Introduction

Just a few months after the Leicester miracle story in which they were crowned champions in the most incredible Premier League season yet the new campaign is almost here. After a summer of football at the European Championships it all begins again on the home front and there’s plenty of change heading into this campaign. United, City and Chelsea have new managers in charge and it’s the most unpredictable season yet with Leicester proving last season that any one of the twenty teams may end up with the trophy come May. It’s been another busy summer of transfer activity with the price tags getting higher and the big moves coming thick and fast. It’s almost an impossible task to predict exactly how the table will end up looking however I will try to predict how each of the twenty teams will fare as we head for another rollercoaster nine months of ups, downs, twists and turns.

My Premier League 2016/17 Season Preview

Arsenal

Somehow Arsenal managed to snag second spot last season but as usual with them they missed the opportunity to claim that first title in over ten years. You can understand the growing

frustration amongst the Arsenal fanbase when you consider Arsenal finished higher than all the big boys last season but still managed to concede the title to little Leicester. And the fans are continuing to be frustrated by their club’s activity in the transfer market, or lack thereof. They’ve signed Granit Xhaka, a good midfield player but they’re not going to win the title if that’s the only player of any profile they sign this summer. They still need a top draw centre forward and a decent centre half, if they can sign players that fit that calibre before the end of the window I think they’ll be well in with a chance in the title race. But if they don’t then I can’t see them being able to compete with the likes of City and United. They’ve already obviously got world class talent in that squad but that squad of players have proved they aren’t title winning calibre so Wenger needs to put his hand in his pocket because his side need a few more players before they can win titles. He has criticised the big figures being flung around this summer in the window but he and his side will only continue to fall behind if he doesn’t move with the times and starts spending. As usual with Arsenal they may threaten a title challenge but in the end I think they’ll end up settling for Champions League football again like they do just about every season.

Prediction: Fourth Place

Bournemouth

After a successful first season in the top flight Eddie Howe and his side will look to repeat the feats of last season for a third spell in the Premier League. They have to try and avoid the second

season syndrome, we’ve seen it happen with so many teams where they have a great first season but find it all the more difficult in the second season. Some sides however go on to establish themselves as Premier League mainstays. That will be the aim for Howe and Bournemouth who have spent a decent amount of money in the market this summer. Calum Wilson will be coming back from injury and if he and Afobe can strike up a deadly alliance up front then they’ll be very tough customers. However if I’m honest I can see Bournemouth struggling, I think Howe is a very good young manager and his side will have a season’s experience in this league under their belt but the competition to survive will get tougher, they almost got dragged into it at the end of the last season, they’ll make a scrap of it but I can see the cherries heading back down to the Championship.

Prediction: Eighteenth Place

Burnley

Burnley are back in the top flight at the first go coming straight back up from the Championship. They’re pretty much the definition of a yo-yo club, they’ve been going up and going down back

and forth for a good few years now. Sean Dyche is still in charge, he’s taken Burnley to the Premier League before so he’ll be ready for it and will have another crack at trying to stay in the division. He won’t want Burnley to be known as a yo-yo club, he wants to keep Burnley in the Premier League but it will be very difficult. They’ve

done very little so far in the transfer market and their squad doesn’t strike me as Premier League quality at face value. I think some money is going to have to be spent otherwise Dyche will have to work wonders to keep Burnley up, I can see it being a long season for the clarets.

Prediction: Twentieth Place

Chelsea

After a nightmare of a season last year there’s now a new man in charge of Chelsea. Antonio Conte arrives with a fiery reputation and he can only improve upon Chelsea’s efforts last season.

Some big money has been spent by the Italian already with Kante and Batshuayi arriving to build on an already talented group of players. It’s a group of players that have a lot to prove after last season, the season before they won the title by a landslide and it went completely pear-shaped last season. They’re a squad full of top draw players and they need to prove they’re top draw again after the nightmare of last season. Kante was arguably the most influential player in Leicester’s title winning squad last season so that’s a great buy I think and Batshuayi will be a very good option up front. You would think their business isn’t done yet, there’s still doubts over the future of Diego Costa and with speculation picking up regarding the blues’ attempts to re-sign Romelu Lukaku there should be a few more waves made in the market by Conte before it closes. There will be no European football for Chelsea this season and that will help them only playing one game a week most weeks, they’ll tighten up under Conte and if his Italian side at Euro 2016 is anything to go by he should create a great team spirit in the dressing room again. I think they will challenge for the title but a

return to the Champions League should be a decent enough season for them.

Prediction: Third Place

Crystal Palace

Palace had a bit of a scare last season getting dragged so close to the bottom three near the end of the season but they managed to keep their heads above water. They went on to lose the cup final as well so it was a pretty tough

season for them last year but they’re looking to improve this summer for the campaign ahead. Townsend, Mandanda and Tomkins have all arrived and you would think they’ll all go into the starting eleven. It seems their summer business is far from done with Everton in talks for Yannick Bolasie and it seems like another big incoming could be on the horizon with the club re-entering talks with Liverpool for Christian Benteke. Bolasie would be a big loss but it’s a lot of money to turn down for a club like Palace but if they could snag Benteke then that would be a big signing, there’s a potential 20/25 goals a season man despite a difficult season at Liverpool. So it could still be a very different looking Palace side before the end of the window but they’ve got a safe pair of hands in Pardew, they’ll want to challenge for European football but mid-table would be a decent return.

Prediction: Eleventh Place

Everton

Ronald Koeman is the new man in charge at Everton after a disappointing past couple of seasons under Roberto Martinez. It’s a really good appointment by Everton, Koeman made a

very good name for himself at Southampton, Martinez wasn’t going to take Everton any higher but I think Koeman can. John Stones has just been sold to Man City for nearly £50 million and I think that’s going to start a domino effect in Everton’s summer spending. Ashley Williams will be coming in as Stones’ replacement and it is a very good replacement indeed. They seem to already be using the Stones money bidding a lot for Yannick Bolasie at Palace plus there’s also the uncertain future of Romelu Lukaku so the likelihood is Everton are going to look like a very different side by the end of the transfer window. But I think Koeman will get them playing good football and will get better results, they’ll have a lot of competition for European places but they would be doing well to get a top half finish.

Prediction: Eighth Place

Hull City

Hull are back in the Premier League however they go into the new season in a bit of a mess. Steve Bruce got the club back up but has now left leaving Hull going into the new season without a

manager. There have also been hardly any incomings in the transfer market and in the position they’re in right now I worry for them. They need to get the right man to come in and steady the ship, they made overtures to Chris Coleman and it would be a really good

snag if they could get him in charge. But they need to appoint the right man and make the right signings in the last few weeks of the transfer market because they won’t survive if they remain with the squad and stay in the position they are in right now. It’s hard to predict how Hull will do this season with so much uncertainty surrounding the club at the moment however I think regardless they’re in for a real scrap to survive and I just don’t see them quite pulling it off.

Prediction: Nineteenth Place

Leicester City

We now move on to the champions and that still sounds pretty astounding. Are Leicester going to be able to repeat the heroics of last season? I’m almost certain they won’t, I say almost certain

because this is the team that proved there are no certainties in this league. I think the big boys all got a major wakeup call after last season, the stars aligned for Leicester last time out but this season will be much trickier. They will have to juggle Champions League football midweek with the Premier League and already their title winning team is already starting to take a hit. Kante has departed for Chelsea which is a big loss, they managed to keep a hold of Jamie Vardy but Riyad Mahrez’s future is still up in the air and it will be another massive blow if they lose him too. They have spent some money injecting more pace into their side with Musa arriving from CSKA Moscow and Mendy has been brought in as the replacement for Kante. I think Leicester will do well to finish in the top half, the first thing Ranieri will want to do is make sure they’re good enough to avoid a relegation scrap, it’s not out of the question they could end up back in that fight this season. If Mahrez goes I could see them struggling for a top half finish but if he stays I

think along with him and Vardy, two top draw players they could have enough to finish high again, just not quite that high again but certainly finishing in the European places again would be a major achievement.

