English Premier League: 10 Storylines To Watch Next Season

The 20th Premier League season has now come to a close, and for the first and probably not the last time, Manchester City have clinched the title.

This campaign saw a title race that went down to its final day, four sides attempting to claim the final two Champions League berths and a relegation battle where three sides were in contention to go down alongside Blackburn and Wolves.

Following Euro 2012, there will be a strong emphasis put onto the new season. With a new champion in Man City and the insanity of the Premier League that was highlighted during this season's final weeks, the next campaign will showcase a new era of football in England's top flight.

There will be much to question when it comes to this new season. Here are 10 developments that you should watch for.

Can Kenny Dalglish Get Liverpool Back on Track?

This season has been an interesting one to watch for Liverpool. They have regressed from last season, saw their star striker get suspended for a month for racially abusing another player and had an overpriced striker start to turn a corner.

In between, Liverpool finished in the top half of the table, won the Carling Cup and lost the FA Cup final to Chelsea.

Throughout the summer, there will be questions about Dalglish's job security, though he probably will at least start next season as the man in charge of Liverpool.

If Dalglish cannot get Liverpool off to a strong start, he could get dismissed. If Dalglish achieves expectations, he will stay. There is no gray area between these two opposites.

Will Newcastle Have Another Great Campaign?

No one could have foreseen the season Newcastle had at the start of the campaign.

The aim that many in the media had for Newcastle was one of a mid-table club—which would have been acceptable, considering Newcastle were playing in the Championship just two years ago.

But thanks to a great effort from Demba Ba in the first half of the season and a sensational second half from Papiss Demba Cisse, Newcastle are on the way up and appear to be a contender for the long run.

Considering they will play European football (assuming Chelsea lose the Champions League final), Newcastle will have a more difficult season next year.

But that doesn't mean Newcastle won't continue this run—they may continue to progress with time.

How Will Chelsea Perform with Either Roberto Di Matteo or His Replacement?

When Roberto Di Matteo took the Chelsea job two months ago, not much was expected of him.

But Di Matteo has surprised everyone with a few weeks that Chelsea fans will remember forever. Di Matteo's FA Cup title and a potential Champions League crown are rewards for the unlikeliest of seasons.

This short stint is reminiscent of the run that Guus Hiddink had with Chelsea in 2009. He too got Chelsea deep into the Champions League, won an FA Cup and was loved by his players.

If Di Matteo stays, it will be interesting to see if Chelsea's players will continue to play with the gusto that they have showed on a consistent basis, or perform the way they did in the André Villas-Boas era.

Chelsea do have the quality to perform with anyone, but it is completely unknown whether they will persevere with their efforts next year assuming Di Matteo is in charge.

Will Fernando Torres Rekindle Goal-Scoring Form?

Much of Fernando Torres' time at Stamford Bridge has been a bust. There is absolutely no way around the lack of goal scoring and decline in skill that has affected the Spaniard.

Even when Torres managed to score in a match, he found a terrible way to miss a goal—like he did against Manchester United in September.

Torres did appear to break out of this with his goal against Barcelona that put Chelsea into the Champions League final, a feat followed by a hat trick against Queens Park Rangers.

When looking at Torres' involvement against QPR versus his performance against Man City from a few weeks ago, you see two distinctly different players.

Torres will achieve his goal-scoring form if he plays up top as he did in the past. Torres can still do some fantastic things and is truly a gifted goal scorer. Expect his form in the new season to be just like it was during his Liverpool days.

How Will the Olympics Affect the EPL Season?

The 2012 Olympics will be a truly unique footballing moment for Great Britain.

For the first time since the 1972 Munich games, Great Britain will field an international team that contains players from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Condensing four football associations in order to make a solo British side is something that is controversial, though it will go through with many of the top young talents in the EPL combining for the games.

This combination will be unique for many of these players, and will cause changes to occur for many EPL sides.

Some squads won't have to face this problem, but that may not be true for clubs such as Manchester United or Arsenal.

The Olympics will hurt some sides due to loss of players for the tournament (or for injury from it), and it will be interesting to see how some of these sides will cope with a loss of players.

How Will Euro 2012 Affect Premier League Players?

The European Championships are a great opportunity for many players to have their stars shine.

But once some of these players return to England for the start of the EPL season, they will be fatigued, which will hurt all EPL sides because they will all have players who were playing in Euro 2012.

We already know that England's squad will be interesting to follow, considering Roy Hodgson's recent appointment and the entire fiasco that took place with John Terry and Anton Ferdinand.

Most of the players who play in Euro 2012 will need a few extra weeks off at the beginning of the season. This will hurt everyone, but it's just a small blip in a nine-month season.

Could Arsenal Finally Turn the Corner?

Every year it seems that the answer could be "yes." People always think that Arsenal's youngsters have had a decent end to their season and will claim their first trophy the next year.

But is this the year that we can believe this?

It could be. After starting the year terribly due to the loss of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, Arsenal rebounded strong. They actually brought in veterans to work with their players, and Robin van Persie was able to achieve the form that everyone knew he was capable of thanks to an injury-free year.

Arsenal can win silverware next year, but it will take a valiant effort to do so. For starters, van Persie must remain healthy and another veteran must come into the fold.

Assuming Arsenal's players don't suffer any major injuries this summer, they can absolutely achieve their goal.

After Losing an 8-Point Lead, How Will United Come Back?

With five matches remaining, Manchester United held an eight-point lead in the table.

But due to points lost to Wigan Athletic, Everton and Manchester City, Manchester United lost the title in what will be remembered as one of the biggest slip-ups in English football history.

This summer will see some new faces come to Old Trafford, though no one knows exactly how the club will respond to losing the title to their "noisy neighbors."

Considering United's past when losing out a title to a superior side, they usually build themselves up with some important transfers, which leads the club to a successful return campaign.

United will probably come back stronger than ever next year, which will cause problems for Manchester City.

How Will Sir Alex Respond to the Mancini Challenge?

Sir Alex Ferguson has long been the best manager in England, but the challenge that Manchester City present is one that he has not faced before.

Fergie has already felt the pressure from City—this was a primary reason why he got in Roberto Mancini's face towards the ending of Man United's loss at City.

Already Fergie has compared Mancini to another former nemesis, Jose Mourinho.

Ferguson was made useless during the final two weeks of the season, going as far as to say that he wished "something stupid" would happen during City's fixture with Queens Park Rangers.

With a start of a new season, Ferguson will now rank Mancini alongside some other enemy managers (namely Arsene Wenger and Mourinho) that have caused him fits. Fergie has defeated these other managers in the past, but Mancini provides a new challenge.

This could be the final managerial war that Ferguson has to deal with at United—which means that he could lose the conflict should he stop managing soon.

Will Manchester City Repeat?

It seems that this will be the biggest question going into the new season. Manchester City were the most dominant side in the Premier League this past season, but were only able to win the title on goal differential.

City do have the best squad, but have players who can cause problems, namely Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez. If City are to repeat, they will probably need to unload at least one of these troubled stars in order to boost the club's chemistry.

Another issue that Man City will need to figure out is what to do with their excess players. City will need to become a more lean squad in order to become more effective, but many spare parts are preventing this from happening.

City will also need to make another acquisition in the transfer market. Considering the deep well of cash that exists at Eastlands, that will not be an issue.

Manchester City can repeat as Premier League champions, but will need to hold off a United squad that will be stronger and an emerging Arsenal squad in order to achieve their goal.

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