
Premier League 2017/2018 Table Prediction
Aug 9, 2017 · 9 min read
We’re only 3 days away from the opening of a brand-spanking-new season in the Premier League! Which of course means that now is the time to make crazy predictions based solely on rumors, my perceptions of the summer transfer window and my slighly above average(for an American) knowledge of the teams. So, below are 20 paragraphs of the crazed rantings of a madman for your amusement.
- MANCHESTER CITY
It absolutely pains me to say this, but I believe City to be the best team going into this season. Their defensive reinforcements look fantastic, they have a, for now, healthy Kompany to lead the team, and a very cohesive and dangerous attack going forward. I think you can expect them to make at least 1 more signing this summer, either in defense or a defensive midfielder. - MANCHESTER UNITED
This will finally be a year where Manchester United compete for the title. But I believe they will fall short to an overpowered City, due to our still unreinforced defense. Lindelof doesn’t look to be an immediate first XI defender in the Premier League, or a confident partner for Bailly, which means we will once again see Bailly paired with a rotation of Lindelof, Smalling, and Jones throughout the season. - CHELSEA
After a dominant season last year, the imminent loss of Diego Costa spells doom for Chelsea’s title hopes this year in my opinion. Instead they have split what he brought to the team into two players. Excellent finishing ability, but very little fight, passion, or work rate from newly signed Morata, and excellent fight, passion, and work rate from Batshuayi, but often lacks a clinical finish. However, even with all of that I still put them in at 3rd because the rest of their side is still just too good, and will have another season bouyed by an impregnable defense. - TOTTENHAM
To me, without some late transfer heroics, Tottenham have missed their chance to fight for the title this year. After coming so close the past two years, they had a chance to reinforce their side to leapfrog Chelsea to be a primary contender. But they have yet to make a signing! Somehow, they think their side, minus Kyle Walker, will be enough to see them through, which to me will sow discord in the side as stars(Kane, Allie, Dier, Aldeweireld, Lloris, etc.) maybe think about making a move next summer to a more financially ambitious club. - EVERTON
In the middle of maybe the greatest transfer season in their history, I think Everton are on their way to competing for a European spot this season. After very smartly spending the money they got after selling Lukaku, they look to be a MUCH more dangerous and balanced side, with the added benefit of knowing they will have another influx of cash for Barkeley. - ARSENAL
This should seem a shocking place to have Arsenal, scrapping for a spot in Europe, especially with the signings of Lacazette and Kolasinac, who both look to be the signings that Arsenal have needed for years. However, how many points did Arsenal win last year on the back of the work rate of Sanchez, or the creativity of Ozil or Cazorla? With Cazorla still injured long-term, and Ozil and Sanchez both unhappy with contract negotiations and more than likely to find their way to the exit before the end of the window, Arsenal will be back to relying on Walcott and Ramsey to create. - LIVERPOOL
Out of European contention this year, thanks to the incredibly poor management from the owners of the club. They refuse to invest any serious money in their side and seem to be against selling players to raise money, and I think they will suffer because of it this year. This prediction is based on the assumption that Coutinho is out the door. Rumor is that the board at Liverpool have accepted a 100m offer from Barcelona with 30m+ in add-ons. And even with that amount of money coming in, you can be assured that the majority of that money won’t go back into the squad to get a player of similar quality. Even with the addition of Salah, without Coutinho, or any marked additions to their defense, Liverpool look set to be disappointed. - WEST HAM
This is an interesting one! A team that STRUGGLED hard last year, are right up with Everton for clubs that have made the most of the transfer window. Adding Joe Hart, Chicharito, Arnautovic, and Zabaleta, they haven’t built a world beater by any means, but if they can hold on to Lanzini, they’ll cause a lot of sides trouble this year. They’ve added a great deal of PL experience, from front to back. They simply have no excuses, other than an injury crises, this year. - SOUTHAMPTON
Although I believe there will be a substantial gap in points between 8th and 9th, Southampton have a good chance at staying in the top half of the table. Even with the imminent departure of Van Dijk, Southampton have shown that they know how to grow talent, and spend money wisely. The addition of Lemina from Juventus this week should prove to be a valuable signing for them. - CRYSTAL PALACE
This is a hard one for me, because they should be above 10th with the squad that they have built. They’ve taken massive steps to reinforce their somewhat aging defense/midfield with some excellent loan moves in Loftus-Cheek and Fosu-Mensah, and added a player with real potential in Riedewald from Ajax. They still have all of the speed and attacking power going forward, but there is just something about their perennial inconsistencies that make me think that 10th is as high as they’ll rise this year. - WATFORD
Here is a team that I think should have the potential to do something in this league, especially after having managed to keep Marco Silva at the wheel! They have made some good additions in Cleverly, Hughes, Chalobah, and Richarlison, but to me still need to make improvements on the defensive end to be really competitive. But I think you will see the genius of Silva start to come out as he builds a more creative, attacking squad with less focus on pragmatically fighting to stay in the league. - WEST BROMWICH ALBION
