Now for the big one, my Premier League predictions. I will get everything badly wrong, but that’s expected. I’d at least like to think I can get 3 or 4 correct positions, however maybe that’s being overly ambitious, just like Wolves and West Ham fans. I’ll probably do better than Paul Merson, though someone picking at random would be more accurate than him.
20th Sheffield United
Sheffield United fans’ last memory of the Premier League was being relegated on the last day of the season. They will also remember then Manager Neil Warnock, being football’s most bitter man as per, blaming it on West Ham’s Carlos Tevez for scoring goals. This season’s lasting memories will be better, but just because they won’t contain Neil Warnock. The squad has nowhere near enough quality in it and some of their signing are diabolical. Whoever pulled the trigger on the £10million deal for Lys Mousset needs to have their head checked.
19th Newcastle
The Stewards at St James’s Park will have to be extra vigilant this season, because someone will be throwing a cabbage at Steve Bruce after Newcastle have a terrible start. Though the signing of Joelinton seems interesting, and he looks like a player Bruce could use to great effect, other signings I’m dubious of. Allain Saint-Maximin was an attacking player in a Nice side that scored a grand total of 30 goals in 38 games, that suggests that Nice’s attack was anything but sharp and Maximin played 34 of the 38 games. Expect a low scoring and high conceding Newcastle team under Brucie.
18th Brighton
The hype around Graham Potter seemed to calm down after he guided a lacklustre Swansea side to a midtable Championship finish. But Brighton’s plan of attack was to sack Chris Hughton, who had done well as manager, and bring in Potter. Though arguments could be made that Hughton was becoming ‘stale’ and starting to regress, I don’t think that Potter will have the necessary impact to stop the slide that was seen at the end of last season. Brighton’s recruitment in recent times has questionable at best also, with strikers like Jurgen Locadia and Florin Andone providing as much goalscoring threat while on the bench as when on the pitch. Due to this I’m very sceptical of any signings from abroad that Brighton have made this Summer, though the late addition of Aaron Mooy is a quality one.
17th Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace’s season will depend on whether Wilfried Zaha will be bothered at all, after the club turned down bid after bid after bid for the Ivory Coast international. The rest of the squad lacks a certain amount of quality and if they lose their primary goal threat, Zaha winning penalties and Milivojevic scoring them, then the goals will dry up for Palace even more than they already have. Gary Cahill adds some experience at the back and James McCarthy and Victor Camarasa are decent midfielders, but there’s still something missing. Even at £2million the permanent signing of Jordan Ayew seems a bit much considering he can’t finish his dinner, let alone score more than a couple of goals a season. The strike partnership of Ayew and Benteke is about as threatening as a baby with a plastic spoon. Goals will be the biggest issue of all for Palace.
16th Norwich
Norwich were the real surprise package of the Championship last season, coming out of nowhere to win the league. I think they’ll have just enough to stay up. The only issue could be players not being able to step up to the Premier League level. If Teemu Pukki doesn’t make the jump and score like he did last campaign, the canaries could slip into some big trouble. The signing of Josip Drmic as Pukki’s back up is an odd one, as his last decent season was about six years ago and he’s been plagued by injuries ever since. Daniel Farke has a style of play that’s attractive and attacking, and I don’t see him wavering from that, which could cause big issues for them.
15th Burnley
Just like Sean Dyche’s voice, Burnley will be just as rough and gritty when playing this season as in previous years. I think they’ll have enough to just stay afloat again. In Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes, they have two proven Premier League quality strikers, and the fact that they’ve kept together the centre back partnership of Mee and Tarkowski is crucial. Their recruitment has certainly been unspectacular with Danny Drinkwater providing an extra solid midfield option, but their other signings have been poor. Jay Rodriguez managed 22 goals last season in the Championship (mostly from the penalty spot or his hands), but I’d argue he hasn’t looked the same since getting injured at Southampton a number of years ago. The less I talk about Erik Pieters the better, he has all the attributes needed of a solid defender, other than the ability to defend.
14th Watford
Watford have had a good few years in the Premier League now and have seemingly been consistently improving. However, I think that this season will be the start of a gradual decline for the Hornets. The very trigger-happy board will certainly think of sacking manager Javi Gracia if they get off to a bad start and I could see that happening. There’s only a certain number of times that Watford’s transfer policy, signing unknown foreign players, can work. They have signed two experienced English players this window but I don’t think Danny Welbeck and Craig Dawson are actually Premier League quality. This will be the start of the decline for Watford.
13th Aston Villa
I’ve tried to be as unbiased as possible when predicting Villa’s position this season. I think Villa fans have a great number of reasons to be optimistic. The ‘doing a Fulham’ comparison is an easy and lazy one to make for those that are very much ill-informed. Yes, a lot of players have been brought in, but three were already on loan, others have played under Dean Smith before and others know members of the squad. The only concern regarding the squad that I have is will the strikers at Smith’s disposal score enough goals? Record signing Wesley wasn’t an out and out goal scorer in Belgium and Jonathan Kodjia has had a couple of poor seasons after a great first season in Claret and Blue. Douglas Luiz looks to be a steal at £15million, though Man City have a buy back clause, and Tom Heaton could be one of the best signing of the summer for any club at £8million. I’m expecting big things from the Villans in the next few years.
