Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur have been the blue-eyed teams in the Premier League, finishing in the top six positions for the last three years. They will be heading into the new season with the hopes of battling it out for the championship, only they will not be alone this time around. Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Everton are all pushing to challenge the status quo and they have not been silent in the transfer market. To many, this is the year that a new entrant will break into the top six and we will be looking at how all these teams are likely to fare in the new season.
Manchester City
The Citizens are arguably the strongest team in the world and they are the Premier League defending champions after winning for a second consecutive season last year. They had to wait to the last day of the season to do it a second time and it will not be as easy as they have had it over the last two seasons. They have let go some of their experienced players, with Vincent Kompany coming to mind, but they have a strong squad capable of challenging yet again. The acquisition of Rodri is supposed to give them depth in midfield and you can expect them to be the favourites.
Liverpool
The Reds had an incredible season where they missed on the title by a whisker after finishing with one point fewer than Manchester City. This is one of the clubs with stability and as such, they will be very eager to give it another go this time around. Jurgen Klopp has worked very hard to keep the core of his team and they will be able to challenge once again albeit with lessons learned from last year.
Tottenham
Tottenham have probably punched above their weight for quite some time now and the club seems ready to shrug off the underdog tag in the new season. They have managed to qualify for the Champions League in the last four seasons despite a very limited budget. This season promises to be different and already they have signed Tanguy N’Dombele for a club-record signing fee. We expect them to give Manchester City and Liverpool a run for their money but they still have a huge gap to bridge.
Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal
Chelsea finished last season in third position in the table but this year promises to be a different case altogether. They are serving a transfer ban and they have an inexperienced man in Frank Lampard as their manager. This will be a difficult season for them but it will remain to be seen in the coming months
Manchester United for their part have been covered in a cloud of uncertainty over some of their key players. They could not break into the top four last season and if the issues around the club are not resolved soon enough we could be in for yet another difficult season.
Finally, in this category we have Arsenal, a perennial finisher in the top four except for the last three seasons. They struggled to keep up with the big boys last season for several reasons but key among them being their squad which was a class below the rest. They will need to improve their squad although so far nothing concrete has been forthcoming with the club.
Leicester and Wolves
Leicester have not looked back since winning the Premier League four seasons ago and they are one of the teams looking to break into the top six. They finished ninth in the table last season and they are not leaving anything to chance ahead of August. They have done some business in the transfer market and this will put them in good standing.
Wolves have also been on the up as they finished last season in seventh after playing for one year in the top flight. Nuno Espirito Santo did well and they will be out to improve on last season’s performance with yet another strong campaign. They have what it takes and they could find themselves in a better position come next season.