Arne Slot’s team may well be the side to beat if they are successful in their bid to sign striker Alexander Isak from Newcastle, but I don’t expect them to run away with the title like they did last year.
This year’s race will have far more twists and turns and not all of them will be on the pitch, with Manchester City’s biggest threat coming from a possible points deduction in their ongoing battle with the Premier League over alleged financial breaches.
This is the time of the year when we can all have an opinion on what might happen when the final ball is kicked next May, but I’m not entirely confident that my predictions today will stand the test of time.
LIVERPOOL
We knew change was coming at Liverpool going into a summer when players were going to leave, but none of us expected the kind of spending we have seen at Anfield.
The arrivals of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike have banished the notion that the club’s owners are reluctant to spend big when the time is right, yet the sale of Darwin Nunez on Thursday ensured Liverpool’s income on sales has now surpassed £200m for this summer.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot delivers instructions to new striker Hugo Ekitike. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Liverpool boss Arne Slot delivers instructions to new striker Hugo Ekitike. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Liverpool are spending big, but will it mean another Premier League title?
That means they can go again, and while I don’t think they will pay Newcastle’s asking price of £150m for Isak, I do expect the Sweden striker to end up at Anfield.
When a player wants to leave a club these days, they tend to get their way, and that seems to be the position Newcastle are in with Isak.
I never like to predict Liverpool will win anything as I always fear I will jinx them, but if they sign Isak and a top-class centre-back, even I might dare to say they are the team to beat.
Mikel Arteta really needs to win a trophy this season, ideally the Premier League. Photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Getty
Mikel Arteta really needs to win a trophy this season, ideally the Premier League. Photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Getty
ARSENAL
Manager Mikel Arteta is under pressure to deliver a trophy this season, but so much will depend on whether their big signing Viktor Gyokeres is the answer to their scoring problems.
Arsenal fans tend to be a little more impatient than others and when their team have a bad week or two, the instant response seems to be to call for Arteta to go. Yet, I look at the job the Spaniard has done and it’s pretty impressive.
They were going nowhere fast after Arsene Wenger’s time came to an end and the team needed a major rebuild, which Arteta has done.
The Gunners have come up short as they have lacked a top-class goalscorer, and Gyokeres is their latest attempt to solve that problem.
I can see criticism coming Arteta’s way if Arsenal don’t win the title this season and unless Gyokeres scores 20-plus goals for them, or Gabriel Jesus stays fit for more than a few weeks and scores goals for them, I don’t see them doing it.
MANCHESTER CITY
I picked City to win the title in my Sunday World column last year, but that prediction was made with one major condition attached.
Everyone in football was waiting to see what would happen in City’s battle with the Premier League over their 115 alleged financial rule breaches and, ridiculously, we are still in that exact position a year later.
docked
Nottingham Forest and Everton had points docked after they broke financial rules on a pretty minor scale, so the extent of the punishment for City will have to be massive if they are found guilty of two or three charges.
If they are guilty of breaching the rules 115 times, it’s hard to see how they can stay in the Premier League, so we need to get this issue resolved quickly.
This story has been hovering over English football for far too long and while we all think they bent the rules big-time as they established a dominance in recent years, they might find a way to wriggle out of it and continue on their merry way.
Reece James celebrates Chelsea's Club World Cup success in America this summer. Photo: Seth Wenig/AP Photo
Reece James celebrates Chelsea's Club World Cup success in America this summer. Photo: Seth Wenig/AP Photo
CHELSEA
Chelsea are my team to watch this year.
I don’t take their Club World Cup win last month as a gauge of what might be to come because that tournament in America was a bit of a mess, but the fog is clearing at Stamford Bridge and they are starting to understand what they need to do to challenge again.
Chelsea’s owners were just signing players to stop other clubs getting them at one stage, with these crazy eight- and nine-year contracts too good to turn down.
Now it feels like manager Enzo Maresca has reminded his bosses that this is not a game of fantasy football, and he has been given time to build some foundations.
Chelsea have the squad depth to maintain a title challenge and like Arsenal, they just need to find a goalscorer who can carry their challenge and get them over the line.
MANCHESTER UNITED
United have to be better than last season, but I don’t expect them to get anywhere near a title challenge and probably not even a top-four finish.
Their 15th-place finish last season was not due to manager Ruben Amorim, as he inherited a total mess, but the latest United manager didn’t succeed in finding any solutions. I can’t get my head around the Marcus Rashford situation, as any club in the world would want Rashford when he is fit and firing, but he has lost his way like so many players at United.
They have made some decent signings but not enough to turn the tide quickly, and the only thing that may be in their favour in the Premier League is they will have more time to prepare for games as they are not in any European competitions.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is struggling to hold on to striker Alexander Isak. Photo: John Walton/PA
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is struggling to hold on to striker Alexander Isak. Photo: John Walton/PA
BEST OF THE REST
I’d be worried if I were a Newcastle fan right now.
Isak is pushing to join Liverpool and they are running out of time and options to replace him.
They are back in the Champions League and don’t have a squad equipped to cope with those extra games right now, so manager Eddie Howe and the club have a lot of work to do before the transfer window closes.
Tottenham will also be stretched as they return to the Champions League and while they have made a good managerial appointment in Thomas Frank, they don’t look ready to challenge for the title any time soon.
ALSO-RANS
The reason why I feel this will be the most competitive Premier League season we have seen for some time is that teams like Aston Villa, Brighton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest can no longer be described as also-rans. They proved that last season and will kick on again.
A new generation of young and bright coaches have ensured that every team is well organised and with the money floating around in the Premier League, the teams in the middle of the table are more dangerous than ever before.