2026-27
Pre-Season Overview
A new season is upon us with all the high hopes and enthusiasm that are always felt at the beginning of each campaign. I have given my predictions for each team below and they are a general overview. Last year I predicted Wolves and West Ham having a solid shot at going down. I didn’t see Tottenham having as many problems as they did and I didn’t see Arsenal winning the League.
At the top of the table Liverpool had a dramatic fall-off of form. New signing Alexander Isak didn’t deliver the expected boost. He never really had a chance to blend in as he was dogged by injuries for a large part of the season. With the ease that The Reds won the Title the previous year lots of people, me included, thought that they were a shoo-in for a repeat. To some degree, in retrospect, they may have been running on fumes left over from Jurgen Klopp. Apparently the powers that be at Liverpool must have thought that because they fired his successor Arne Slot at the end of the season. Manchester City, for the second year running, started to show cracks. The loss of De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, and others couldn’t have helped and City will be without midfield maestro Rodri after his departure this summer. Even with their problems a City team at half steam is still better than most teams at their peak. It does look as though they are starting to show their age but Pep Gaurdiola’s last season at the club still managed to win the FA Cup
Arsenal managed to win the League without impressing anyone with pedestrian matches that verged on the boring. I didn’t think they would win the Title and I doubt if they can repeat. Manchester United put together a season that was a vast improvement over their previous year. An influx of top, and expensive, players catapulted the Red Devils from the dregs of the table to finish a very respectable 3rd place. I think they will be in the top 5 or 6 teams this year. Aston Villa had an horrible start to the year but managed to secure the #4 spot at the end. Not much chance of them repeating that this year. Morgan Rogers has left and Alejandro Garnacho joining the Villans brings up the vision of a burning truck going off a 100ft cliff. Look for Villa filling one of the mid table spots, if they are lucky. Brighton and Bournemouth both produce entertaining games and they both could be challenging for top honors at the end. Chelsea seem to have lost their way. Two or three places up the table should see some improvement but not much better than that.
Fulham had some bad calls go against them at the beginning of the last season and if not for that they would have ended up in a better position. I see some improvement but when the dust settles they will be in the upper reaches of the mid-table. As far as the middle of the pack goes I can see the usual suspects, Brentford, Sunderland, Leeds, Everton, after their yearly flirt with relegation, Tottenham and maybe Coventry. Brentford will slip a few places as I think they were playing above themselves last year. Tottenham have had a couple of scary years and have no desire for a repeat. After a bout of manager-merry-go-round the guy that they have finally settled on, Roberto De Zerbi seems to be on the right track. He has already unloaded a lot of dead weight and looks to be signing some promising prospects. Spurs will climb the table and maybe the year after this one will be back challenging for the top honors. At the wobbly end of the table the obvious candidates to go down are the three newcomers, well Hull and Ipswich at least. Coventry may have just enough talent to survive, but as for the rest, lets take a look. Crystal Palace will be dancing just above the drop zone. Nottingham Forest have had their moment in the sun and I see a struggle in their future.
Newcastle are the team that seem to have their head in a noose. Manchester United’s team don’t look anything like the outfit that finished just above the relegation zone a couple of years ago. In that vein Newcastle’s team won’t look anything like they did last year, and not in a good way. They will be fielding a team full of new faces. They have sold all their best players, and just about anyone they could get a price for, and sacked manager Eddie Howe. For my money they are going down, and when I say “my money” I mean that’s were I’m placing a good size bet at nice odds. Newcastle to be relegated. That’s the way I see the upcoming season unfolding. I’m sure I wont be correct across the board, there are always surprise’s. Bye for now and good luck. Harry.