The crystal ball is polished and it is that time of the year again – Premier League predictions.
A few surprises, plenty of imponderables and a slight excuse that it is still not transfer deadline day yet.
Disagree? Make your own prediction here.
So here we go – how the Premier League will pan out in 2019-20…
| Phil McNulty’s predicted 2019-20 Premier League positions at a glance | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Club | Position (cont) | Club (cont) |
| 1 | Manchester City | 11 | Watford |
| 2 | Liverpool | 12 | Southampton |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 13 | Bournemouth |
| 4 | Chelsea | 14 | Aston Villa |
| 5 | Manchester United | 15 | Burnley |
| 6 | Arsenal | 16 | Crystal Palace |
| 7 | Everton | 17 | Sheffield United |
| 8 | Leicester City | 18 | Brighton and Hove Albion |
| 9 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 19 | Norwich City |
| 10 | West Ham United | 20 | Newcastle United |
Manchester City
Last season – Champions
This season – Champions
Manchester City remain the team to beat – they showed resilience and brilliance to put together a 14-match winning streak to see off Liverpool last season and have strengthened in midfield with the addition of Rodri from Atletico Madrid.
Vincent Kompany’s presence, so vital in the run-in, will be hugely difficult to replace on and off the pitch but class in all parts of the field will make it a Premier League treble for the side who swept the board domestically last season and the perfect sign-off to David Silva’s brilliant career in
England.
Liverpool
Last season – Second
This season – Second
The other half of a rivalry that will be a battle for silverware for years to come. Liverpool will try to end what will be a 30-year wait for the title after falling agonisingly short despite losing only one league game last season, to the eventual champions.
The Champions League was more than consolation but this season the Premier League will be firmly in the sights of manager Jurgen Klopp and his players.
Liverpool may not have made the big eye-catching purchase as deadline day approaches but all their world-class stars such as Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are secured and this is a team built to last.
Klopp’s team is not going away. It will be a fight to the finish but it may well be that the title will have to wait for another year.
Tottenham Hotspur
Last season – Fourth
This season – Third
It was a strange pre-season for Spurs with some discontented utterances from manager Mauricio Pochettino, including a suggestion of a change of job title to coach because of a lack of influence over transfers.
This, however, is still a club and a team in fine shape.
Tanguy Ndombele, a club record signing at £53.8m from Lyon, could prove an outstanding midfield addition to a team packed with quality and with the power to add before the deadline.
Spurs reached the Champions League final last season, which will have whetted the appetite, and are now at home in a magnificent new stadium and will challenge this season.
The title? No – let’s not forget they lost 13 league games last season – but top three and time to end Pochettino’s wait for a trophy.
Now it gets difficult.
Chelsea
Last season – Third
This season – Fourth
The Premier League’s top three is pretty clear (when viewed through this crystal ball, at least) but it will be a real dogfight for that last Champions League place and several clubs may be involved.
Chelsea have taken a real gamble appointing the unproven Frank Lampard after one season in Championship management in which he took Derby County from sixth to sixth.
Has owner Roman Abramovich invested in romance with this former legend rather than realism?
And the biggest puzzle of all is how can Chelsea cope without the ‘X Factor’ provided by the now departed Eden Hazard?
The reason for this prediction is that Chelsea have an uncanny habit of achieving against the odds – remember the “disappointment” of last season under Maurizio Sarri when they only finished third and won the Europa League?
Never bet against Chelsea for a trophy either.
Manchester United
Last season – Sixth
This season – Fifth
For all the cheerleading and predictable talk about a “feelgood factor”, I have serious doubts that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the man to turn around this big beast of the Premier League – doubts voiced before the initial bounce was deflated into those embarrassing performances at the end of
last season.
Solskjaer, rather like Lampard, is totally unproven but was the safe choice for United’s hierarchy.
Harry Maguire, at an exorbitant £80m for a central defender who is serviceable without being anywhere near the Van Dijk class, will provide leadership in a defence still containing familiar faces such as Phil Jones and Chris Smalling while Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James will provide
youth and pace.
Can Solskjaer turn around United’s decline? A game-changing signing in the next day or two may help but currently I struggle to foresee a top-four place.
