We’re now less than a month away from the start of the Premier League season and talk is turning to who is going to win the title. Premier League clubs have already spent well over £500million so far this transfer window and we can expect that figure to swell massively over the next few weeks with a number of huge transfers still yet to be completed. In this preview we’re going to take a look at the contender’s summer transfer business so far and give our picks of who we think is going to emerge victorious in the upcoming Premier League season.
As you can see, Ladbrokes have the two clubs from Manchester down as the favourites to win the title, closely followed by last seasons champions Chelsea and with Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool at longer odds. We’ll now analyse which clubs represent the best value for money in the upcoming season and give our prediction of where each team will finish in the top 6.
Manchester City – 15/8
Manchester City struggled somewhat last season under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola but the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has overhauled his squad this summer. Pep has shipped out underperforming players like Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna and Jesus Navas and replaced them with big money signings such as Kyle Walker (£50m, Spurs), Bernardo Silva (£43mil, Monaco) and Ederson (£34.9mil, Benfica). The club are also expected to wrap up a deal for Monaco left back Bernard Mendy in the coming weeks as they overhaul their porous defence from last season. The board will be expecting Manchester City to win the title this season and with a wealth of attacking options at his disposal Guardiola’s team are sure to be entertaining this season. I think they will come up just short though and despite their reinforcements they still look suspect in defence. Prediction – 2nd
Manchester United – 10/3
Jose Mourinho has again spent big this summer bringing in Romelu Lukaku (£75m, Everton) and Victor Lindelof (£30.75m, Benfica). The club have spent a huge amount of money over the past 2 seasons, but don’t expect it to stop there with a deal for Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic expected to be completed in the coming days. I think this could be Manchester United’s season to return to their perch at the top of English football. Mourinho has built a fantastic squad and if he can get Lukaku and Pogba firing, then I think they will storm the league this season.
Prediction – 1st
Chelsea – 7/2
It has been a difficult summer for Antonio Conte following last season’s Premier League triumph. The size of the squad must be concerning Conte with Antonio Rudiger (£33.3m, Roma) and Tiemoue Bakayoko (£39.7m, Monaco) representing the only first team players brought in so far. Chelsea look very short of numbers in the midfield and attacking positions with Diego Costa expected to depart and Eden Hazard looking as though he will miss the start of the season through injury. Chelsea will have to spend big on a striker in the coming weeks and after missing out on Alvaro Morata, they are turning their attentions to Sergio Aguero and Patrick Aubameyang. Even if Chelsea get 1 of these 2 players in, I can still see the struggling this season with the rigours of playing Champions League football midweek and then Premier League games at the weekend.
Prediction – 3rd.
Tottenham Hotspur – 9/1
Tottenham are the only Premier League side yet to buy anyone this summer as Mauricio Pochettino appears happy with his current squad. Tottenham were superb at times last season as Harry Kane and Dele Alli continued to exceed expectations and fire Spurs to a 2nd place finish. I think the club will find it difficult this season though due to playing their home games at Wembley Stadium whilst they build their new stadium. It is not easy to make the move away from your home ground and I can Spurs dropping lots of points at home early in the campaign.
Prediction – 6th
Arsenal – 11/1
Coming into this summer Arsene Wenger’s biggest challenge seemed to be keeping hold of star men Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, whose contracts both expire next summer. It is, so far, so good on that front as both appear to be staying at the club. Arsenal have added Alexandre Lacazette (£46.4mil, Lyon) and Sead Kolasinac (Free, Schalke) so far this summer, but you feel that they still need to bring in a couple more bodies in the defensive positions if they are to regain their position in the top 4 next season. If Arsenal can hold on to Alexis Sanchez they will have a great chance of doing so, but if he leaves, then I think they will really struggle next season.
Prediction – 5th
Liverpool – 12/1
Liverpool are 6th favourites for the title, but after a top 4 finish last year they have added Mohamed Salah (£34.3m, Roma) to their attacking options, whilst attempts to sign Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keita have so far fallen on deaf ears. If Jurgen Klopp can get his 2 main targets in then they could certainly be a dark horse for the title and odds of 12/1 represent good value for a team who, at times, last season were simply unplayable. Keita and Salah would help them break down stubborn defences and you’d expect that van Dijk and Matip could form a formidable central defensive partnership for the Merseyside club.
Prediction – 4th
Outsiders
Is anyone going to do a Leicester City this season and crash the party at the top of the table? As ever it is highly unlikely, but Everton probably have the best chance of this following a summer where they have spent heavily on young talent like Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Davy Klaasen, Sandro Ramirez and also brought back club legend Wayne Rooney for a second stint at the club. It will be tough to replace the goals of Romelu Lukaku, but if Ronald Koeman can get his team firing then who knows? At 80/1 they could be worth a little punt.