Champions – Manchester City

After one of the most enthralling title races in Premier League history last season, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp’s rivalry reached staggering new levels with Guardiola recording the second highest points tally in Premier League history (only second to his City side the previous season) to retain the Premier League title for the first time in the club’s history, whilst Liverpool’s title heartbreak was softened by Champions League glory after a 2-0 win over Tottenham.

However, I believe that despite the momentum gained by Liverpool after securing a sixth European triumph that it will not be enough to dethrone Manchester City and here’s why:

Manchester City’s strength in depth was integral to their fourth Premier League title, winning the league despite long term injuries to Benjamin Mendy and Kevin De Bruyne. Liverpool found themselves with somewhat of a lucky injury record last season with Joe Gomez the only notable absentee for the Reds during the season.

Liverpool’s mouth-watering front three of Firmino, Salah and Mane were all relatively injury free last season and were integral to their excellent league form, however should any of the Reds’ starting front-line fall to injury than Klopp simply doesn’t have the depth to adapt in comparison to Manchester City.

With Klopp yet to add any notable first team additions to his side, and losing squad players such as Alberto Moreno and Daniel Sturridge, I fear that competing on all fronts and more specifically over the course of a league season that Liverpool will fade away.

Manchester City also have no fixtures against any of last season’s top six after April 4th (where they face the Reds), whilst Klopp’s side have to face three of last year’s top six in their last six games.

Who will be relegated?

Relegation is never a nice feeling, the damning confirmation of a season of underachievement and failure is a feeling that all football fans have nightmares of, however each year three clubs have to suffer this numb feeling and here are the three clubs I think will fail to beat the drop this year.

Sheffield United – Last April, Chris Wilder fulfilled a lifelong dream by taking his boyhood club up to the Premier League for the first time since The Blades’ last promotion to the top flight back in 2005/2006 season. Wilder who has worked his way up the footballing pyramid all the way from an amateur level will be testing himself against the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino and many more next season, however I feel this is a campaign which will end in tears for the Bramall Lane faithful.

I don’t believe that Sheffield United have a squad capable of maintaining Premier League status, the core values and philosophies put in place by Chris Wilder are exactly the sort of attributes needed to stay afloat, however in the Premier League hard work isn’t enough and the only player with proven Premier League quality to join the Blades this summer is an ageing Phil Jagielka who turns 37 this month. Wilder has taken big punts on proven Championship players such as Ben Osborn, Callum Robinson, Luke Freeman and is poised to add Swansea striker Oli McBurnie to their ranks whilst Ravel Morrison remains somewhat of an enigma in English football. I expect Sheffield United to mount a serious title challenge in the second tier next season with the squad they have.

Brighton – Whilst this is a very harsh prediction, Brighton are the second team I think will be condemned to relegation last year. After getting rid of Chris Hughton in the summer and replacing him with Graham Potter, Brighton are a club that could go either way.

The club have played a pragmatic style under Hughton during their Premier League campaign, and are expected to have a play a more open and expansive brand of football under Graham Potter this season, however sides such as Fulham are an example of the risks that could come with playing a too open attacking style, with the Cottagers sacking Slavisa Jokanovic and replacing him with Claudio Ranieri who is renowned for his conservative style of football.

However, Brighton are a team which do not score many goals and their over-reliance on a soon to be 36 year old Glenn Murray means that the club may not necessarily have enough fire power to maintain Premier League status for a third consecutive season.

Brighton will also be looking at Pascal Gross to rekindle his form of 2017-2018 season which helped the Seagulls avoid the drop. Other than Gross and Murray, star quality is hard to come by for The Seagulls with the likes of Andone, Izquerido and Locadia failing to live up to their billing thus far, add to that the loss of Anthony Knockaert and Potter’s side could be slipping closer and closer to the Championship this season.

However, the recent addition of Neil Maupay could be crucial in securing The Seagulls status in the top flight for another year at least.

Norwich City – My final relegation prediction is Norwich City, I am a big fan of Daniel Farke and the way his sides play football, however I think that they will narrowly miss out on survival.

Norwich will be expecting big things from Teemu Pukki who had an incredible debut season in the second division last year. However, a lot of eyes will be put on Pukki who will be targeted by opposition ahead of fixtures against Norwich.

I feel like overall Norwich’s squad is one that could go either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did stay in the division but if I had to stick my neck on the line I would say that next season they will be playing Championship football.

Players to watch

With the new Premier League season upon the horizon, the transfer window has become the main talking point for football fans ahead of the new upcoming domestic season.

Whether it’s a £60 million foreign import, a promising youngster on a season long loan or an experienced head coming in on a free transfer there’s plenty of eyes on the new imports into the Premier League, but here are the eleven players I will be keeping a close eye on this campaign and you should too.

Yan Valery – Southampton

As far as full backs go there has been little clubs in the top flight with such success in recent years quite like Southampton, with Luke Shaw, Nathaniel Clyne and more recently Ryan Bertrand just a few names impressing on the South Coast in recent years. And it seems The Saints have another gem on their hands in the form of French academy graduate Yan Valery.

The 20 year old right back had a breakthrough season last campaign scoring two goals and grabbing one assist for the Saints whilst managing to put up 1.8 tackles per game.

