One niche prediction for every Premier League team

Your books, magazines, podcasts, Twitter feeds, television shows and conversations in the pub will be full of predicted Premier League tables right now, so I thought I’d go for a slightly different approach and predict one thing that will happen to each team in the 2024/25 season.

Of course, not all of these will happen and it’s plausible that none of them will, but I think most of them are possibilities. I will also be predicting each team’s league finish.

ARSENAL

Will concede fewer than 25 league goals

Okay, so it’s not quite the 15 that Chelsea conceded in 2004/05, but Mikel Arteta’s team were stubborn and unrelenting in their defence last season. William Saliba is arguably the best centre-back in the world right now, and David Raya improved in goal as the season went on. Arteta’s defensive coaching and systems are quite incredible - their xG stats from last season show that it’s not just that they don’t concede goals, it’s that they rarely even concede chances. Signing Ricardo Calafiori to play left-back in a similar way to how Ben White fulfils the right-back role will make this unit even more impenetrable

League finish: 1st

ASTON VILLA

Ross Barkley will be given an England recall

The former Everton, Chelsea and Luton man picked up the most recent of his 33 England caps in October 2019, but could a five-year exodus end this season? I truly believe so. Barkley was sensational for Luton last season and rediscovered some of the form that saw him burst onto the scene with Everton more than ten years ago. I think he will be the technical playmaker that Unai Emery’s teams have always boasted, and while Villa may find it hard to adjust to balancing the Champions League schedule, Barkley could be in for an unlikely revival of his international career.

League finish: 10th

BOURNEMOUTH

Will reach a cup final

Andoni Iraola had a tremendous impact at Bournemouth from November-onwards, and they were one of the best tactically-drilled teams in the league in the second half of the season. Even though they have lost Dominic Solanke, I expect them to build on last season’s work. They have recruited very well and kept the rest of the squad together. With the expanded Champions League format, we could see some of the European teams forced to heavily rotate in cups, which could lead to a surprise finalist. Iraola made his name at Rayo Vallecano by picking up results against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, so he knows how to punch above his weight.

League finish: 9th

BRENTFORD

Will make an expensive January signing

Unfortunately, I expect the Bees to struggle this season. Their recruitment over the summer has been unspectacular to say the least, and they meandered closer and closer to relegation in the second half of last season. I suspect they will find themselves requiring an injection of goals and quality in January, particularly if Ivan Toney’s unbalanced relationship with the club finally comes to an end, as I think may happen.

League finish: 19th

BRIGHTON

James Milner will become the all-time record appearance maker in the Premier League 

It’s not super-ambitious a prediction to say that after overtaking Frank Lampard and Ryan Giggs in the last two seasons, James Milner will pass Gareth Barry this campaign. He is on 634 appearances currently, nineteen behind his former Aston Villa team-mate Barry. Milner playing twenty Premier League games is certainly plausible, he has been used a significant amount in pre-season by new manager Fabian Hurzeler, and with the departure of long-standing club legend Pascal Gross, Hurzeler is likely to turn to Milner for an experienced head on the field.

League finish: 12th

CHELSEA

Will not name an unchanged XI during the season

All the jokes under the sun have been made about the boundless size of Chelsea’s squad for the forthcoming season and that was even before the signing of Pedro Neto. New manager Endo Maresca has an astonishing quantity of players to work with, and it now looks like Conor Gallagher may end up staying rather than joining Atletico Madrid too. With all of this in mind, as well as knowing Maresca’s penchant for rotation in his time with Leicester, it’s highly possible that the Italian will fail to name an unchanged team at any point in the season.

League finish: 6th

CRYSTAL PALACE

Will have a player in the PFA Team of the Year

Andy Johnson is still the most recent Palace player to make the PFA Team of the Year, back in 2004/05. Twenty years on, I’m backing the Eagles to have at least one representative this time around. Oliver Glasner’s impact on the football club since his arrival at the back end of last season was extraordinary and much of their surge was based on individual performances from the likes of Michael Olise and Marc Guehi. While they are gone and their absences will be felt, there is still Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton and Daniel Munoz, all of whom are exciting enough to recognised this season.

