These three struggled last season, will the new campaign be a happier one?

Aston Villa
As I wrote here, this summer, like the last one, will be about picking up some bargains. Youngsters with potential are the order of the day, presumably with an eye on re-sale value. The club are currently playing hard-ball over Christian Benteke’s situation, but that should be read as an attempt to bump up his asking price rather than any meaningful expectation of keeping him. If they can turn a £15-20m profit on the Belgium international after just 12 months of service, that will rightly be seen as a good piece of business. What will be of interest is how they go about replacing him. Will they continue to operate in the £5-10m bracket or use the funds to splash out on someone more established? The latter would signal an ambition to press on and go for a top-half finish. If it’s the former, then another season kicking around lower mid-table (with some nervy moments along the way) could be on the cards.

Either way, this campaign should be more comfortable than last. Even without Benteke, they have a squad full of decent youngsters who’ll be stronger for the experience gained last season.

Sunderland
Paolo Di Canio has set about making wholesale changes at the Stadium of Light this summer, with eight players departing and ten arriving already. You can’t argue that the squad requires a shake-up after some abject performances last season, but the jury’s out on the standard of some recent additions. While Emanuele Giaccherini and Jozy Altidore have arrived with solid reputations, the likes of Valentin Roberge and Modibo Diakite present more of a gamble. Do they possess enough quality to improve Sunderland’s fortunes?

The manager still has plenty to prove as well. There’s no doubt he did a great job in galvanising the squad as they avoided relegation last season, but how well will his methods go down over a whole campaign? How long before the novelty wears off? He might be a roaring success of course, and squeeze world-beating performances out of previously unknown players. But there’s just as much chance he’ll be gone by December amidst high-profile bust-ups and his trademark controversy. Either way, it won’t be boring.

Norwich
The Canaries were awful for large chunks of last season, and were it not for a strong start and a decent finish, would have found themselves in serious trouble. Goals were in short supply as relying on Grant Holt to repeat the heroics of their debut top-flight campaign proved to be a mistake. However, the big man has been shipped off to Wigan and the arrivals so far this summer look promising too. Ricky van Wolfswinkel represents a significant step up in quality from Holt and with deals for Leroy Fer and Martin Olsson also confirmed, Norwich are showing real ambition. Nathan Redmond will be another one to look out for, with the young winger displaying bags of potential at Birmingham.

A decent season beckons.


Read the other 2013/14 previews here:
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR