Premier League 2014/15 Predictions

With the 2014/15 season of the Premier League only a week away, now seems the right time to make some predictions for the campaign which will either make me appear to be a mystical genius or a complete idiot.

Let's start with the big one:

Winner: I have Manchester City down as my winner. I fully expect the Champions to hold on to their title. Two years ago it was predicted that City would be almost impossible to stop after winning their first title. However, Manchester United won the league the following season running away with the title. I do not expect City to make the same mistakes again this year, and despite the league being arguably tighter than ever at the top, I think City have the best squad and so will come out on top.



Remainder of the top 4: Following on from Manchester City I have Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. Arsenal are notorious for finishing in fourth place, however this season I feel that a push for the title is on the cards. My reasons for this feeling are that for 8 years, Arsenal had the burden of not winning a trophy. Last season Arsenal put all that to bed by winning the FA Cup and it appears to have done their confidence and belief a world of good. Wenger has not been afraid of spending this summer and has said that he is not finished despite high priced moves for Alexis Sanchez, Debuchy and Chambers.

Manchester United did not have a great season last year. I think it is clear to see that David Moyes made some huge mistakes: getting rid of the back room team, buying Fellaini for such a high price tag etc. Van Gaal has come in after a fantastic world cup for Holland and he has filled United with confidence and almost given them back their fear factor which they lost so quickly last season. I do not expect United to be a real title contender, however I feel that a finish of third or fourth will allow them to push on for a title challenge again in 2015/16.

I have Chelsea down as the final team in the top four. While Chelsea are many bookies favourites for the champions, I do not share this thought. New signing Cesc Fabregas will surely add something to the team, however, getting rid of the old guard, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole could prove costly in my opinion. Yes they were getting older, however, they have gone back on their move and brought back Drogba, showing they made a mistake letting him go. To Mourinho's credit however, he clearly has a plan and has found replacements for all three departures of Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Romelu Lukaku as well as Demba Ba. I think there have been a few too many changes at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea to mount a title challenge straight away, and while I feel they will be up there for the majority of the season, I think they will slump towards the end and finish third or fourth.


I do not think that Liverpool will be able to hold on to their Champions League place. It will be a lot tougher for them this season, first of all without Suarez and secondly because they will be playing a lot more games, a huge advantage they held over the other teams at the top last season. Liverpool claimed they would not do a Tottenham, however they have been freely spending. Origi, Lambert, Lallana amongst many others have been brought in to try and make up for the loss of their top goalscorer, however I think too many changes have been made and they will struggle to gel for the first half of the season, ultimately meaning they will miss out on the champions league.

Relegation: Now on to the other key battle at the bottom. I have Burnley, Sunderland and QPR to all go down to the Championship. Burnley were promoted after coming second in the Championship. I feel that Burnley will put up the best fight out of the three teams I am predicting to go down, however, ultimately I feel they will not have enough defensively to beat the drop. Sunderland came very close last year to going down, becoming only the second team ever to stay up having been bottom of the Premier League at Christmas. Gus Poyet did a good job keeping them up, however he has admitted himself that he has had a frustrating summer. This time around I expect Sunderland to struggle and eventually head down to the Championship.

Many people will disagree with my QPR assessment considering their playing budget is greater than Champions League runners up Atletico Madrid's and they have 'Arry Redknapp in charge. A couple of seasons ago QPR really struggled in the Premier league setting the record for number of games without a win. I think the problem with QPR is they are not as good as they think they are. A number of them thought they had an automatic right of passage back to the Premier League, but the reality is they should have walked that league with their budget and spending. I think QPR could be in for a bit of a shock once they start playing, if they start badly I think all morale will go and they will get fed up and slump, this is why I have predicted them to finish bottom of the league.

Potential Upset: My team with potential for upset this season is Aston Villa. If you head back a fair few years, Villa were challenging for the Europa League, now under Lambert it appears they are fighting off relegation every year. I have a feeling that will not happen this time around. Villa actually have some very decent players in their squad, Christian Benteke and Ron Vlaar to name their best two. If these two can stay fit and the new Villa signings play well I think they could have a very good year.

Disappointment: Tottenham. Too many managerial changes at Spurs have caused them to have absolutely zero consistency. I do not believe that the ex Saints boss is a genius as everybody claims he is, Southampton had some brilliant players last season and I think they finished where a team of their class should have finished. I expect Spurs to have a difficult season having made no stand out signings and the majority of the players they spent the 'Bale fund' on turning out to be flops.

Predicted Final Table:

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Arsenal
4. Manchester United
5. Liverpool
6. Everton
7. Newcastle
8. Tottenham
9. Southampton
10. Aston Villa
11. Swansea
12. Crystal Palace
13. West Ham
14. Leicester
15. Hull
16. West Brom
17. Stoke
18. Burnley
19. Sunderland
20. QPR


Top Goalscorer: Sergio Aguero. With Suarez out the way I expect Aguero to take the golden boot. Sturridge was the runner up of this award last season, however without Suarez's assists I cannot see him scoring as many as he did last year. Agero belongs to a team that is getting better and better and providing he stays fit, I can see him scoring a lot of goals. Other contenders could be Robin Van Persie, Daniel Sturridge and Diego Costa.