A look ahead to next season's prospects for the rest of last year's top-half finishers. The title challengers are here and Champions League hopefuls here.
Everton
Speculation continues continue to link Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini with moves away from the club, but of course Everton have already lost their biggest asset this summer. After years of over achievement on a shoestring budget, David Moyes leaves as big a gap at Everton as Sir Alex Ferguson has at Man Utd. Roberto Martinez comes in with a growing reputation after his FA Cup win with Wigan, but also got them relegated, shipping far too many goals in the process. Being able to call on the likes of Phil Jagielka should ensure Everton fans aren’t subjected to Wigan-style defensive horror shows too often though, and they might well expect to see a more expansive style of football than they were treated to under Moyes.
However, the new man will have to cope with the same restrictions as the old one. There won’t be a mountain of money available for him to reshape the squad, and if he does want to bring in a few new faces he may have to sacrifice the likes of Fellaini or Baines first. Moyes clearly over-achieved and Martinez will need to as well, otherwise Everton might have to get used to mid-table anonymity at best.
West Brom
Even the most optimistic of West Brom couldn’t have predicted an eighth place finish at the start of last season but Steve Clarke, in his first managerial role, confounded all expectations. Romelu Lukaku, on loan from Chelsea, played a massive part in that achievement but they’ll most likely have to do without him next season as he looks to cement a place in Jose Mourinho’s side. Don’t bet against them making further shrewd loan signings though, and they'll probably pick up a couple of bargains as well. Somehow the Baggies have managed to establish themselves in the Prem without really spending any money and while they’re unlikely to kick on from mid table next year, relegation doesn’t seem likely either. There must be some skint and envious rival chairmen about.
Swansea
A top half finish in only their second season of top-flight football and a Carling Cup win too, there’s no denying that the last campaign was a good one for Swansea. That’s not to say that there weren’t or aren’t issues to deal with in south Wales though. While it’s understandable that they took their foot off the gas after the cup win that assured them of European football this coming season (their place in the top half was never really under threat either), they’ll need to make sure the dip in form that accompanied it doesn’t continue when they start again in August.
Michu was arguably the signing of last season. The £2m man weighed in with 18 league goals and a few in the cup too. However when the goals dried up towards the end of the season it only highlighted the Swans’ over-reliance on him. Wilfried Bony looks set to sign for around £10m and they’ll hope he can chip in with his fair share. Either way, it would be dangerous to assume Michu will be as prolific this year as he was last.
A few additional signings will be required too. As Newcastle found out to their peril last season, those Thursday night Europa League games can have a disastrous impact on your league form if you haven’t got the squad for it. Swansea are still looking light and that will need to be addressed. They’ll be hoping Michael Laudrup can grab a few more bargains from the Spanish league, as a multi-million pound spending spree doesn’t appear to be on the cards.
West Ham
OK, he doesn’t send his teams out to play ‘the West Ham Way’ but after dragging them out of the Championship and sealing a top-half finish in their first year back in the top-flight, has Sam Allardyce finally done enough to win over the West Ham faithful? Winning ugly surely must be preferable to losing pretty. While they probably won’t be tiki-tak-ing around Upton Park net season, the big money signing of Andy Carroll shows they’re serious about establishing themselves in this league and kicking on. Razvam Rat is a decent addition on a free too. A couple more quality signings and another top-half finish is looking likely.