Stopping Man City, VAR and burnout fears: The big talking points ahead of the Premier League season

A look at some of the big talking points heading into the new Premier League season, which starts on Friday when Manchester United hosts Fulham:

STOPPING CITY

Since 2017, only one team — Liverpool, in 2020 — has stopped Manchester City winning the title. Can anyone stop Pep Guardiola's juggernaut capturing a record-extending fifth straight title in what could be a tumultuous season for the champions? Arsenal took City all the way last season, having collapsed late the year before, and looks to be the best equipped to win what would be its first title since 2004. Otherwise, only Liverpool seems capable of producing the consistency to finish ahead of City — and that is a big ask for Arne Slot in his first season in charge since replacing Jurgen Klopp as manager. Manchester United and Chelsea should improve after more heavy spending in the offseason, but they are unlikely to deliver a sustained push for the title.

IMPROVED VAR?

It will be the sixth season of video reviews in England's top division — and it still hasn't prevented regular flashpoints popping up, much to the frustration of players, managers and fans alike. New for this season is an account on X, formerly Twitter, dedicated to offering live refereeing and VAR clarifications and explainers from all matches. Semi-automated offside technology will be in use for the first time, though not until a few months into the season. And there will be an enhanced in-stadium experience for fans, with replays shown on the big screen when a video review has led to a decision being overturned, a delay to a restart or a goal being disallowed. The Premier League says the number of correct decisions in matches has climbed to 96%, up from 82% before video reviews were brought in.

GOALS, GOAL, GOALS

Premier League teams will do well to top the record 1,246 goals scored last season, which was a staggering 162 more than the previous most for a single campaign. It worked out at 3.28 goals per match — never before had it exceeded 2.85. Increased amounts of stoppage time, more adventurous managers and VAR interventions were credited as some of the reasons behind the soaring numbers of goals. Will it continue this season?

LONG SEASON

For some, this could be the longest ever club season. Take the players at Manchester City, who have just started the season by winning the Community Shield on Saturday and might not finish it until the final of FIFA's expanded and revamped Club World Cup, scheduled for July 13 next year in the United States. Make that an 11-month season for City and Chelsea, the other Premier League team involved in the Club World Cup. City manager Pep Guardiola has already gone public with his concerns that there is too much soccer on the calendar, with the Champions League also expanding for this season. Expect talk of burnout and the threatened legal action by soccer leagues and player unions against FIFA to be a constant issue throughout the season.

MORE POINTS DEDUCTIONS?

Everton and Nottingham Forest were hit with points deductions last season for overspending, forcing all the clubs in the league to take a closer look at their finances to ensure compliance with the competition’s regulations that are being more strictly applied. Leicester, one of the three promoted teams, is facing a points deduction for breaching spending rules during their previous stay in the Premier League but have others learned their lesson? Judging by some of the creative transfer activity in the last weeks of June and the lack of blockbuster signings so far in the summer window, teams appear to be more aware of what it takes to comply.

FAREWELLS

Pep Guardiola is heading into his ninth year at Manchester City and he will have to decide at some point this season whether his stay at the club will extend to a decade. Similarly, this might mark Kevin De Bruyne's final season at City — enjoy him while you can — while Liverpool stars Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are in the final years of their contracts at Anfield. Then there's Everton, which is preparing for its last season playing at Goodison Park, its storied home since 1892, before moving to a new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock that has cost a reported 760 million pounds ($975 million).

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Liverpool manager Arne Slot looks on from the sidelines prior to an international friendly soccer match against Arsenal, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)

FILE - Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Everton at the Emirates stadium in London, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

FILE - Manchester City's Erling Haaland smiles as he celebrates his second half goal against Chelsea during an FC Series soccer match, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tom E. Puskar)

FILE - Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola gestures during the English FA Cup final soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium in London, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Manchester City players celebrate winning the FA Community Shield soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United by penalty shootout at Wembley Stadium in London, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/David Cliff)

Israeli strikes on Palestinian territories have killed more than two-dozen Palestinians on Wednesday, according to local officials. They say an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and at least 20 people, including 16 women and children, were killed in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Tuesday's strike on a tent camp in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone killed at least 19 people.

The Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100. Around a third of them are believed to be dead.

Here's the latest:

BELGRADE, Serbia – Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said that “this has been a very painful and difficult morning for the people of Israel” because of an attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and a helicopter crash in Gaza.

Speaking in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, Herzog described Wednesday's attack as a “horrific, criminal terror attack” and expressed “sorrow for the pain it has inflicted.” He did not elaborate but was apparently referring to the incident when a fuel tanker crashed into a West Bank bus stop, seriously injuring one person. Israeli officials said it was an attack.

The Israeli military said the driver was “neutralized” at the scene. It did not immediately identify the driver or provide evidence that the crash was an attack. Violence in the West Bank has escalated since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza.

Herzog also said at a joint news conference with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic that “my heart also goes out to the fighters who were killed last night in a helicopter crash in Gaza and I wish those wounded a full and swift recovery.”

The Israeli military said that two Israeli soldiers died and seven were injured when their helicopter crashed in the southern Gaza Strip overnight in a non-combat-related incident.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says he is “outraged and deeply saddened” by the death of an American activist who was shot by Israeli forces while protesting settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling it “totally unacceptable.”

“There must be full accountability," Biden said in a statement released early on Wednesday. "And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by its soldiers, and that it had launched a criminal investigation.

