EPL Predictions - Overachieving Team

For this category in my EPL predictions series, I considered which team amongst the 20 EPL sides would see the most improvement from their 2012/13 campaign. There are many promising teams to choose from. Mauricio Pochettino’s Southampton side look primed for a great season after they sured up their defensive efforts by signing Celtic’s Victor Wanyama and Lyon centre back Dejan Lovren. All three of the sides promoted from the nPower Championship, Hull City Tigers, Cardiff City and Crystal Palace, will have overachieved simply if they avoid relegation.

But for me, the team that is most likely to overachieve in 2013/14 is Paolo Di Canio’s Sunderland.

Even before Di Canio opened his pre-season with a tour of Asia, I was optimistic about Sunderland’s 2013/14 campaign. Following on from the back end of last season the enthusiastic manager seems to have brought a new purpose and energy to a Sunderland team in desperate need of a new direction.

His focus in this summer break has been to drastically increase the fitness of his squad, which he admitted back in April was not good enough for a premier league club. With that problem now addressed, expect Sunderland to be one of the fittest and hungriest teams in the entire league this year, and a far cry from the limp, lacklustre team we were all exposed to at times in the previous campaign.

Now that the team is back from their Asian tour, and the season is right on our doorstep, I am even more convinced of Sunderland’s turnaround. The Black Cats showed real quality on the tour. They put on an impressive show against Tottenham in Hong Kong, beating Spurs 3-1. Both teams started with something close to a first team XI so the result should be encouraging to any Black Cat fans.

Sunderland continued impressing on the tour after that win against Spurs, displaying a solid performance, albeit a losing performance, against Championship hopefuls Manchester City. The tour was only the very beginning of what Di Canio wants to accomplish on Wearside, but all the signs are there that this new squad has some real potential heading into 2013.

As well as changing the atmosphere around the club, the Italian manager has also been active in the transfer window, bringing in some great new signings and purging the squad of some of the dead weight and non-believers that were piling up on the books.

For a team that barely managed to average a goal a game last season (41 goals in 38 games), a potent attacking threat was a glaring need. Di Canio and his staff, to their credit, identified this early and addressed those areas to great effect. New signings Jose Altidore and Emanuele Giaccherini, who will combine with incumbent duo Adam Johnson and Stéphane Sessègnon, will create a dangerous front line capable of drastically improving last season’s abysmal goal tally.

Don’t forget that the squad will also be welcoming back Steven Fletcher, whose goals for the club before his season ending injury were essential in helping Sunderland avoid the drop. Having him fit again is like a having a new signing itself.

As far as the actual new signings go, Jose Altidore is an American striker who signed for the Black Cats from Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar, and should provide an upgrade to the Sunderland strike force. However, whilst potentially a very good pick up for the club, Altidore is far from a guarantee. Although the American scored 38 goals in two years for AZ Alkmaar, an efficient scoring record in the Dutch league is little guarantee of success in the English Premier League. Just consider Mateja Kezman and Afonso Alves, two disappointing premier league players whose reputations were moulded from impressive tallies in the Eredivisie.