Prediction: Seventh Place

Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp will begin his first full season with Liverpool, after a hot and cold start to his spell at Anfield last season. He’s been active in the market looking to improve his defence whilst bringing in Wijnaldum and spending big money

on Sadio Mane from Southampton. He’s cleared out a lot of deadwood in the squad and he’s starting to form his own side. I like Wijnaldum and Mane will cause anyone problems with pace however when I look at Liverpool’s squad from top to bottom it’s just not as strong as a United or City or Chelsea. Whether Daniel Sturridge can maintain his fitness will have a big impact on how Liverpool do this season but when I look at their squad as a whole they don’t yet look capable of winning the title and I think Klopp still has a lot of work to do to turn them into that calibre of side. There’s no European football this season which does give them an advantage but when you consider the strength of the sides they’re competing with not just for the title but for Champions League places I think it could be a potentially tough and frustrating season. When you look at the top six teams in the league going into the new season I could see Liverpool finishing below all of them unless they do something drastic in the transfer market but that doesn’t seem to be on the horizon and I think they may have to settle for sixth.

Prediction: Sixth Place

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola will arrive in English football taking over Man City as they head into a new era. It’s a new look, a new manager and a new squad of players with Guardiola wasting little time to make waves in the transfer market. Big money

has been spent on Gundogan, Sane and now John Stones as well as the likes of Nolito and Gabriel Jesus arrive too. Some think Guardiola is going to come to England and waltz his way to the title but I don’t see it like that at all. At Barcelona he was fortunate to have in his hands the greatest club side we’ve ever seen and at Bayern Munich he had it so easy in the German League because no one can challenge Bayern in the Bundesliga. I’m not knocking his accomplishments as a manager and he has an extremely talented squad full of depth to work with but he will not have known the likes of the challenge the Premier League will present. As manager of Barcelona and Bayern you win five or six nil most weeks, that’s not going to be the case in the Premier League, every single fixture is a potential banana skin. He will try to implement his style on the City side and it will take time for them to adapt to his philosophy and how he wants to play. If he can keep the likes of Kompany and Aguero fit then they’re in with just as good a chance of winning the title as anyone else. However honestly considering it’s his first season in English football not winning the title in his first year won’t be the end of the world, I think a top two finish would be a good start to his City career.

Prediction: Second Place

Manchester United

On the other side of Manchester Jose Mourinho takes the reigns at the new look Manchester United. It’s taken United three years but I think they’ve finally got the right man to take them

back to the top. A David Moyes or Louis Van Gaal side was never going to get near the title, a Jose Mourinho side definitely will. Because he’s been there and done it before, that’s the advantage he has over his old foe Guardiola, he knows this league inside out and that could be a massive factor to play in United’s favour. He set out on four targets in the transfer window and he’s got all four of them, Bailly has been added to the defence, Mkhitaryan arrives from Dortmund to add creativity to the attacking midfield, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will finally get his crack at the Premier League and of course the world record breaking deal to bring Paul Pogba back to United. Already United are more feared than they ever have been in the last three years, characters like Mourinho, Ibrahimovic and Pogba already help to reinstall that fear factor. People question Ibrahimovic’s age and never playing in England, it’s not much of a gamble considering United paid nothing for him but they will need him to get his fair share of goals if they are to win the league. Pogba is a beast of a midfield player, arguably the best in the world in his position and that’s a player who could make all the difference in my book. Playing on Thursday nights is going to be a hindrance for United but considering the size of their squad I would expect Mourinho to field a completely different eleven, a second string if you like for the Europa League, United have the squad to handle that competition. David De Gea stays which is also a massive bonus

and if United can get a settled back four playing in front of him they’ll have a massive chance. I think out of all the big name managers in this season’s Premier League Mourinho is the best equipped to win this title, his record proves that and he has the squad to do it, I’ll say this year he takes United back to the top.