That drew a strong rebuke from her family members, who said in a statement that they were “deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional.” They said “the disregard shown for human life in the inquiry is appalling.”

During Friday’s demonstration, clashes broke out between Palestinians throwing stones and Israeli troops firing tear gas and ammunition, according to Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli protester who was there. He said the violence had subsided about a half hour before Eygi was shot.

The military said its forces appear to have aimed at the “key instigator of the riot” and hit Eygi by mistake. Eygi also had Turkish citizenship.

A statement by Vice President Kamala Harris followed shortly after Biden’s, with Harris saying that the U.S. will “continue to hold accountable anyone in the West Bank — Israelis and Palestinians — who stokes violence and undermines peace and stability.”

JERUSALEM — A fuel tanker crashed into a bus stop in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, seriously injuring one person in what Israeli officials said was an attack.

The Israeli military said the driver was “neutralized” at the scene after the incident on Wednesday. It did not immediately identify the driver or provide evidence that the crash was an attack.

The Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating the man who was injured, saying he is in critical condition.

Palestinians have carried out a number of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years. The army carries out near-daily raids into Palestinian communities in the West Bank that it says are aimed at dismantling militant groups and preventing attacks.

The violence has escalated since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank says an ongoing polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip has reached 82.5% of targeted children.

The ministry said on Wednesday that 527,776 children under the age of 10 have received the first dose of the vaccine across the war-ravaged enclave.

The campaign began earlier this month after the detection of the first confirmed polio case in Gaza in 25 years. It aims at vaccinating about 640,000 children there.

Israel agreed to limited humanitarian pauses to facilitate the campaign, according to the World Health Organization, and there have been no major disruptions from the ongoing war.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is part of the Palestinian Authority, whose forces were driven out of Gaza when Hamas seized power there in 2007 and set up its own government.

The two Palestinian health ministries coordinate with one another and exchange information.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military says two Israeli soldiers died and seven were injured when their helicopter crashed in the southern Gaza Strip.

The military said Wednesday that the overnight helicopter crash was not the result of enemy fire and is under investigation. The helicopter was on a mission to evacuate wounded soldiers from Gaza for treatment in Israeli hospitals.

There have been 340 Israeli soldiers killed since the ground operation began in Gaza in late October, at least 50 of whom have been killed in accidents within Gaza — not as a result of combat with Palestinian militants, according to the military.

JERUSALEM — An Israeli official says dozens of Palestinian patients were expected to leave the Gaza Strip on Wednesday by way of an Israeli crossing, in order to travel to the United Arab Emirates for medical care.

The official says over 200 people, mostly children, are expected to leave, along with relatives to accompany them. It is the biggest exit of medical patients through Israel since the war erupted nearly a year ago.

Gaza has been completely sealed off since May, when Israeli forces captured the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, including the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the coastal strip, leading to its closure. Rafah had been the only entry or exit point for Palestinians, including medical patients, since the start of the war.

Since then, Israel has only allowed a small number of children and accompanying relatives to leave for medical treatment.

Israel’s military offensive, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, has gutted Gaza’s already fragile health system. With few exceptions, Israel has barred Gaza’s Palestinians from entering Israel throughout the war.

The official says the patients are leaving through the Kerem Shalom crossing and heading to the Ramon airport in southern Israel, where they will board a flight to the UAE.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement by Israeli authorities.

— By Josef Federman in Jerusalem;

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas released the first public statement from Yahya Sinwar since he was appointed its overall leader in August.

In the written statement late Tuesday, Sinwar congratulated Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on his reelection and thanked the country for its support for the Palestinian cause. Algeria, the Arab representative on the United Nations Security Council, circulated a draft resolution in May demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and a halt to Israel’s military operation in the southern city of Rafah.

A hard-liner within Hamas, Sinwar would have to approve any potential agreement for a cease-fire and hostage release. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent most of the year trying to broker such a deal but the negotiations have repeatedly stalled.

Sinwar was one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack into Israel that ignited the war in Gaza. He has not been seen since the start of the war and is believed to be alive and hiding inside the territory. Israel has vowed to kill him.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — An Israeli airstrike has killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say.

The Israeli military said it targeted a group of militants in the northern city of Tubas early Wednesday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank confirmed the toll but does not say whether those killed by Israeli fire are militants or civilians.

Israel has stepped up its military raids across the territory in recent weeks and says it is working to dismantle militant groups and prevent attacks. Palestinians say such operations are aimed at cementing Israel’s seemingly open-ended military rule over the territory.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 20 people, including 16 women and children.

An airstrike early Wednesday killed 11 people, including six siblings ranging from 21 months to 21 years old, according to the European Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead from the strike near the southern city of Khan Younis included three other women, a child and a man, according to the hospital.

A strike late Tuesday on a home in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed nine people, including six women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Civil Defense first responders. The Civil Defense says the home belonged to Akram al-Najjar, a professor at the al-Quds Open University, who survived the strike.

Israel says it only targets militants, claiming 17,000 militant deaths without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its fighters are embedded in dense residential neighborhoods. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Blindfolded and bounded protesters take part in a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

This undated photo released by the Israel Defense Forces shows the Gaza tunnel where it says six Israeli hostages were recently killed by Hamas militants. (Israeli Army via AP)

Mourners pray over the covered bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in the Muwasi, outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners carry the covered bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in the Muwasi, outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)