This side a difficult club last year. Last season was a year for stability, where Pulis found the balance in his side. They now look to be investing in the future…and potentially investing in some Football Management 2017 scouting systems, as they’ve picked up two very much unknown players in Yu-Ning Zhang and Ahmed Hegazi, from Vitesse and Al-Ahly respectively. These are names familiar to me from showing up in a lot of scouting reports in FM17, and to me will be reasonably good additions for the club. They have also added Rodriguez from Southampton to increase their scoring ability in front of what we know will be a very well-marshalled backline that will make West Brom difficult to beat. - STOKE CITY
I hesitate to put Stoke City this high, but it is based on a belief that they will have an active end to the transfer window to replace what they have lost. They’ve made a few notable additions in Chupo-Moting, Zouma, and Darren Fletcher, but they’ve lost some talismanic members of their side in Walters, Whelan, Arnautovic and Bardsley. I trust that they’ll fill the gaps where they need to, as they’ve never been overly shy of transfers, but this is another one where I think 13th is as high as they go. - AFC BOURNEMOUTH
Eddie Howe is a manager that I feel uneasy to put this low in the table because he is very tactically adept and capable of setting up his team to give anyone trouble. And they have made some good pick ups in the summer, adding Ake, Defoe, and Begovic. And they’ve done this without really losing anyone that they’ll miss on the field. I think Bournemouth’s finish in 13th will be a fair assessment of the season, I don’t forsee them being embroiled in the relegation battle. Begovic will help them improve their defensive record from last year, while Defoe is guaranteed to add goals considering what he was able to accomplish as a one-man show at Sunderland. - NEWCASTLE
Finally, the first newly promoted team ranks, and it is a team that is very used to life in the Premier League with a manager who is very used to winning. However, the board have frustrated Benitez to the point of threatening to quit the club as they’ve refused to give him the funds to really boost the squad. They’ve made some decent additions in Manquillo and Atsu, but have either sold or loaned 9 players out so far this summer, so you have to think there will be reinforcements on the way, but much too late in the window to be making substantial additions. Especially too late to be making additions to a team that also has to adjust back to the Premier League. - HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
This is a team that will survive on the back of a very intelligent manager in David Wagner, a former USA international and UEFA Cup winner. They will be a part of the relegation battle simply because of their inexperience, but I think they will stay up and continue to improve as a club under Wagner. They’ve made some GREAT signings from the championship clubs they fought off to win promotion and from all over Europe, with players coming in from Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, and France. They also got their transfer business done early, as every player they’ve brought in was done by July 7th!! Looking forward to seeing this team play. - BURNLEY
This will be a frustrating season for Burnley fans. Although they were never a top team in the league, they put up some serious fights against every major team last season. And although they will still have an incredibly disciplined defense again this year, they have simply not made the moves in the transfer window that will see them improve on last year. With Walters and Bardsley coming in from Stoke, Cork from Swansea and then 3 players from the Championship, I don’t think they’ve done enough to prepare for the impending moment when teams figure out how to get around their defense. They simply don’t have enough going forward to beat many teams in the top 10 this season. - LEICESTER CITY
Ok, now we get into the uncomfortable part of the table, the sides that will not survive to play next season. Leicester are in that group for me. They have made some decent signings this summer, bringing in 2 attackers in Iheanacho from City and Iborra from Sevilla. But they haven’t fixed what was to me their achilles heel last season…their aging defense. Although their impressive leadership was a big factor in them WINNING THE TITLE(don’t forget that happened!) in 2016, Huth and Morgan were very openly exposed last year as simply being too slow to deal with attacks. They’ve yet to make a defensize signing this summer, although perhaps that is on hold until they get that Mahrez money from Roma? But, unless they expect to make some sales, they have spent wrong for me this year, as they now have almost as many forwards as midfielders on the payroll with Iheanacho, Lawrence, Musa, Okazaki, Slimani, Ulloa, and Vardy. Which 5 are going to be thrilled about being super subs? - BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION
This is a side that I think just won’t be prepared for the Premier League. Although they have a few players of lower-level PL quality, they haven’t made enough changes this summer to convince me that they’re going to field a team that is all that different from their side last season. They have a few interesting creative players who were able to win them games in the Championship, but thats not going to be enough this year, they are going to have a very, very negative GD. - SWANSEA CITY
This is where the struggle ends for Swansea. They look set to lose Siggurdson, who has seemingly kept them up season after season, but has to realize that he can do better. And with his loss, I don’t expect Swansea to spend what they make from his sale very well. They have already made a flurry of signings, sales, and loans in and out of the club, but don’t really appear to have brought in anyone better than the players they already have. Without a miracle, this looks to be the end of the Swans’ perennial survival streak.

