Premier League 2017-18 preview

The favorites

Defending champions Chelsea are excepted to be at least as strong as last season. The big difference are this year’s Champions League games, a new challenge for A.Conte in hiw second season with the “blues”. Conte is of course aware of this, but this season has a new task, to rotate his team in order to have them fresh in both competitions. German international Α.Rudiger, after a brilliant season with Roma, is now wearing the blue shirt, T.Bakayoko from Monaco and A.Morata from Real Madrid are also new signings. D.Costa is on his way out from the club. Chelsea are quite strong for another year and if you opt for their back-to-back Premier League title, the odds are 7/2 (4.50) at bet365.

Manchester City have also a title winning squad, Pep Guardiola has decided to strengthen his defensive line and he has bought two top class defenders, French international B.Mendy from Monaco and K.Walker from Tottenham. Another newcomer is E.Moraes, the ex Benfica keeper. The midfielder B.Sliva is another promising signing from Monaco. And of course, everybody is expecting big things from Gabriel Jesus, in his second season at Manchester. The “sky blues” seem to have hit form very early, having scored three goals against Real Madrid and four against Tottenham in last month’s friendly games. I have no problem to suggest them as the Premier League winners for the 2017-18 season. The odds at bet365 are at 7/4 (2.75).

Manchester United look stronger than last season. J.Murinho signed Ρ.Lukaku and hopes that he will be able to replace Ζ.Ibrahimovic. N.MatiC  from Chelsea and v.Lindelof from Benfica are two more signings for the “red devils”, the second one seems to be the big question mark, but surely J.Murinho knows something more about the Swede. United were hard to beat last season, but they often stuck at Old Trafford, usually against weaker opponents. Surely they have to play more offensive football to win the Premiership. The odds on the United league title win are exactly the same as Chelsea’s win, 7/2 (4.50) at bet365.

The outsiders

It is not an exaggeration that Tottenham have played the most attractive football in Premier League the last couple of seasons. They have a very strong starting eleven, including many of the leading English footballers, but their squad is not as long as needed to excel in 3 or 4 competitions every year. The last two seasons they failed in their Europe campaign, but this time I expect from Pochettino at least a decent european season. There are no big differences comparing with last season’s team, but we are expecting a couple of signings till the end of month, as coach Pochettino promised in a recent interview. Tottenham as league winners? The price is 10/1 (11.00) at bet365.

Liverpool are another attracting team, but not as strong as needed to compete for the title, at least from what I saw the last seasons. In their day they can deliver many goals to any Premier League team, but in the long run they are instable. Liverpool can attack with both M.Salah and S.Mane from the flanks this season, and it would be ideal if they can keep in their squad P.Coutinho. Their defensive line seems more strong this year and it would be much stronger if Southampton’s Dutchman Van Dijk signs for the “reds”.

A. Wenger signed A.Lacazette from Lyon, definitely a big name, but I cannot guaranty about his strength to cope playing twice a week. I do not expect something different from A.Wenger’s Asrenal for one more year. Probably a very strong beginning, till October – mid November, and then the usual ups and downs, with the common placards at Emirates “Wenger go home”.

The odds are 11/1 (12.00) for the “gunners” to win the league title  and 12/1 (13.00) for the “reds”, but I am not at all impressed.
 

The rest

Everton have sold Lukaku and so far they have bought the Ajax midfielder D.Klaasen, the Malaga striker S.Ramirez and the Burnley defender M.Keane. W.Rooney is back after 13 years playing for United, I have my doubts that he will help.

Nice signings for West Ham are M.Arnautovic, J.Hernandez (Chicharito), Zabaleta and keeper Joe Hart.

Southampton have hired M.Pellegrino from Deportivo Alaves and this is a great question mark. They will probably loose their defensive ace Van Dijk and till now they have not signed a quotable name.

F.De Boer is also a newcomer on Premier League benches, he will try his luck at Crystal Palace after a mediocre season with Internazionale (actually he stayed in Milan only for 4 months). Μ.Silva’s next stop is Watford, he didn’t manage to save Hull, but this year has another chance.

I guess that the last three clubs with inexperienced Premier League coaches will be able extent their presence in the big league, otherwise it will be a huge surprise.

Newcastle disappoints on the transfer market till now, but R.Benitez is a smart guy and I am sure that he waits the last two weeks for the big fish.

Swansea are weakened, G.Sigurdsson left, he was almost their everything last season and till now couch P.Clement has signed only R.Mesa and striker T.Abraham, not the same quality of players, at least for me.

WBA has always the way to secure a place in the Premier League, and I do not worry at all for T.Pulis’ team.

I do not trust Leicester, but they have the way to steal points in big matches and they will survive. Iborra and H.Maguire are their new signings, also striker Iheanacho from Man City.

The relegation battle

Huddersfield are the number one favorite to be relegated, the odds are 4/6 (1.66) at bet365, but I am not sure that they are much worse than half a dozen other teams. They have signed some quite decent players and maybe a couple of wins at the start, thriving from their newcomer enthusiasm, will give them the boost to save their season.

Brighton are the second favorite to be relegated 6/5 (2.20) at bet365, surely not the kind of odds to invest in. They have signed veterans J.Walters and J.Bardsley and their team seems to work fine.

Another veteran, J.Defoe, has joined Bournemouth, surely he may help E.Howe’s team to survive.

Stoke disappointed last season and I fear that even this season they cannot go higher than last year’s15th position, considering that Arnautovic and J.Walters left the club. I believe that without them they would have been relegated and I am not at all optimistic about the new season for M..Hughes’ team. Bet365 offers 6/1 (7.00) if you expect Stoke to be relegated.

But who will finally get relegated? Burnley 5/4 (2.25), Swansea 2/1 (3.00), and probably the newcomers Brighton and Huddersfield that mentioned before, are the teams that I believe to be into trouble this season. Definitely I do not rule out Stoke from this years’ relegation battle.

* Odds correct as of 10:30pm, Tuesday 8th Aug 2017