90min writers predict the 2021/22 Premier League table

The Premier League is back. Again.

You know the drill by now. We did this for 2020/21 (didn't foresee Liverpool's injuries), 2019/20 (with mixed success), 2018/19 (we got the champions and two relegated teams right!) and 2017/18 (top two right! Bottom three all wrong!)

90min's writing team have crunched the numbers, watched the tape and checked in with our gut feelings – and here's what we've come up with for the 2021/22 season...individual picks first, followed by the combined table.

Chris Deeley

1. Manchester City
2. Manchester United
3. Liverpool
4. Chelsea
5. Leicester
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Leeds
8. Arsenal
9. Aston Villa
10. West Ham
11. Brighton
12. Everton
13. Burnley
14. Newcastle
15. Southampton
16. Wolves
17. Watford
18. Crystal Palace
19. Brentford
20. Norwich

City are good enough to absolutely steamroller most of the teams from fifth down, and that'll be enough for them. The rest of the Champions League places are basically interchangeable, as are the bottom eight or so. Do I trust Patrick Vieira to pull together a new, young Palace squad which will be missing its best young player, though? No, I do not.

Bonus Ball: Che Adams will score more goals for Southampton than Danny Ings does for Villa.

Scott Saunders

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester United
4. Liverpool
5. Tottenham Hotspur
6. Arsenal
7. Leicester
8. Leeds
9. Aston Villa
10. Everton
11. West Ham
12. Burnley
13. Brighton
14. Wolves
15. Brentford
16. Newcastle
17. Watford
18. Crystal Palace
19. Southampton
20. Norwich

I wouldn't be surprised if any one of the top four won it this year, but can't look past a club that can raise £160m in player sales of players that don't play for them in one summer, in a pandemic. Something is very wrong. I fancy Spurs to solidly bore people into Europa League football via league position, but be about as good as Arsenal again, which is still not very good.

No, I can't see Che Adams, Adam Armstrong or Michael Obafemi scoring enough goals to save sliding Southampton, while the only thing stopping Crystal Palace getting relegated in my book is if they realise before Christmas that they made the wrong manager appointment.

Bonus Ball: Anthony Martial to score 20+ Premier League goals, because absolutely nobody expects him to.

Andy Headspeath

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester United
4. Liverpool
5. Leicester
6. Arsenal
7. Leeds
8. Aston Villa
9. Tottenham Hotspur
10. West Ham
11. Everton
12. Brighton
13. Wolves
14. Burnley
15. Newcastle
16. Brentford
17. Crystal Palace
18. Southampton
19. Norwich
20. Watford

As the only clubs apparently impervious to a global pandemic, it stands to reason that evil Death Stars Manchester City, United and Chelsea might do quite well this season having been able to add big money additions to already strong squads.

At the other end, it seems like anyone from 12th down could be involved in the relly battle. Palace's new-look side has shades of 2018/19 Fulham, but Southampton losing Ings is a big blow they may not recover from - regardless of Che Adams' designs on the title.

How do Newcastle end up 15th? I don't know, they just do.

Bonus Ball: The return of fans results in a sharp increase in home victories generally. None of the top four lose more once at home all season.

Jack Gallagher

1. Manchester City
2. Manchester United
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
5. Leicester
6. Aston Villa
7. Tottenham Hotspur
8. West Ham
9. Arsenal
10. Leeds
11. Everton
12. Wolves
13. Crystal Palace
14. Burnley
15. Brentford
16. Brighton
17. Newcastle
18. Southampton
19. Watford
20. Norwich

Player of the season: Adam Idah
Young player of the season: Troy Parrott
Manager of the season: Stephen Kenny

Bonus Ball: My all-Ireland FPL team reaches the 1000 point mark for the first time in the last three seasons (topped out at 637 last year). 

Toby Cudworth

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester United
4. Liverpool
5. Tottenham Hotspur
6. Arsenal
7. Leicester
8. Aston Villa
9. Leeds
10. West Ham
11. Everton
12. Wolves
13. Burnley
14. Newcastle
15. Brighton
16. Crystal Palace
17. Brentford
18. Southampton
19. Norwich
20. Watford

Even though spending is 'impossible' for Manchester City, they will top the table again this season because they have, erm, spent. Chelsea will be best of the rest with a sparkling Lukaku banging them in from all angles, followed by United and Liverpool.

There's no real reason for Spurs to be fifth and ahead of Arsenal/Leicester etc but Nuno does have a beautiful beard and that must be accounted for. Pure guesswork applies for the remaining 13 teams, though it'll be nice if Brentford stay up. They can go 17th and Southampton 18th - a reflection of how important Danny Ings was to them.

Bonus Ball: Jamie Vardy's party comes to a shuddering halt and he scores just 6 goals this season.

