Goals are the most valuable commodity in football, it’s therefore no surprise that so much emphasis is placed on the quality of a team’s attack.
This summer already, there’s been a number of expensive transfers completed as the Premier League ’s top sides aim to improve their front lines ahead of the new campaign. Some have enjoyed good success in landing key targets, while others have struggled to find the profiles they need.
With less than a week before the start of the new Premier League campaign, Mirror Football has taken a look at the Premier League’s top six sides to rank their attacks from best to worst.
Sixth - Manchester United
Although there’s been plenty of positives to pick out from Erik ten Hag’s short time in charge so far at United, it still feels as though their attack is in limbo. The saga around Cristiano Ronaldo ’s potential departure continues to linger on and he’ll head into the new Premier League campaign with just 45 pre-season minutes under his belt.
In his absence, it’s been Anthony Martial leading the line for most of pre-season, and he’s done a good job while doing so, scoring three goals and registering one assist across his five appearances.
He now seems a much different player to the one who struggled on loan at Sevilla last season, which is positive. Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho also appear much hungrier and more dangerous versions of themselves too.
However, United scored 12 goals fewer than fourth-placed Tottenham last season and even with Ten Hag’s coaching, it’s currently tough to see how they close that gap, even if Ronaldo stays.
Fifth - Chelsea
Strengthening the attack was always going to be a priority for Chelsea in this window, especially following the departure of Romelu Lukaku who, despite signing less than a year ago for £97.5m, was allowed to leave and return back to Inter, highlighting just how disappointing his second spell at the club was.
Direct replacements were linked, the most notable of which being Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski, though neither came to fruition and other alternative options have been limited.
This is likely to be a big reason why Thomas Tuchel would have switched his attention to landing Sterling, a player who, on paper at least, can improve the team’s goal output even from wide positions.
The attack still looks way short of where it needs to be to not only close the gap on the top two but also keep those who finished below them last season at bay. Tuchel touched on his side’s attacking issues last week following Chelsea’s 4-0 pre-season defeat to Arsenal.
When asked if he was concerned about his side’s goalscoring, Tuchel said: "For sure. If you look at the first half, it was even hard to escape our half in a productive way and to play in the opponent’s half in a positive way and create chances – we had one chance with a shot.”
Fourth - Arsenal
Following the disappointment of narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification last season, it always felt like the Arsenal hierarchy were going to respond with a big summer of recruitment, and bringing in a new forward was a priority for a number of reasons.
Not only did they lose Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette last season, but they also finished the campaign having scored the fewest number of goals for any side inside the top seven, something Arteta was keen to improve on this season.
That’s why their capture of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City felt a significant one. The Brazilian has highlighted himself as an excellent all-round striker during his time with City, netting 95 goals and thriving within a number of different roles across the attack.
It’ll be as a No.9 that he’ll play within Arteta’s system, and if pre-season is anything to go by, then he looks set to thrive playing this more prominent role - he’s scored seven goals across five friendly matches.
Supported by players like Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, Arsenal's attack suddenly looks transformed.
Third - Tottenham
Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son made up two of the Premier League’s top four goalscorers last season, and the introduction of Richarlison following his £60million summer move from Everton does have the potential to turn that dangerous duo into a scintillating trio.
The Brazilian scored 43 Premier League goals in four seasons for the Toffees and has the potential to significantly increase that output by playing for a more free-flowing attack this season.
Manager Antonio Conte was full of praise for the 25-year-old shortly after his arrival, stating how he was “very happy” Spurs signed him. “I think he is strong physically and a good personality, good character, good quality.
“He is a player that gives me important positions up front. He’s a player that is a good player, strong and very good to protect the ball and attack the space. I’m very happy that we signed him.”
If Kane and Son produce their best once again then Richarlison’s arrival could be key to helping Spurs bridge the gap and push the league’s top two much closer next season.
Second - Liverpool
It’s been a bittersweet summer from a Liverpool perspective. Their capture of Darwin Nunez felt significant and the Uruguayan looks on course to seamlessly adapt to life on Merseyside. He’s not played longer than 45 minutes in a single Reds pre-season appearance so far, yet has still managed to bag five goals, including the third in Liverpool’s 3-1 Community shield win over Manchester City on Saturday.
Resolving the Mohamed Salah contract situation was also a huge bonus for the Reds and without that distraction, there’s every chance we see the Egyptian back to his very best from the outset.
They did lose Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich signifying the end of an era for one of the best front threes to grace the Premier League, however Luis Diaz has taken to life at Liverpool like a duck to water since his January switch, meaning Liverpool now have a new, but equally fearful front three for this season.
First - Manchester City
Man City finished just one goal shy of hitting the 100 mark in the Premier League last season which goes some way to capture just how good their attack was. There has been a changing of the guard in some respects though, with staples from that attack like Jesus and Sterling moving onto pastures new.
Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland represent more than adequate replacements. The former opened his account against Liverpool on Saturday, while it’ll be only a matter of time before the latter gets up and running in blue.
Both, plus the quality around them, means it wouldn’t be a huge shock to see the club surpass that 100 goal milestone in this up-and-coming season.
