The 2020/21 season kicks off with Arsenal away to Fulham tomorrow at 12:30 and, despite the absence of fans still being felt, it promises to be a season full of excitement. In this piece, me and Jonny Howard (@Jonnysview) will be making our predictions for the league season ahead.
Champions:
MM:
Manchester City
Manchester City struggled last season for a team of their high standards, finishing a huge 18 points adrift of champions Liverpool. Pep Guardiola is not the kind of manager to take a season like that lightly and will be hungry to make up for his shortcomings and add another league title to his impressive trophy cabinet. City have had a productive transfer window so far too, signing the likes of Nathan Aké from relegated Bournemouth and spanish winger Ferran Torres. I believe they will be a much stronger team next season mainly thanks to Aké as they will no longer be overly reliant on the fitness of Aymeric Laporte, who recently tested positive for coronavirus.
JH:
Manchester City
I think Manchester City will have a point to prove this season as they finished eighteen points off their title rivals Liverpool last year. It's good evidence for the ambitions of the club as their season was classed as ‘disappointing’ despite finishing 2nd in the league and winning the Carabao cup. They will want to re-establish their dominance in England having finished below their expectations of retaining the Premier League. The form of Aymeric Laporte will be a massive factor in their success as I believe the only real difference between Liverpool and City is the quality of defences. Both sides have real quality going forward but where Liverpool really stand out is at the back. I think if Laporte can stay fit and be a leader at the back, then City will have too much for the rest of the league.
Rest of top four:
MM:
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arsenal
I think that this year the top four will be a lot closer than it was last year and the difference between the top two and the rest will not be as substantial. I think Liverpool’s lack of transfer business may affect them but the potential signing of Thiago from Bayern Munich would massively improve them. Chelsea have had a crazy transfer window and have almost signed a completely new starting 11, however I still feel Frank Lampard won’t be able to make Chelsea title challengers and despite all the money spent, Chelsea finishing even lower than 3rd would not surprise me. I think the race for the top four will be very tight but I back Arsenal and Chelsea to finish above Manchester United and Spurs. Arsenal have also had a positive transfer window and are a team full of belief with Arteta at the helm so i believe they will just pip their rivals to one of those Champions League places.
JH:
Liverpool
Manchester United
Arsenal
The top four will be very tight this year. The teams that had fallen behind Liverpool and City have all strengthened accordingly and it should be an exciting race for those crucial champions league places. Obviously I think Liverpool should have enough to get in. They won the league by such an enormous amount last year, I can’t see them slipping so far down that they don’t get into a Champions League place. United have looked a different team since the arrival of Bruno Fernandes in January. Going forward they look really dangerous and Pogba has returned to fitness to improve their midfield drastically. I only have question marks regarding their defence as it is incredibly average. However, I think they have enough firepower going forward to paper over the cracks. My final place in the top four will go to Arsenal. While I am obviously biased, I think Arteta has really started something special and looks to be leading the club in the right direction. We have invested in the correct areas bringing in the experienced Willian alongside highly rated young centre back Gabriel Magalhaes. Arsenal fans will be hoping Gabriel and Saliba can form a vital partnership at the back to strengthen our currently flaky defence. It was really difficult to look past Chelsea as they have done some unbelievably good business in the window. However, I still think their defence is quite sub-par and some signings may need time to adapt to the new league. Furthermore, perhaps I am also underestimating Tottenam. I don’t think their players are good enough to get into the top four but Mourinho has that knack of winning so we may see Spurs in amongst the race.
