Here is my predicted table as things stand in terms of current squads (including forthcoming transfers like Lukaku to Man utd, Rudiger to Chelsea etc), I did such a great job last year
but here I go again with my predictions!
1. Man City
2. Man Utd
3. Chelsea
4. Tottenham
5. Arsenal
6. Liverpool*
7. Everton
8. Leicester
9. West Ham
10. Bournemouth
11. Crystal Palace
12. Newcastle
13. Southampton
14. WBA
15. Stoke
16. Swansea
17. Huddersfield
18. Watford
19. Burnley
20. Brighton
* IF we get both Van Dijk and Keita, I genuinely think we will win the league (that's how excited I will be if we sign both). If we get only one of them then we'll fight for top 4. If we get neither and our have our current squad, I can't see it. That's how close, I feel a couple of players can sway things.
Man City have the best attack in the league and will surely get their full backs they require and Pep will have had a year to adjust to the league, so for me they start as favourites. Mourinho second season syndrome normally means title success and if they don't win it, they'll get close for sure. I still feel they have serious weaknesses to iron out.
Chelsea have the formation and are settled - still I've never really felt they had the best team in the league, just the most consistent. Which may be a contradiction in terms, but Man City had the best talent last season, but seriously inconsistent. Still if they get a striker to replace Costa then they'll be right up there again, Rudiger is a good centre back but not the huge upgrade I felt they would get. Cahill is a year older too. Alex Sandro would be an amazing signing though and a definite upgrade on Alonso. Stamford Bridge is a fortress so again they will compete for the title.
Spurs haven't done any real business but they don't really need to do much. Even if they lose Walker they have Trippier, who I actually rate as a better defender than Walker. True playing at Wembley will be a hurdle they'll have to overcome, but I think they will. They also have a settled side, the best striker in the league in Kane (IMO) and the best defender in the league in Alderweireld (IMO). I do think they need another midfielder and a couple of squad players to go that next step though.
Arsenal will be fighting hard to get back into the CL. Lacazette is a quality player and if they keep Sanchez then their attack is set. If they add to their midfield (Lemar) and get another defender in, then they'd compete for the title too, but I think under Wenger they'll only go so far. For me their midfield is the weakest out of the top 6 as we speak. But keeping hold of Sanchez is key and they'll be battling for 4th again.
Everton have signed some good players but none would get into the top 6 teams and having finished 15 points ahead of 8th last season I see them stuck on 7th. However they lack seriously mobility and dynamism so if they go on a bad run they could go down a place. Conversely they have power in their team and if they go on a good run and one of the top 6 goes on a bad run, they could break through.
I expect Leicester to do better with no European football and even if they lose Mahrez they have made some really shrewd signings. I expect West Ham and Bournemouth to have good seasons. I expect Palace under De Boer to improve as they do have a good squad. I expect a drop off from Southampton as I can't see them continuing their yearly progress, so I expect them to plateau.
Newcastle haven't done much business but they won't be relegated with Rafa and I expect them to pick up some decent results along the way. WBA and Stoke I feel will drop off in league positions, and if they go on a bad run could be in a relegation battle. I don't see much from both teams for them to do better than I predict.
Swansea even if they lose Sigurdsson I feel will survive same with Huddersfield as I think Wagner is a good manager and can outperform the talent at disposal compared to the rest of the bottom 6 or 7.
My 3 to go are Brighton, Watford and Burnley. Brighton I don't rate highly, I think they found good consistency early last season which gave them momentum, but talent wise I feel there were 6 or 7 better championship teams and Hughton is a terrible manager at this level. Watford have some good players and Silva is a good manager so this is a risk me putting them in the bottom 3, but they had a terrible end to last season and they haven't really improved their squad, players are getting older and their off-pitch problems will be a distraction.
Burnley are a decent outfit but they did out perform last season. I don't think they'll have such a good home record this season, which basically kept them up last season and I don't see much creativity or goals in their team, so I think they'll go down.
I await to be spectacularly wrong in May 2018
