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2017/18 Premier League Predictions!

By on August 10, 2017

The new Premier League season is now upon us, with opening proceedings set to commence on Friday between Arsenal and Leicester at the Emirates Stadium at 19:45pm BST. Arsenal are currently top of the league alphabetically (if only the league ended in August, Arsene Wenger would have won a lot more titles in the last twelve years!) and could stay there (for 24 hours, anyway!) with a win over Craig Shakespeare’s side in North London. New Gunners striker Alexandre Lacazette could feature for the red-shirted men, while the blue Foxes could give competitive debuts to defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Vicente Iborra. The action then continues over the weekend, with Chelsea starting their defence of the title with a home fixture against Burnley. Here I have deduced my predictions for the upcoming campaign, analysing who has the best shot at staying at number one even longer than ‘Despacito’ and who may struggle to keep their job for longer than Anthony Scaramucci.

These are my predictions for the English Premier League 2017/18 campaign:

Champions: Manchester City
Top Goal-Scorer: Harry Kane
Player of the Season: Paul Pogba
Young Player of the Season: Gabriel Jesus
Manager of the Season: Ronald Koeman
Surprise Package: Bournemouth
Signing of the Season: Romelu Lukaku
First Manager to be Sacked or Quit: Slaven Bilic
Breakout Player to make the England World Cup squad: Tom Davies
My Top Four: Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd, Everton
My Relegated Three: Swansea, Burnley, Brighton

Magnificent Seven to shoot it out!

The 2017/18 Premier League season will be a brand new experience for Huddersfield and Brighton supporters, but I feel it will be a similar story at the top end of the table. For me, there are now a ‘Magnificent Seven’ teams who are a cut above the rest and could all potentially challenge for silverware. Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Everton, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham will all be competing for a Champions League spot and I feel the two Manchester teams and reigning champions Chelsea will fight for the league title. English football is the most open and exciting in the world, as nothing is certain in the top flight, but – barring another Leicester-style assault on the domestic trophy – I see these seven winning more games than not. Tottenham will struggle to replicate their position as main challengers to the eventual champions this time around, having lost right-back Kyle Walker and more importantly lost their White Hart Lane home advantage, with the prospect of adapting to playing at Wembley every other match.

Guard(-iola) of Honour for City stars come May?

This season will see Pep Guardiola start his second year managing in England with Man City, so with this knowledge of the 2016/17 campaign under his belt, it seems only logical City will have a more productive ten months under the Catalonian coach. Two years without a trophy would be unacceptable for the Dubai based owners at the Etihad, so Guardiola knows he must deliver more results on the pitch this season. For this reason, I feel the Sky Blues will be lifting the Premier League trophy in May 2018 – plus, they have spent over £200million on new recruits so far this summer and have plans to add even more to the City slickers squad.

The additions of midfielder Bernardo Silva (£43million), goalkeeper Ederson (£35million), full-back Kyle Walker (£45million), another full-back Danilo (£26.5million) and another full-back in Benjamin Mendy (£52million) have reduced the overall age of Guardiola’s squad and added the type of players the Spanish super-coach desires. It will also be young Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus’ first full season in Manchester and a fit Sergio Aguero, with Jesus and Raheem Sterling in attack, will make the 2014 champions a formidable force in the league again. However, if Kelechi Iheanacho completes his protracted move to Leicester this month, they could do with another back-up forward with all the fixtures, as Wilfried Bony is unlikely to have a future in Eastlands and has been linked with a loan switch to former side Swansea. Chelsea will not want to let their grip slip on their trophy as easily as they did in 2015/16 and Manchester United will aim to improve on their sixth place finish under Jose Mourinho, but City have impressed in pre-season and raided Monaco more than most sides this summer. It is hard to retain the title and superstar winger Eden Hazard will miss the start of the new campaign for Chelsea with injury, so I do not see Antonio Conte quite repeating his debut success – despite the capture of Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid. I do think that the West London Blues can lift the FA Community Shield on Sunday, when they face capital city rivals Arsenal at Wembley, a venue where the Gunners beat the Stamford Bridge side 2-1 in the FA Cup final in May. Arsene Wenger’s team is likely to be without the sick Alexis Sanchez for Sunday’s clash, while the Blues beat the Emirates Cup champs 3-0 in Beijing a week or so ago.

Brighton unlikely to be the Toast of the South Coast!

The top-flight will see three South Coast of England sides competing, as the sunny seaside will not just be a place to see Seagulls steal your chips, but also see the Seagulls play football against the Premier League’s elite. I do feel that Brighton should enjoy the ride while it lasts, as their squad looks one of the weakest in the division, having not added a great of new recruits so far this summer. The biggest outlay has gone on Australian goalkeeper Matthew Ryan from Valencia, who was needed to replace the Birmingham bound David Stockdale. Out of the three promoted teams, Chris Hughton’s side have completed the least business, as Huddersfield have basically brought a whole new team of signings in and Newcastle already had a strong squad coming up, with Rafael Benitez still at the helm. This will contribute to a season of struggle for Brighton, as survival would be a major achievement with the current crop of players at the AMEX stadium. I feel Brighton will be the side to go straight back down, along with Swansea and Burnley, as these two clubs have lost (or look likely to lose!) important players from last season. The Clarets have sold England international Michael Keane to Everton – a key factor in their solid defence and strong home form during 2016/17 – and have not heavily invested so far this summer on new additions, with Irishman Jon Walters from Stoke probably the most significant buy for Sean Dyche. Meanwhile, the Swans only just managed to avoid the dreaded drop under Paul Clement last campaign and could still lose influential midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson this summer to the Toffees.

My Premier League Predicted Table for 2017/18:

1). Manchester City
2). Chelsea
3). Manchester United
4). Everton
5). Arsenal
6). Liverpool
7). Tottenham
8). Bournemouth
9). Leicester
10). West Ham
11). West Brom
12). Southampton
13). Crystal Palace
14). Watford
15). Newcastle
16). Huddersfield
17). Stoke
18). Swansea
19). Burnley
20). Brighton

About Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis can relate almost anything to football and quite often does! You may have seen Richard's previous ideas and work in the BBC Match of the Day Magazine, from 2011 to present. He is a Manchester United and England fan, but has gone to see Leyton Orient play with his O's season ticket in the 2013/14 campaign. Aside from football, Richard has written articles on Doctor Who and studies English Language and Linguistics at the University of Westminster. Aspiring sports journalist.