League finish: 11th

EVERTON

Will sell a player for £100m

I might be cheating a little here as the prediction I’m making likely won’t become a possibility until the end of 2024/25, but the production of a £100m player would occur during the campaign. I’m backing Jarrad Branthwaite to have another very impressive season and continue to establish himself as arguably the most cultured and technical young centre-back in Europe. He is hot property and come the end of the season, will surely be snapped up. The uniqueness of his skills means that Everton could demand a huge fee for his services, and he could replace Harry Maguire as the world’s most expensive defender of all time.

League finish: 14th

FULHAM

Rodrigo Muniz leaves in the January window

Of all of the teams in the Premier League, Fulham are probably the ones that have suffered the greatest losses this summer. Bobby Reid has been a stalwart for them, Tosin Adarabioyo has been their main defender in recent times and Joao Palhinha is arguably Fulham’s best player in the last ten years. I predict a tough time for Fulham this season, and there could be more bad news on the way - they have held onto Rodrigo Muniz so far but if his form from the end of 2023/24 continues, he could be tempted away in January, especially if Fulham are struggling.

League finish: 18th

IPSWICH TOWN

Will survive with a strong end to the campaign

I’m not blind to the obvious challenges that Ipswich face that make relegation a likelihood for them. They still have much of their League One team to field and it’s possible that the jump of third tier to Premier League in two seasons may be too much. But, I rate Kieran McKenna so highly and I believe they will pick up enough points, particularly early in the season, that they will go into the final weeks with a chance. Their last four games are Everton, Brentford, Leicester and West Ham - all winnable games. If they survive, I think it will be in the dying embers of the season.

League finish: 17th

LEICESTER CITY

Will have zero points after six games

Tottenham, Fulham, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Everton and Arsenal. It’s a monster first six games for the Championship champions, who are under new management after Maresca’s departure to Chelsea. Steve Cooper is a great manager but always tends to start seasons slowly, as his tenures at Forest and Swansea show. Pre-season has not been pretty for the Foxes, and they have yet to complete their transfer business. Sadly for them, I think it could be a very unpleasant start to the new season.

League finish: 20th

LIVERPOOL

Will have more England debutants than any other club this season

Arne Slot may be about to start his first season as Liverpool manager with no new signings, but one thing Jurgen Klopp left behind for him was an exciting nucleus of young players ready to contribute. In Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah, they have three players who made 123 appearances last season, all of whom are yet to make their senior international debut. With Lee Carsley taking over England duties for the time being, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see three players he has worked with at U21 level called up to the main squad.

League finish: 3rd

MANCHESTER CITY

Ederson will score a penalty in normal time

My initial niche prediction for City was that Pep Guardiola would announce his departure at some point during the campaign, but that doesn’t seem anywhere near niche enough. It struck me while watching the Community Shield penalty shootout at the weekend that Ederson took the best of all of City’s spot-kicks, just as he did against Real Madrid in last season’s Champions League quarter-final defeat. City have had penalty problems in games for years - Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez. Ederson’s frightening skills with the ball at his feet, combined with City’s struggles from the spot, may see Guardiola experiment, especially if they receive a penalty when having a game already sewn up.

League finish: 2nd

MANCHESTER UNITED

Will finish the season with Ruud Van Nistelrooy as manager 

Now, I think some of the narrative around Erik Ten Hag has been harsh at times, and his trophy record is certainly good, as is his record against City and Liverpool. But, United have been a one-off team under him. They’ve invariably turned up for the big occasion, but have also thrown in too many shambolic efforts interspersed with them. I think Ten Hag finishing the season at United is unlikely - they were going to sack him before their terrific FA Cup Final victory, so the club itself aren’t fully sure of him. With Van Nistelrooy as his new assistant, they have a club legend and a familiar face, who has been integrating himself with a fair amount of media responsibility this summer. Don’t be surprised to see him take the reins by the end of the season.