Southampton’s full backs saw their attacking freedom restricted under the leadership of Saints legend Mark Hughes before he was relieved of his duties towards the tail end of 2018, with Ralph Hassenhutl taking the reins at St Mary’s following an impressive spell with German side RedBull Leipzig.

Hassenhutl’s swashbuckling football allowed the likes of Ryan Bertrand and Yan Valery to demonstrate their attacking credentials, with Valery grabbing a winner against Tottenham in March before scoring at Old Trafford the following week.

Valery impressed Hassenhutl during the Austrian’s debut season at St Mary’s, so much so that the former Leipzig manager was willing to allow first team right back Cedric Soares depart to Inter Milan on a six month loan in order to pave the way for Valery’s development.

Southampton’s struggles maintaining their most prized assets have been their major downfall since their return to the top flight back in 2012, and should Valery impress this term, the young French full back could be the next big export from St Mary’s with Chelsea and Tottenham still yet to resolve their issues at right back.

Emi Buendia – Norwich City

It’s fair to say this time last year few people would have tipped Norwich City to be promoted from the Championship as champions following a 14th placed finish under new manager Daniel Farke the previous season. Add to that the big money exports of both James Maddison and Josh Murphy and some Canaries fans may have been forgiven for a lack of expectation ahead of the new season at Carrow Road.

After a standout campaign for Norwich which eventually earned him a Premier League move, James Maddison was identified as a huge loss for Farke’s side after contributing to 26 goals in all competitions during his second season in England’s second tier, add to that the big money loss of Josh Murphy, and some Canaries fans may have been forgiven for a lack of expectation ahead of the new season at Carrow Road.

However, the appointment of Stuart Webber as technical director proved to be a stroke of genius and helped lay the foundations for an excellent season at Carrow Road. Weber helped identify the likes of Emiliano Buendia, Moritz Leitner and Teemu Pukki from foreign shores all for a very low price, moves that would change the Canaries’ fortunes for the better.

Whilst Teemu Pukki stole the headlines with his 30 goals in his debut campaign, one of the most important cogs to “FarkeBall” last term was playmaker Emiliano Buendia.

Buendia registered eight goals and 17 assists in all competitions during his debut season in English football, registering 2.4 key passes per game as well as 1.4 dribbles per game. At 22 years old, Emi Buendia has all the attributes to become an established Premier League player for years to come.

Norwich City have regularly checked in and out of the Premier League for the best part of just under a decade now, failing to secure Premier League status since the 2012-2013 season. With three promotions and two relegations in nine seasons, The Canaries will be looking to become a Premier League regular under Daniel Farke, and if they do achieve that goal expect Emiliano Buendia to be a key component, should Norwich fall down to the Championship once more, Buendia could be set for a big move back to the Premier League.

Tanguy Ndombele – Tottenham Hotspur

Following an 18 month voluntary hiatus from the transfer market, many were shocked when Tottenham Hotspur ended their 517 day drought with the club record signing of highly-rated Lyon and France midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.

Spurs have been over reliant on the likes of Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko to pull the strings in midfield following the sale of Mousa Dembele back in January and towards the end of the season central midfield had become more and more of a weak spot for Pochettino’s side.

However, the signing of Tanguy Ndombele marks the dawn of a new era upon the horizon on N17, with Spurs splashing £65 million on Ndombele to earmark the start of their first full season in their new 62,500 seater stadium.

Ndombele has been compared to former Spurs midfielder Mousa Dembele for his elite ball progression, tackles and interceptions. However, the one criticism of the dynamic Dembele was his lack of involvement in the final third of the game with the Belgian averaging 0.6 key passes during his final full season at Spurs, whilst Tanguy Ndombele averaged 1.3 per 90, as well as putting up 1.9 tackles and 0.8 interceptions per game both significantly more than Dembele.

After a poor finish to the domestic campaign, Spurs’ newly reformed strength in depth makes them a real force to be reckoned with in the Premier League this campaign with the arrival of Ndombele allowing Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen to play further forward to support the already glistening attack of Harry Kane, Lucas Moura and Son Heung-Min.

Dani Ceballos – Arsenal

After narrowly missing out on Champions League football last season during Unai Emery’s debut campaign at the Emirates, some Arsenal fans may not have been too optimistic about the upcoming window with the club’s transfer budget being quoted at just £45 million.

However, the Gunners have already spent big on Saint-Etienne teenage defender William Saliba as well as securing the services of young Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Martinelli. However, the most impressive piece of business conducted by Emery thus far has been the addition of Real Madrid outcast Dani Ceballos on a season long loan.

Despite the Gunners not having an option to permanently secure the services of Ceballos, the Spanish midfielder has the quality needed in order to regain Champions League status after a three year absence.

Ceballos earned a move to Real Madrid after a fantastic season for Real Betis during the 2016-2017 season, however has struggled to gain minutes in a star-studded squad at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Mateo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira had promising campaigns last time out but struggled to provide more creativity and dynamism towards the front-line, however with the temporary addition of Ceballos ball progression and creativity should no longer be a problem for Emery’s side. The Real Madrid man averaged 1.3 dribbles and key passes per game last season.

It’s no surprise that Zinedine Zidane is reluctant to offload Dani Ceballos on a permanent basis, expect Ceballos to become a key man for Arsenal this season.