Here I am, back with another prediction. This time, I am going to be focusing on the Premier League, and more specifically what teams could be staying up and who could be going down.
20th – Brighton:
Honestly at this point, Brighton just seem to be preparing for the championship. I quite like their manager, although he only managed 14th in the Championship with Swansea and even though I didn’t expect them to return to the Premier League, I still would’ve expected more. Obviously, the Premier League is a tougher competition, as it is the pinnacle of English football, so I have my doubts about this season. As for signings, I don’t really know about the players but they don’t exactly sound the most exciting in comparison to some of the other clubs that I think will be fighting for their Premier League status. It’s also interesting to see Anthony Knockaert going out on loan to Fulham this season. I know he’s not been at his best in the top flight, but I went to a pre-season game there against Atlético Madrid when they first came up, and the fans seemed to love him, so what happened there?
19th – Sheffield United:
They are going to have to massively rely on Dean Henderson, who they’ve managed to get back on loan, and their well-drilled defence for keeping other teams out. To be honest, I don’t think they’re a lost cause, because Billy Sharp could have a great season in the Premier league and carry over his scoring form from theEFL, and I really like Chris Wilder as a manager and I appreciate the job he has done by guiding them from League 1 to the ‘promised land’. However, I think they are the most likely to get relegated of the promoted 3.
18th – Newcastle United:
How different this would be if they had Rafa Benitez in charge. This is the kind of thing that happens when you have an owner in charge of a club that does not care about it at all. Honestly, what happened to *that* alleged take over, and the links to players like Kylian Mbappe? I feel like they will come close, but I’m entirely not convinced about Joelinton – who I presume is a replacement for Ayoze Perez. He scored 7 goals in 29 appearances, averaging 1 goal every 4.14 games, which isn’t what I’d call prolific – and Newcastle desperately need a player that can score a lot of goals.
17th – Norwich City:
I believe this will be tight, but I am backing Norwich to stay up. I think they will be aided by Newcastle’s situation this season, but they do play some very nice football – whether it’ll be enough to keep them up though is a question that will be answered as the season progresses. They will by no means do what Wolves did last season (which I doubt Norwich fans realistically think this will happen) but they definitely have a shot of breaking their yo-yo status and staying in the Premier League for the next season. It will also be interesting to see what the form is like of some of best players from last season – the likes of Teemu Pukki, Mario Vrancic, Emi Buendia and the young players Ben Godfrey, Max Aarons and Jamal Lewis – and how they play in the big time. They’ve managed to build on some of their weaker areas from last season, by signing goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann on a season-long loan from Schalke and signing Sam Byram (who could prove a good signing by staying fit) from West Ham, despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league, although they could probably do with signing a defensive midfielder before the transfer window shuts, but they do seem poised for a fairly decent season.
16th – Crystal Palace:
They’ve lost Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and are set to lose Wilfried Zaha too, so the question is what now? They are a very inconsistent team, and without their key man (who they barely win without) they will struggle. Also, they haven’t really signed any important players, Jordan Ayew is the only notable name, but he only managed 1 goal in 20 appearances whilst on loan last season. I worry for Palace this season, as without Zaha they don’t have a stand out squad, and they will lack goals. Benteke has no longer got the form he once had at the club, and it’s quite worrying. I can find many negatives about this Palace team, but they do have their positives – for instance, an experienced manager, and a few consistent players (mainly Luka Milivojevic) within the club. So due to these few factors, and their knack at getting good results against the top clubs, I have a feeling that Crystal Palace could stay up, even though they are probably about to lose the person that brings the most value to the club in Wilfried Zaha.
These are the teams that I predict will struggle most this season – based on transfers in and out and the general state of the club. What do you think? Who’s going down this season?
That Sport Blog 