Leicester's
amazing title triumph proved anything can happen in the Premier League.
Following the arrival of big-name managers such as Pep Guardiola at
Manchester City, Jose Mourinho at Manchester United and Antonio Conte at
Chelsea, this season is looking more unpredictable than ever.
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson is never afraid of a challenge - so we have
asked him to predict the final Premier League table from top to bottom. Read
on for his thoughts and have your say on our vote if you disagree...
I would always rather make a prediction than sit on the fence, but I think
this is the hardest ever season to predict.
The top six could be in any order. I wouldn't be shocked if Man City came
sixth and Tottenham won the league! I'm not saying that because of what
Leicester did last year, I'm saying that because I don't think there's much
between these teams.
I'm going for Chelsea (1) to be champions on the strength of the manager,
Antonio Conte, and Eden Hazard. The Belgium international had a terrible
campaign last season, but could still be the best player in the league. If
he gets going again then the Blues could sneak their way to the top.
I'll put Man City (2) second and I could make a case for Manchester United
(3) winning the title with Jose Mourinho in charge. They have a big squad
full of big players.
If Arsenal (4) had bought a world-class centre forward and centre half, I
would have picked them for the title, but they haven't. It would probably
help them in the long term if they didn't finish in the top four for one
season because it would force them to make some changes - but I expect them
to be around fourth.
It wouldn't surprise me if Liverpool (5) finish in the top four and
Tottenham (6) won't be far off either because they already have a team while
everybody else has had to buy a team.
I like West Ham (7) and with their new stadium they should be playing
Champions League football within four years because of the money they should
turn over. I like Ronald Koeman a lot, but if Everton (8) let Romelu Lukaku
and John Stones leave without replacing them they would drop from eighth to
12th in my predicted table.
Southampton (9) are a steady club and I think they'll be able to cope with
the loss of Sadio Mane, while Stoke (10) are a team with good footballers.
There's a fairly clear top seven in the Premier League and they'll be right
near the top of the "other league" along with Southampton and Everton.
I think Leicester (11) will be in for a hard season, but they'll definitely
be in the middle of the table. I certainly wouldn't expect a relegation
battle at all, but with Champions League football each week it will be hard
for them to finish high up.
Crystal Palace (12) are one of those teams who will win a streak of games
and then lose a streak of games. Alan Pardew will win seven on the trot and
then lose seven on the trot and he needs to break that trend. If he can do
that then there's no reason why they can't get into the top eight.
I like the look of Middlesbrough (13) and I think the Riverside Stadium will
be rocking in the Premier League this season. I think they could have a
similar season to what Bournemouth had after being promoted last year.
David Moyes is a good manager and this is a perfect job for him without the
pressure of a club like Manchester United. He will make Sunderland (14) hard
to beat and they will collect good results along the way.
I have put Swansea (15), Watford (16) and West Brom (17) in the bottom six
and all three of them could finish in the bottom three. I would be surprised
if there's more than three points between those sides at the end of the
season. Will Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo score the goals to keep Watford up
for a second season in a row? Have the rest of the team got much to bring to
the party?
Some people might be shocked by this, but I think Bournemouth (18) might go
down. They play good football, but at the end of last season teams were
getting used to the way they were playing and became a lot cuter against
them. This season they could struggle.
Hull (19) have not had a good summer with Steve Bruce leaving. I thought
Ryan Giggs might have got that job and that might have lifted them and made
a difference.
I like Burnley (20), but they haven't invested enough and I'm interested to
see if Andre Gray can step up from the Championship to the Premier League.
We've seen centre-forwards struggle to step up in the past and it'll be
interesting to see what they can do. They will have to work hard every week
to get a result and that could take its toll. It will be tight at the
bottom, though, and I don't see anyone getting cut adrift.
Paul Merson's predicted Premier League table
1. Chelsea
2. Manchester City
3. Manchester United
4. Arsenal
5. Liverpool
6. Tottenham
7. West Ham
8. Everton
9. Southampton
10. Stoke
11. Leicester
12. Crystal Palace
13. Middlesbrough
14. Sunderland
15. Swansea
16. Watford
17. West Brom
18. Bournemouth
19. Hull
20. Burnley
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