12th Southampton
Southampton looked very poor for the majority of last season. Enter Ralph Hasenhuttl. The Austrian certainly got Saints playing when he joined at the back end of the last campaign, and he guided them to safety with a few games to spare. His attacking and exciting brand of football along with some astute additions should see Southampton shoot up the table. They have been in desperate need of new centre backs particularly, with the recent crop being anything but solid. So, the Saints faithful will have to hope that 20-year-old Kevin Danso will be the answer to their prayers. Defending leads will be the issue for them this season as ever, as if fit Danny Ings should be good for around 10-15 goals this season at least, so scoring shouldn’t be a problem.
11th Bournemouth
Bournemouth have a dynamic attacking line-up, that they have managed to keep together through the transfer window. This attack and the talent of manager Eddie Howe will spur Bournemouth on throughout the season. The issue will be whether the Cherries defence will be as leaky as ever or be improved due to the signings of promising defenders Jack Stacey and Lloyd Kelly. Even if the defence doesn’t improve that much, I can still see them securing a comfortable 11th placed finish because their attacking depth is so good. Even if they’ll be missing talented youngster David Brooks for the majority of the season.
10th West Ham
West Ham fans probably have wildly unrealistic expectations of what their team can do this season, after signing Sebastian Haller for £36million. The reality of the matter is, they’re West Ham and Haller will most likely look a shadow of the player that he is while in a West Ham shirt. Just like most of the forwards they’ve signed over the last ten years. I don’t expect any European football to be played in front of the empty seats of the London Stadium next season as fans of the Hammers may expect. Only about 5 or 6 of their squad are actually good enough to push them into the European spots. Any team that has the possibility of having a midfield pairing of Carlos Sanchez and Mark Noble will never rise above mid table mediocrity.
9th Wolves
The hangover for Wolves from their tremendous 2018/19 season starts now. Though I don’t expect this to cause that much of a drop off, I don’t think Wolves’ squad is quite deep enough to deal with European football and maintain a top 7 finish. That being said, there is a good amount of quality in the Wolves team and I believe they’ll comfortably sit in mid table, which should calm down some of their overexcited fans.
8th Everton
Everton have splashed some cash on some shiny new players yet again this summer, in the vague hope that some gel with the rest of the team, and propel them into the top 6. This plan has yielded mixed results, and I think this will continue. I’m still not overly convinced Marco Silva knows what he’s doing, and neither are some Everton fans, after some barren spells in the last campaign. Despite this, I still expect Everton to be challenging for European football, even though their spending over the last few years suggests they should be higher.
7th Chelsea
As I said in my Championship predictions, I wasn’t overly impressed with Frank Lampard at Derby last season, despite the media gushing about how he did a wonderful job. He took a team that should have finished in the Play-offs or higher, and just scraped into the Play-offs on the last day. I think he lacks a certain level of managerial ability and knowledge in how to cope when things go against him tactically. I think this will cause a slip down the table for Chelsea this season, especially when the transfer embargo is considered as well. There is still plenty of quality in the squad and Christian Pulisic should be able to take up a little of the slack after Eden Hazard’s departure, but probably not quite enough. Up front could be a big issue for Chelsea as Giroud is a good player but doesn’t score enough. On top of this, Tammy Abraham, in my opinion, lacks the necessary finishing ability to be prolific at the top level, despite scoring 25 goals in the Championship last season. A disappointing but almost respectable season for Chelsea awaits.
6th Leicester
Leicester have one of the most exciting attacking line ups in the Premier League, and if Brendan Rodgers had joined them earlier last season, I think they would have challenged for the top 6. The loss of Harry Maguire will hurt them defensively but I think other players will be able to step in and fill the gap. Having a genuinely attack minded coach will really help the Foxes push on and I think a 6th place finish is easily achievable for a team full of young and hungry players.
5th Arsenal
Arsenal were crying out for an addition at Centre back this transfer window, and they signed one… and then immediately sent him out on loan. Then they signed another… and it was David Luiz. As if Arsenal fans needed more of the torture of seeing how good their team is going forward, only for all the attacking efforts to be destroyed by abysmal defending. Their attack alone should see them guarantee Europa League football again. I look forward to watching the horror show that will be a pairing of Shkodran Mustafi and David Luiz.
4th Manchester United
Maybe 4th is a bit of an ambitious prediction for Man United, but I think they have enough to get there. Harry Maguire is a good, if hugely overpriced, signing and he fits with the young core that Solskjaer is trying to build at the club. The prospect of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial actually playing up front and not out wide should excite United fans, as this is where they perform best. If Chris Smalling stays out the starting line-up United will finish higher than they did last season, and Maguire’s presence will make that more of a possibility.
3rd Tottenham
Spurs fans will be delighted to know I expect them to put plenty of pressure on Liverpool and City this season, which has become their specialty in recent years. They are the Leeds of the Premier League, choking when the going gets tough and not winning anything when they really should. Their awful performance in the Champions League final epitomised that. Spurs’ squad is now absolutely stacked with talent with a few good summer additions, but even a shiny new stadium can’t make you a big club that wins trophies, as West Ham fans know.
2nd Liverpool
Liverpool have arguably the most formidable front three in the world, and the best defence in the league when all of its members are fit. However, there isn’t a great deal of outstanding quality when you look outside the first team. This lack of depth, particularly up front, could come back to bite Liverpool in the big games. I think they’ll run City close again, but will ultimately not have enough to win the league.
1st Manchester City
Man City had a scary amount of squad depth as well as quality last season, with the only flaw in the squad being the lack of a replacement for Fernandinho. In the summer, City have somehow added to this depth and, more importantly, found a long-term replacement for Fernandinho in the form of Rodrigo from Atletico Madrid. This difference in depth between Man City and Liverpool is what I think will set City apart and help guide them to a third consecutive Premier League title.
Jon Parkin Sports 