West Bromwich Albion
Until last season, West Brom was the very picture of mediocrity. Not bad enough to be a disaster, but not good enough to be noteworthy. The hiring of evil, cap-wearing mastermind Tony Pulis has changed expectations. Pulis made Stoke a force by hiring giant thugs and playing a brutal form of football; can he make the same transformation at uber-polite West Brom?
Stars: Saido Berahino was sporadically awesome last season, but combine his desire to play for a better team with his British passport -- in an effort to prevent ‘foreigners from ruining the game’ the Brits instituted a requirement that all teams have a certain number of British players, meaning the price and popularity of even mediocre English players gets drastically inflated -- and it’s unlikely that Berahino will still be a West Brom player come September 1 when the transfer window closes. Which will leave … someone, I’m sure.
