The English Premier League has the most wide open title race in the five major European leagues, and this season’s race should be no different. Defending champions Chelsea will face stiff competition from as many as five other clubs who will be looking to take away their crown. Let’s check out those top teams’ odds and outlook for the new season.
Man City showed during the summer transfer market that they mean business. They spent an incredible sum of money on full-backs, which were notable weak positions last year. They also added Bernardo Silva to an attack that already had Sergio Aguero, Sadio Mane, Kevin De Bruyne, and Gabriel Jesus. They surely won’t have too many troubles scoring goals this season.
Manager Pep Guardiola will have learned some valuable lessons from his trying first season in England, and don’t count on him making those same mistakes again. And with his desired upgrades at both full-back spots in place, he seemingly has all the tools he needs to live up to all the hype and claim yet another league title.
Jose Mourinho has a habit of winning the league in his second season, so expect Man United to give their city rivals a run for their money. Mou strengthened the spine of his team by bringing in center-back Victor Lindelof, midfielder Nemanja Matic, and striker Romelu Lukaku over the summer. Big seasons are also expected of former world’s most expensive player Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan among others.
United really should’ve finished much, much higher than sixth but were undone by their inability to turn draws into wins, especially at Old Trafford. Look for Mou to make the necessary adjustments to get all three points a lot more often, which should see United challenging at the top of the table all year long.
Reigning champs Chelsea have the work cut out for them in terms of successfully defending the title, especially with the Manchester clubs looking as strong as they are. The Blues added some depth in defense with center-back Antonio Rudiger and also brought in Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata to replace the departed Matic and the departing Diego Costa.
However, basically their entire squad has remained the same. It remains to be seen just how good they can still get without added reinforcements. They are also set to have Champions League football once again, which will be an added burden manager Antonio Conte didn’t have to deal with last season and was likely a key factor in their title. While they should still be in the mix, it’s tough to see Chelsea finding a way to win it all again.
Tottenham have been really, really good over the last two seasons, but not quite good enough to end their over 50-year wait for a league title. Spurs have been unusually quiet during this summer’s transfer window, with no notable players coming in. Meanwhile, they lost starting right-back Kyle Walker to City.
They should still be a very strong team even if they do go the entire window without signing someone of note. Manager Mauricio Pochettino has put together a very well-organized squad that has benefitted from continuity over the past couple of years. But their upside is still limited with the lack of new blood, which will likely be the big stumbling block they’re unable to overcome as they fall short of the title once again.
It’s getting close to put up or shut up time for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. The German has yet to get the Merseysiders in true title contention over the past two years, and big things are expected as he enters Year 3. There haven’t been too many additions to his squad this summer besides Mohamed Salah, although they are -400 favorites to land Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk.
On the flipside, though, star playmaker Philippe Coutinho is apparently set to go to Barcelona, which would be a huge blow to the Reds’ title challenge.
The big problem with Klopp’s Liverpool has been its frustrating inconsistency. His teams have done very well against fellow top-six opposition, but have regularly dropped points to teams lower down in the table. With Coutinho leaving coupled with Klopp now having to deal with European obligations in the Champions League, that damaging tendency looks set to cost Liverpool dearly once again.
The Gunners got off to a strong start to the season as they beat Chelsea on penalties to claim the Community Shield. Summer signings Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac looked good in their English football debut, as did the back three formation which manager Arsene Wenger turned to at the tail-end of last season.
However, we must not get ahead of ourselves. Aside from the fact that only seven teams in 25 years have won the league after winning the Community Shield, this is still a Wenger-led Arsenal team, the same Wenger who hasn’t won the league in 13 years. There’s just too much evidence against Wenger to think that he can go an entire season without a handful of slip-ups, which is what he needs to do for the Gunners to launch a legitimate title charge.
Everton are clearly the best of the rest outside the top six and the most realistic team to have even a prayer of winning the league. The Toffees had another busy summer as they brought in a trio of young players—goalie Jordan Pickford, defender Michael Keane, and midfielder Davy Klaassen—who should improve what is already a very solid squad.
Of course, they also lost top striker Lukaku to United, and replaced him with England legend Wayne Rooney. But the 31-year-old Rooney doesn’t look capable of leading the line on a consistent basis at this stage of his career. While Everton should be good enough everywhere else, that lack of dependable goalscoring will likely see them land outside the top six once more.
Writer’s Prediction
Man City (+187) make good on all their promise as they claim the Premier League title for the third time.
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