League finish: 5th

NEWCASTLE UNITED

Will finish in the Champions League places

Perhaps not the most niche of predictions, but I’ve not seen anyone tip Newcastle for the top four yet. There’s a few things to consider: last season, they dealt with a once-in-a-lifetime injury crisis which derailed them badly, as well as the extra pressure of Champions League games for the first time in two decades. With no European football to contend with, and a squad that will surely be luckier on the injury front, they will be able to focus on their league form, while others are trying to balance a European campaign as well. Marc Guehi adds huge quality at the back and they’ve managed to keep hold of Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes.

League finish: 4th

NOTTINGHAM FOREST

Will be kept alive by the quality of their wingers

Nuno’s recent body of work is questionable to say the least - an acrimonious end at Wolves, a disastrous spell at Spurs and a close call with Forest last season. It’s a squad that remains something of a mish-mash, that has been recruited with very little cohesion or bigger-picture thinking. However, I think they will survive another season, and a lot of it will be down to the quality of their wingers - Anthony Elanga, Callum Hudson-Odoi and now Jota Silva, to provide for strikers Taiwo Awoniyi and Chris Wood. They’re arguably top six if you were ranking the Premier League teams on wingers.

League finish: 15th

SOUTHAMPTON

Will be the most active team between now and the end of the window

Since promotion, much of Southampton’s focus has been on securing the players they had on loan last season - Flynn Downes and Taylor Harwood-Bellis from West Ham and Man City respectively. Now that they’ve done this, expect Russell Martin’s team to make moves in the market before deadline day. They are heavily linked with Celtic’s Matt O’Riley, easily the best player in the Scottish Premiership, who would add some quality and spark to a side that perhaps lacks it in attack. 

League finish: 16th

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Will have Pedro Porro named in the PFA Team of the Year

Tactical trends surrounding the number two position have changed and developed so much in the last ten years, from a desire to have ones that can cross, to ones that love to attack, and even ones that can foray into creative roles. The Premier League is experiencing a dearth of top right-backs. Ben White is the best defensively but is used as more of a centre-back, Trent Alexander-Arnold the most gifted but spends a lot of time in midfield, Diogo Dalot the most tenacious but plays at left-back as much as on the right, Kyle Walker the most recognisable but declining at a rate. Porro was consistent in an inconsistent team last season, and has been key for Ange Postecoglou in pre-season, even inverting into midfield when in possession at times. Expect a big season for him.

League finish: 7th

WEST HAM UNITED

Will name an entire XI of double-digit squad numbers

For someone who is a bit of a numbers geek but also a traditionalist, there’s nothing more sickening than players adorning numbers with no correlation to their position (Trent Alexander-Arnold, I’m looking at you). Long gone are the days of 1-11, and West Ham’s strongest team may consist entirely of double-digit squad numbers. With the signing of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, an eleven of Alphonse Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Jean Clair Todibo, Max Kilman, Emerson; Tomas Soucek, Edson Alvarez; Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, Mohammed Kudus and Niclas Fullkrug numerically gives us 23, 29, 25, 26, 33, 28, 19, 20, 10, 14 and 11.

League finish: 8th

WOLVES

Will pick up at least 75% of their points at home

Molineux is a classic ‘tough place to go’. All of Liverpool, Tottenham and Man City have tasted defeat there in the last eighteen months, and Gary O’Neil fostered a remarkable relationship between himself and the Wolves faithful last year. In the 2023/24 season, they collected 27 points at home and 18 away from home - only Fulham had a greater portion of their points picked up on home turf. I’m predicting that Wolves will continue to impress at home, with a strong, physical midfield that will look to impose itself on away teams at Molineux, and at least three quarters of their points will come from their own soil.

League finish: 13th

Daniel