship season?

Kompany returns to English football

Vincent Kompany spent 11 years in England as a player, making over 350 appearances for Manchester City during the club’s transformational period and certainly becoming a legend at the Etihad along the way.

Retired in August 2020 after a fairytale return to Anderlecht in his native Belgium, the 36-year-old spent just two years in charge at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, leading the club to fourth and third place Jupiler Pro League finished in his two full seasons.

In June, he was appointed Burnley manager, succeeding Sean Dyche – who left Turf Moor in April after a decade at the helm – as the Clarets prepare for their first season back in the Championship after six consecutive seasons. continue in the Premier League.

“Burnley Football Club is a truly historic English team and it is an honor to be appointed first-team coach,” he said after becoming the first Belgian to manage in England.

“I look forward to working with the players and creating a positive, winning team for our fans when we return to Turf Moor. I am impressed by the leadership’s vision for the sentence.” The club suits me and I look forward to playing my part as we head into an important season.”

The roster change has been significant since that day. Long-term fixture of the team over the years, including Nick Pope, James Tarkowski and Ben Mee, have moved on to the new pitch, Wout Weghorst has joined Besiktas on loan and has taken on a more youthful look. for the team, with the addition of Scott Twine and Luke McInally, among others.

At Anderlecht, Kompany is well known for believing in youth and succeeding in doing so – and he seems to be trying to inject the same philosophy into his new role.

He hasn’t come as far as promising instant success – and the fact that Burnley hasn’t been named an early title favorite certainly eases any pressure – but the new-look Clarets will watch. considered to achieve running success in their first game on Friday against Huddersfield.

The race for promotion is more open than ever?

To be honest, it goes without saying, but there are a large number of teams that will see this season as an opportune moment to mark a return to the Premier League this season, especially given that only Burnley has experienced such a short period of time. long time on the charts. in the past few years.

Norwich have won the title in two of the past four seasons but twice were condemned for immediate relegation, while Watford’s comeback last year proved short-lived as neither Claudio Ranieri nor Roy Hodgson could do it. their experience and save them from a slump as the club announced its lowest point earnings in half a century.

Huddersfield lost the play-off final to Nottingham Forest at the end of May and will come out to avenge that disappointment, despite not having Carlos Corberan at the helm, while Sheffield United and West Brom have managed to secure the recent but unsuccessful comeback. .

If that weren’t enough, Middlesbrough knocked on the door to the play-offs last season, with Stoke and Cardiff making significant changes to their teams over the summer to try to end their stay in the division. Their two are four and three seasons respectively.

Unlike last season, when Fulham blew away many opponents with their ruthlessness – leading to Aleksandar Mitrovic setting a new Championship scoring record of 43 – there seems to be a more widespread provision. On paper, at least, that is.

Golden Shoe Candidate

The 2021/22 campaign is unique on the scoring front.

Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic broke Ivan Toney’s Championship scoring record of 31 before the end of the season and finished with 12 more on that chart, setting a new precedent that may never be broken. broken.

Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke hit 29 goals, a tally that has earned him 15 titles in 18 seasons since rebranding second-tier in 2004 and Blackburn’s Ben Brereton Diaz defied the 1000/1 odds to crossed the 20-goal mark.

Only the second in the division remains, with Rovers successfully holding onto their prized fortune for the time being, with Sky Bet offering dramatically reduced odds for the Chile international to top the leaderboard. scoring in 2022/23.

The overwhelming favorite is Norwich’s Teemu Pukki. The Finland international is a different animal in the Championship than the Premier League, with his two second-tier seasons producing 54 goals combined, compared with 22 in his top two seasons.

It is a similar story for Dwight Gayle, who has scored 59 goals in 100 Championship games, compared with 26 goals in 145 Premier League games. His six-year stay at Newcastle comes to an end this summer, and Stoke hope the 32-year-old will fuel them to success.

Meanwhile, there is certainly the case of Swansea’s Joel Piroe and Daryl Dike. Former Netherlands Under-20 international Piroe, 22, scored 22 goals in his first season in the EFL, while injuries have so far prevented West Brom’s Dike from replicating the form of the 2019/20 season, when the American player helped Barnsley reach the Championship play-offs several times. semi-final.