Prediction: First Place

Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough are back in the top flight after a prolonged absence and I have to say at this moment they looked the best equipped of the three promoted sides to stay up. They’ve been

very active in the transfer window, big names like Negredo and Valdes have arrived as well as other additions including Guzan, Fischer and de Roon. I think Negredo is a very good bit of business on loan, they’ll hope he can be the man to provide the goals to keep them in the division. They’ve got a talented squad already that came up in the automatic places last season but it will be interesting to see how it unfolds for the boss Aitor Karanka who has got some rebuilding to do with the bonds in the dressing room after nearly walking out on the club at the back end of last season. They’re a tricky bunch to predict Boro because of the amount of time they’ve been out of the top flight and the temperamental relationship between players and manager but looking at their squad I think they have it in them to survive.

Prediction: Sixteenth Place

Southampton

It must get progressively frustrating for Southampton fans because it seems every single

summer other clubs come along and snag their manager and best players. Ronald Koeman took over from Mauricio Pochettino and the transition was smooth but once again the manager has taken off for a new club and again the saints have lost key players with the likes of Mane and Wanyama departing. However Southampton should be confident in themselves as they’ve been able to deal with big departures splendidly in the past. Claude Puel takes charge at St. Marys, he’s untried and untested in English football but then again so were Pochettino and Koeman. They had a big job replacing Pochettino which they got right with Koeman, now they’ve got an equally big job replacing him and Puel has a lot to live up to. I think he needs to do some more business in the transfer market, they’ve lost firepower up front in Mane and Pelle and that needs to be addressed. They’ll have another crack at the Europa League which if they go far in this time will be tricky to juggle with the league so there’s a lot of issues for Southampton to address this season and unfortunately I can’t see them hitting the same heights as they have done in the last three years.

Prediction: Twelfth Place

Stoke City

I think this is a pretty big season for Stoke City and Mark Hughes. Last year they finished in ninth which is a decent finish for them but I think Stoke fans have their aspirations set on something

higher. They’ll be wanting their side competing for European places but it’s going to be very difficult with the competition for European places in the league. They always seem to finish mid-table, finish in the top half and they do well but are the objectives going to be set a bit higher or has Hughes taken this Stoke team as far as they can go? The one big buy they’ve snagged in the transfer market so far is

Joe Allen from Liverpool who is a good addition to their midfield but they’re looking to add more such as continuing their pursuit of Saido Berahino. If Bojan can stay fit, if the likes of Arnautovic can continue to produce and if Shaqiri delivers the sort of form we know he’s capable of and they add a goalscoring centre forward to that attack then I think Stoke can go that bit higher this season but as I said competition for Europe is very tough. And in the end I think it may be a case of just settling for a top half finish again.

Prediction: Tenth Place

Sunderland

The great survivors did it again last season however Big Sam has departed to take the national job and in his place steps David Moyes. I think that’s a very good appointment by

Sunderland, unfortunately for Moyes his reputation was badly damaged at Man Untied however for eleven years before that he was a very safe pair of hands at Everton. He’s never been in a job like Sunderland though where he’ll find himself battling relegation but he’s got to be on a mission to rebuild his reputation in this country. He’ll have to do some business in the transfer market because so far they haven’t brought in any players, they’ve got to sign a few names because if they don’t they might be doomed. It makes you think how many times can they just about keep their heads above water, they seem to do it every year and some may think their luck has to run out at some point but I think with Moyes in charge the black cats will do it again.

Prediction: Seventeenth Place

Swansea City

Swansea enter the new season in a bad way having lost arguably their two best players. Andre Ayew departed for West Ham and recently Ashley Williams has signed for Everton. The loss

up front of Ayew is a big weapon they can no longer call upon but if I were a Swansea fan I’d be most concerned about the departure of Williams. He was the leader of that team without doubt and there’s going to be a massive hole to fill in central defence without him. Francesco Guidolin is still in charge after spending the second half of the season in South Wales so at least he has a bit of experience with the squad. Leroy Fer has arrived and Fernando Llorente is the new man up front. They need Llorente to hit the ground running and score goals otherwise they’re really going to struggle in front of goal unless he is able to bag a decent amount. However they’ve got other talent in their squad including Gylfi Sigurdsson so I’m backing them to stay up which will be the aim.