Relegated sides:
MM:
West Ham
West Brom
Fulham
West Ham finished just above the relegation places in 16th last season and after a hugely uninspiring transfer window, it would not be a huge surprise to see the East London side fall into those relegation places. As always seems to be the case with the hammers, there is unrest between the players, the fans and the board, most notably surrounding the sale of young winger Grady Diangana which saw Mark Noble tweet out his anger at the decision. West Brom and Fulham were both promoted from the Championship last season and I think they will head straight back down. Scott Parker had a great season with Fulham by winning the play-offs but his inexperience as a manager could cost him. He will be hoping star man Mitrovic can score the goals to keep them in the English top flight, after an impressive campaign last season. West Brom have former West Ham manager Slaven Bilic in charge, who has shown to be a very good acquisition for the club, and have some quality within their ranks such as Matheus Pereira but overall I don’t think the team is capable of staying up next season. Due to the difference in the levels of experience between the managers, I see Fulham finishing bottom with West Brom in 19th. Teams such as Crystal Palace and Aston Villa i feel will only just be safe after both having poor seasons last year, but the race for survival will be very close and is likely to go down to the wire yet again.
JH:
Aston Villa
West Brom
Fulham
Aston Villa were very fortunate to stay up last season and I think their luck will run out this time around. While it remains to be seen whether they can hang onto their star-man Jack Grealish, I simply don’t think they’re good enough to survive this season with or without him. I also think that two of the Premier League newsboys will be sent back down to the Championship for an early bath. While West Brom have a good manager in Slaven Bilic alongside some players with Premier league experience, I don’t think they have enough quality to win enough points this season. It's a similar story with Fulham, I’m not convinced they have enough firepower to win many games and I fully expect them to finish bottom of the pile. The other teams I think may struggle this season are West Ham, Brighton and Sheffield United. West Ham are a shambolically run club and the owners make some questionable decisions regarding transfer policy. Despite this, you sense West Ham are too good to go down but they will be an interesting team to keep an eye on. Brighton may also be round the drop zone come the end of the season. While they have some good players such as captain Lewis Dunk, I think the other teams around them are stronger. The perhaps surprising team I listed was Sheffield United. I think they might get found out this season following a stellar campaign last year. They will struggle without keeper Dean Henderson and I think the rest of the league will become familiar with their way of playing. Despite this, I predict they will remain in the top flight for at least another year.
Surprise team(s):
MM:
Leeds
Everton
Leeds finally ended their 16 year long absence from the Premier League by winning the 2019/20 Championship in July and since then have made some very positive signings too. Most notably they broke their transfer record with the £30 million signing of Spanish international striker Rodrigo who is expected to be a significant upgrade on current striker Patrick Bamford. On top of this they have also signed centre-back Robin Koch, who has been capped for Germany three times. Marcelo Bielsa is one of the most popular managers in the world of football and has been credited with getting Leeds playing some eye-catching football and I think he will lead Leeds to an impressive return to the Premier League with a mid-table finish minimum.
Everton are a strange side and in recent years it always seems impossible to predict how they will fare in the upcoming season. They have made some great signings such as James Rodriguez from European giants Real Madrid, Abdoulaye Doucoure from Watford and Allan from Italian side Napoli. However, as Everton fans will know all too well, that a good transfer window on paper does not always lead to better results on the pitch. What i feel is different this season however is the calibre of manager in charge. Carlo Ancelotti is one of the most decorated managers around and should give Everton fans confidence ahead of the start of the new season. Whilst I don’t think Everton are quite ready to properly challenge for the top four, they will not be too far off the pace.
JH:
Leeds
I think Leeds will have a strong campaign this year. Bielsa is one of the most respected managers in the world having earned many plaudits for his work with Argentina many years ago. I think he will make Leeds very difficult to beat while playing some entertaining football. Moreover, they have signed some very good players in this window to support their already strong squad. Rodrigo from Valencia is the pick of the bunch as he brings much needed quality to Leeds strikeforce. The full Spanish international brings a wealth of European experience and I expect he shall impress from game one. I predict Leeds will finish just below the top half of the table which will be a significant achievement for a team that have just returned to the big time.
Check out more of Jonny at Jonathanhoward228.wixsite.com/jonnysview or his twitter @Jonnysview.
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