There’s been a slight delay in the release of the final placings of my predictions, because I have been travelling back from holiday and have been having a few issues with my back, but here they are. This is the final instalment of the 2019/20 predictions, where I discuss who I think will finish in the top 6.
6th – Arsenal:
Congratulations Arsenal, you have finally managed to improve your defence! In all seriousness, I don’t understand why it took Laurent Koscielny wanting to go back to France to make the board realise that they need at least one new defender, but they’ve managed to sign full-back Kieran Tierney, after chasing him all window long, and David Luiz in a surprise move over the last 2 days of the transfer window. They’ve also signed Nicolas Pepe from Lille, who was the 2nd highest scorer in Ligue 1 last year for a club record fee – meaning that their front 3 scored a combined 57 goals last season. This is a big number, but I still think that they are liable to conceding goals, simply because Luiz is not consistent, and I am not that impressed by Sokratis (who I presume would be in their starting 11 instead of Mustafi – who I’m not even going to go into detail about). I think they will be closer than they have been in previous seasons, but injuries to any of the front 3 or one of the defenders then they’ll start to look vulnerable again.
5th – Manchester United:
I definitely think that this will be close between 4th and 5th. I am looking forward to watching Man United this season, which is something I never thought I would say. They’ve invested in youth by signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace and Daniel James from Swansea, who’s pace is absolutely blistering. They also finally signed Harry Maguire who will definitely be an addition to the squad, despite the price (which is quite frankly ridiculous). In addition to their new signings, United have an emerging talent coming through their ranks in Mason Greenwood – who almost every single Manchester United fan is excited about. The only concern I have there though is, now Romelu Lukaku has gone to Inter, Greenwood and Rashford are the only real strikers left (as most of the other forwards play best on the wing), so the questions are: 1.) what happens if one or both get injured? and 2.) is Greenwood ready to lead the line of one of the biggest clubs in the world, not just the country? I’m not sure, but these questions will be answered over the course of the season, but I am expecting good performances on the pitch from this team.
4th – Chelsea:
Honestly, I think people are underrating Chelsea. I’m one of those people that has faith in Frank Lampard and the young players who will have to come through this season. The main players I am excited to see progress this season are Kurt Zouma, who looked promising when he first broke into the Chelsea team as well as during loan spells at Stoke and Everton; Tammy Abraham, who will definitely have to majorly contribute goals into this team, and Mason Mount, who worked with Frank Lampard last season at Derby County. I think he was the right man for the job as it will provide stability during the transfer embargo, and Frank and his coaching staff (most notably Jody Morris) know some of the players and have worked with them previously. I think it will be interesting to watch Chelsea this season, because they’ve obviously not been able to sign anyone (with the exception of permanently signing Mateo Kovacic, who was registered as a Chelsea player last season because of his loan) and have lost Eden Hazard, who is a loss to English football in general, not just Chelsea Football Club. They’ve also only kept 1 clean sheet during pre-season and have looked worringly vulnerable whilst defending set pieces and against high presses, which I’m sure has since been addressed in training, but teams can definitely look and see weaknesses in Chelsea, which is why I think it’ll be close between both themselves and Man United just behind.
3rd – Tottenham Hotspur:
They’ve recruited very well in this transfer window – they’ve signed Ryan Sessegnon, Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele who are all very highly rated players. Sessegnon is definitely a future England star, and Ndombele looked very sharp in their Internatiol Champions’ Cup game against Juventus which I watched, and he looks very pacy also. There’s not too much to say really except that I think they’ll have a decent season and solidify their place in the top 4, although I cannot see a repeat of them reaching the Champions League Final at this moment in time.
2nd – Liverpool:
I think it could be close once again between the top 2 from last season. In my honest opinion, I look at every squad in Europe and I do not see any teams better than the current top two in England. Liverpool are the reigning European champions and will definitely be looking to add a first Premier League title to that by the end of this season. I believe they will fall just short, because they have not strengthened as sufficiently as Man City, although neither of them really needed to do much, just decent back up in positions where they would be significantly weakened if a player got injured. I think both City and Liverpool provided a great battle last season, and I expect the same again. There’s not really too much else to say except I will be very disappointed and shocked if either Liverpool or City do not finish in the top 2, as I think these are the most secure positions in my predictions.
1st – Manchester City:
3 in a row? Quite possibly for Man City. As much as I think it should and will be close, I cannot see any other outcome. The only weakness I see in their current squad is Angelino – the left back they re-signed from PSV Eindhoven, as he did not look City-standard in the 2 games I saw of him in preseason (but after all, it is preseason for a reason!) even though I suspect he’ll only be cover for Oleksandr Zinchenko. Other than that, they’ve bought some great players in Rodri and Joao Cancelo – I still desperately want to know who at Juventus thought swapping him for Danilo was a good idea – and they will provide more options to Pep Guardiola, as sometimes he is not content with the performances of Kyle Walker at right back, and we all know what happened in the 2 games that Fernandinho missed last season. So, they now have strong competition in all aspects of their squads and I can only see them trying to win all 4 trophies, or become the second Invincibles.
That Sport Blog 