Prediction: Fourteenth Place

Tottenham Hotspur

Somehow they ended up in third last season but it was a very successful campaign from Tottenham. They were pretty much the only challengers to Leicester throughout the season,

any other year and the title would’ve been theirs. It would’ve been a bitter disappointment on the last day to concede second place to Arsenal, they didn’t deserve that but they’re back in the Champions League now and have a terrific young team that’s only going to get better. They’ve done a bit of business with Janssen and Wanyama

coming in and they may do some more but it’s hard to see where their team needs improving or who they could bring in that would get into this Spurs side at the moment. However the competition is going to be much tougher for them this season, Chelsea and United will be back strong, City will be better so they’re going to have to fend off a lot more of the bigger boys if they are to repeat or better last season’s efforts. They’re one of the names people are now including in the title discussion and they’re certainly in with a shout as are several other sides this season. However the big boys look a lot more impressive this season so I think Pochettino and Spurs may have a harder time of it.

Prediction: Fifth Place

Watford

I think letting Quique Flores go was a bad mistake by Watford, he did a very good job with that team last season and it was something that wouldn’t have gone down well at all with the

fans. Walter Mazzarri takes charge and so far he’s done a good job of keeping hold of Watford’s star men. They have had really big money offers for Deeney and Ighalo which other clubs would’ve found too much to turn down however Watford have stood firm and rejected all the big money offers so credit to them as a club for that. The squad has been beefed up in the transfer market and they’ll look to move on immediately from Flores and build on a successful first season back in this league. It will be tough to move on from Flores, it will be interesting to see how Mazzarri does being unproven in this league however I think they’ll still have enough to stay up especially with Deeney and Ighalo still the strike force at Vicarage Road.

Prediction: Thirteenth Place

West Bromwich Albion

West Brom safely survived last season as you would expect under Tony Pulis. He’s one of the safest pair of hands in the league and anyone fighting relegation on a regular basis with him in

charge is virtually guaranteed survival. As with every transfer window the speculation continues regarding Saido Berahino. He’s a very talented centre forward but if I were in charge I would cash in on him because he clearly doesn’t want to be at the club. If he does leave then he’ll need to be replaced and Rondon will need another partner up front. Only Matt Phillips has come in so far from QPR and they’ll probably need to do a little more business. But as I said with Pulis in charge West Brom should be safe as houses again with or without Berahino.

Prediction: Fifteenth Place

West Ham United

West Ham enter a new era this season bidding farewell to Upton Park last season as they head to the Olympic Stadium. It will take time for the

players most importantly to get used to the new environment and the new much bigger pitch. But they showed what a quality side they can be last season and very importantly they’ve still got a top draw player in Dimitri Payet. They’ve added Ayew to their ranks as well as Sofiane Feghouli, a talented winger from Valencia so their squad has been improved. They’ve had a frustrating transfer market because they wanted to sign a top draw centre forward and have bided big money to try and get that but haven’t achieved that yet. They’ll have to deal with the Europa League as well if they can

go further in that tournament this season and they’ll want a good run in Europe at the new stadium. They’ll want to get up there with the top six or seven in this league and establish themselves as contenders for Champions League places. However the competition for that is very tough and I can see them dropping down in the table from where they finished last season.

Prediction: Ninth Place

My Full Predicted Premier League 2016/17 Table

1st Manchester United2nd Manchester City3rd Chelsea4th Arsenal5th Tottenham Hotspur6th Liverpool7th Leicester City8th Everton9th West Ham United

10th Stoke City11th Crystal Palace12th Southampton13th Watford14th Swansea City15th West Bromwich Albion16th Middlesbrough17th Sunderland18th Bournemouth19th Hull City20th Burnley