▪️ ARSENAL @Arsenal
Last season 2nd FA Cup Third round League Cup Fourth round Champions League Quarter finals
Last major trophy FA Cup 2020
Ownership Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (USA)
Head coach Mikel Arteta (since December 2019)
New signings David Raya, Riccardo Calafiori
Arsenal head into the campaign as the best-placed challenger to interrupt this period of Manchester City dominance in the Premier League after edging ever closer over the past two seasons. For, while it could be reasonably argued that the Gunners lost their bottle in 2022-23 with dropped points in the closing stages against West Ham United, Southampton, Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest, 2023-24 was nothing like that. Instead, a free-scoring Arsenal outfit took 50 points out of the last 54 available - and the title was effectively decided by a tight tussle at Manchester City which finished 0-0. Mikel Arteta knows his existing squad really is not far away now, so the fact there is only one completely new face this summer so far - highly-rated centre-back Riccardo Calafiori - is no great surprise, and merely just a matter of fine-tuning ahead of another season-long assault on the title.
▪️ Prediction Champions
▪️ ASTON VILLA @AVFCOfficial
Lamovesason 4th FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Third round Conference League Semi final
Last major trophy League Cup 1996
Ownership Nasser Sawiris (EGY) and Wes Edens (USA)
Head coach Unai Emery (since November 2022)
New signings Lewis Dobbin, Ian Maatsen, Samuel Iling-Junior, Ross Barkley, Enzo Barrenechea, Jaden Philogene, Amadou Onana
▪️ Prediction 8th
▪️ BOURNEMOUTH @afcbournemouth
Last season 12th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Fourth round
Last major trophy None
Ownership Bill Foley (USA)
Head coach Andoni Iraola (since June 2023)
New signings Enes Unal, Alex Paulsen, Daniel Jebbison, Dean Huijsen, Julian Araujo, Evanilson
Bournemouth comfortably retained their place at the top table for a eighth season out of the last 10, maintaining their role as the embodiment of support size meaning little given that their average attendance of 11,108 suggests there is no great need to extend the measly capacity of Dean Court. It means, though, that the Cherries will always have a much lower ceiling than their competitors - especially in this era where commercial income is vital to comply with profit and sustainability rules. As such, it was no surprise really that their main weapon Dominic Solanke, scorer of 19 league goals in 2023-24, had his head turned by the bright lights of the capital city and moved to Tottenham Hotspur, while talented out-of-contract centre-back Lloyd Kelly has journeyed north to Newcastle United. Last season, though, head coach Andoni Iraola produced a team last season which often played at a level exceeding the sum of its parts - so, while the goals of Solanke will be missed in particular, the south coast club can continue to punch well above its weight under the astute Spaniard.
▪️ Prediction 13th
▪️ BRENTFORD @BrentfordFC
Last season 16th FA Cup Third round League Cup Third round
Last major trophy None
Ownership Matthew Benham (ENG)
Head coach Thomas Frank (since October 2018)
New signings Benjamin Fredrick, Igor Thiago, Fabio Carvalho, Sepp van den Berg
Brentford failed to hit 40 points for the first time since their promotion to the Premier League as an unconvincing campaign required late wins over Sheffield United, Luton Town and Bournemouth to secure a fourth successive season in the top flight. The Bees actually coped well with the ban until January of main striker Ivan Toney for betting irregularities - and the 28-year-old responded to his reintroduction into the team with four goals in five games. Thereafter, though, Toney's goals dried up completely amid speculation that he was seeking new pastures, something which as of yet still remains unresolved. This spell is not the first time that there has been speculation surrounding Toney's future in a Brentford shirt - and, having seen his show better form without him in the team during 2022-23, head coach Thomas Frank may consider it is time for the west London club to cut its losses.
▪️ Prediction 17th
▪️ BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION @OfficialBHAFC
Last season 11th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Third round Europa League Last 16
Last major trophy None
Ownership Tony Bloom (ENG)
Head coach Fabian Huerzeler (since July 2024)
New signings Ibrahim Osman, Yankuba Minteh, Mats Wieffer, Brajan Gruda, Georginio Rutter
▪️ Prediction 9th
▪️ CHELSEA @ChelseaFC
Last season 6th FA Cup Semi finals League Cup Runners-up
Last major trophy Champions League 2021
Ownership Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital (USA)
Head coach Enzo Maresca (since July 2024)
New signings Omari Kellyman, Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley, Filip Jorgensen, Aaron Anselmino,
▪️ Prediction 7th
▪️ CRYSTAL PALACE @CPFC
Last season 10th FA Cup Third round League Cup Third round
Last major trophy None
Ownership John Textor (USA), David Blitzer (USA), Josh Harris (USA), Steve Parish (ENG)
Head coach Oliver Glasner (since February 2024)
New signings Chadi Riad, Daichi Kamada, Ismaila Sarr, Louie Moulden
▪️ Prediction 14th
▪️ EVERTON @Everton
▪️ Prediction 15th
▪️ FULHAM @FulhamFC
▪️ Prediction 10th
▪️ Prediction 20th
▪️ LEICESTER CITY @LCFC
▪️ Prediction 19th
▪️ Prediction 4th
▪️ Prediction 2nd
▪️ Prediction 5th
▪️ Prediction 6th
Reliant on home form to stay up on their return to the Premier League in 2022-23, Nottingham Forest head into the new season having won just three of their last 17 games in all competitions at the City Ground, with 10 of those matches finishing in defeat. That record simply must improve for Forest to survive this time as the Tricky Trees cannot rely on finding three teams as averse to picking up points regularly as Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United were. In the end, Forest stayed up last season on 32 points, breaking the record for the lowest tally of any surviving team in the Premier League era - and, even accounting for the four-point deduction incurred for a breach of profit and sustainability rules, the 36 points won on the pitch would be touch-and-go normally. A baffling scattergun set of new signings - and a head coach in Nuno Espirito Santo who does not connect to the fans like his predecessor Steve Cooper did - point towards another difficult campaign on the banks of the Trent.
▪️ Prediction 18th
▪️ Prediction 16th
Tottenham Hotspur defied the prediction of this scribbler, and many others, by finishing in fifth place last season under Australian head coach Ange Postecoglu, as skipper Son Heung-min picked up the slack by filling the Harry Kane-sized hole up front with 17 goals. However, another late-season collapse of five defeats out of six in April and May, precipitated by another battering away at Newcastle United, prevented Spurs from returning to the Champions League fold - and that, as well as early exits in both cup competitions, left Postecoglu feeling rather downcast at the end of the season as he described the foundations of the club as "fragile". The big signing this summer of Dominic Solanke restores a presence in the centre-forward position - but it has come at a cost of £65 million, has been based on the output of a single campaign, and does nothing to address Tottenham's biggest concern, which is at the back.
▪️ Prediction 3rd
▪️ Prediction 11th
For the second time already in his short managerial career, Gary O'Neil has jumped in at the deep end - first, O'Neil took charge on Bournemouth less than a month into the 2022-23 season - then, just over a year ago, he was drafted in at Wolverhampton Wanderers as a late replacement for Julen Lopetegui. On both occasions, O'Neil has proven himself to be a quietly effective operator - and, unlike at Bournemouth, the 41-year-old has been given a second season to build upon his work at Molineux - and a first ever full pre-season as a head coach. The summer has seen the departure of injury-prone Pedro Nero to Chelsea but, perhaps far more critically, centre-back Max Kilman to West Ham United - as a former defender who builds his teams from the back, O'Neil likely faces a tough assignment again in the current campaign.
▪️ Prediction 12th