Kevin Doyle makes his Premier League predictions ahead of the new season
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I am not exactly going out on a limb here, but I think Man City will win the title. They have financial muscle that even the other big teams can’t match and they have a great manager.
In terms of the top four, I think Liverpool will finish second, Manchester United will come third, with Chelsea in fourth.
I don’t think Liverpool will be as poor as they were last year and even though they massively underperformed, they still only finished five points behind United. They have Virgil van Dijk back and it looks like they are trying to spend more money so I can see them finishing closer to the top spot.
Man Utd could struggle to match last season’s position
Man United finished second last year but I thought that was down to Liverpool’s underperformance rather than how they actually performed. They seemed to have weathered the Super League controversy and they have started to get people back on side again, signing Raphael Varane from Real Madrid. That was a massive coup.
However, when they signed Harry Maguire a couple of years ago they thought that would solve their defensive problems but he hasn’t lived up to his price tag. I think United have had a lot of signings over the years where you think, he will make the difference and it hasn’t made the difference, so time will tell with Varane.
I think they need to sign a centre midfielder too. The Pogba saga continues, with another year of is he going to stay or go? They can’t get him to perform consistently, so I think they need someone else now.
Donny van de Beek, who they signed last year from Ajax for a lot of money, is talking a good game all summer. Solskjaer looked like he had no confidence in him at all last season. He was fantastic at Ajax, but at United he couldn’t run to save his life. I hope that the summer of training will make a difference because he could be a very good player.
Edinson Cavani has signed for another year but he is 34 and you’re asking a lot for him to be the main centre forward at his age. All in all, there’s plenty of reasons as to why they won’t finish as high on the table as last season.
It will be a battle between themselves and Chelsea for third and fourth. Chelsea won the Champions League, Tuchel made a fantastic difference between Christmas and the end of season. This time they won’t have that bounce they get from a new manager. It’ll be interesting to see if that honeymoon period lasts with him.
The relegation battle
Now to upset people, with my relegation thoughts. I worry for Crystal Palace. They struggled last year but in the end Roy Hodgson kept them relatively safe. They have a new manager now and I don’t know if they will stay in the top tier.
I also have question marks over Burnley when you look at what they’ve spent in comparison to clubs around them. They looked to be in danger a few times last year but finished strongly. However, I have a feeling this is the year they could go down.
Can Newcastle stay up again? It’s another year of waiting to see if their ownership situation can be resolved, and it’s another year of not spending. All it takes is a couple of defeats for their fanbase to get very upset. Although they finished strong last season, it surprised a lot of people and I think they could be in danger this time.
Kevin