Jude Summerfield

1. Chelsea
2. Manchester City
3. Manchester United
4. Liverpool
5. Leicester
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. West Ham
8. Arsenal
9. Aston Villa
10. Leeds
11. Everton
12. Wolves
13. Brighton
14. Newcastle
15. Burnley
16. Brentford
17. Crystal Palace
18. Norwich
19. Southampton
20. Watford

It would be great if someone could tell Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea that only one of them can actually win the Premier League, because it looks like each of them are going for it this year with the players they're signing (or trying to). Chelsea winning the title comes about because they're signing Romelu Lukaku. I'm backing them to pip Man City by a point or two, with a purely contrarian prediction for the sake of variety, because I'm bored of City.

At the other end, there's only so many times you can lose 9-0 and lose your star player before you get relegated, so Southampton are going down alongside Norwich and Wafford.

Bonus Ball: Steve Bruce to win two manager of the month awards.

Sean Walsh

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester United
4. Liverpool
5. Tottenham Hotspur
6. Leicester
7. Arsenal
8. Everton
9. Aston Villa
10. Leeds
11. West Ham
12. Newcastle
13. Brighton
14. Burnley
15. Wolves
16. Brentford
17. Crystal Palace
18. Southampton
19. Watford
20. Norwich

Gonna be honest, I'm not confident about these predictions at all. There are a lot of teams in transition, a lot of teams just fighting to maintain the pace they were at last year. My only locks are City to win the league and Norwich to finish bottom.

Bonus Ball: Southampton sack Ralph Hasenhuttl early and struggle all year long.

Krishan Davis

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Manchester United
5. Leicester
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Aston Villa
8. Arsenal
9. West Ham
10. Leeds
11. Everton
12. Wolves
13. Brighton
14. Crystal Palace
15. Newcastle
16. Southampton
17. Brentford
18. Burnley
19. Watford 
20. Norwich

Ah s--t, here we go again. Objectively, Liverpool have not done enough to close the gap to Man City this summer, although they will be improved. Chelsea have no excuse not to mount a title challenge at the very least, but City's ruthless consistency will see them through. Man Utd's main deficiency will be the manager. Expect a three-horse race to be quickly whittled down to one frontrunner.

Maybe it's reductive but I anticipate more of a gap from fourth to fifth this time around given some of the seismic transfers we've seen among this top four (although you can never rule out Leicester), and by the same token big-spending Aston Villa will have a good season. Mid-table is a blur of mediocrity, but I have an inkling Burnley's Premier League luck might run out as they join the yo-yo clubs in the bottom three.

Bonus Ball: Mikel Arteta sacked in November.

Jamie Spencer

1. Manchester City
2. Manchester United
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
5. Leicester
6. Arsenal
7. Aston Villa
8. Leeds
9. Everton
10. Tottenham Hotspur
11. West Ham
12. Crystal Palace
13. Burnley
14. Brighton
15. Brentford
16. Newcastle
17. Wolves
18. Watford
19. Southampton
20. Norwich

It’s tough to see beyond Manchester City retaining their title purely from a depth perspective, although Manchester United and Chelsea will likely be a lot closer this season.

While it is possible to see Arsenal improve, Liverpool are only going to go backwards without major surgery on a squad that is starting to age, Tottenham could continue to drop and West Ham might also fall away a bit with the added pressure of European football.

Bonus Ball: Arsenal and Tottenham won’t finish the season with their current managers.

Tom Gott

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester United
4. Liverpool
5. Leicester
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Aston Villa
8. Arsenal
9. West Ham
10. Leeds
11. Everton
12. Crystal Palace
13. Wolves
14. Brighton
15. Burnley
16. Newcastle
17. Watford
18. Southampton
19. Norwich
20. Brentford

City are still the best team in the country, but it's not as clear cut as it used to be. Chelsea and Romelu Lukaku will push them close, and United will be in the race right until the very end. Liverpool shouldn't be too far off but their lack of depth is going to come back to bite them (again).

At the other end, it's time Southampton get put out of their misery, and neither Norwich nor Brentford look strong enough to survive in the top flight. Expect the new-look Crystal Palace to be a little raw early on but figure themselves out and coast away from the drop zone.

Bonus Ball: Rafa Benitez first manager to be sacked.

Matt O'Connor Simpson

1. Manchester City
2. Liverpool 
3. Chelsea
4. Manchester United 
5. Leicester
6. Tottenham Hotspur 
7. Arsenal 
8. Aston Villa  
9. Everton 
10. West Ham
11. Leeds
12. Wolves 
13. Burnley 
14. Brighton
15. Newcastle
16. Crystal Palace
17. Brentford 
18. Southampton
19. Watford
20. Norwich

I found predicting the table a lot more challenging than last season - that went really well by the way, I definitely did not have West Ham finishing 17th. As much as I’d love Brendy’s brave boys to break their Champions League hoodoo, the league is just too strong this time around.

Bonus Ball: Watford have fewer than five managers.

Graeme Bailey

1. Chelsea
2. Manchester City
3. Liverpool
4. Manchester United
5. Leicester
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Leeds
8. Aston Villa
9. Arsenal
10. Everton
11. Watford
12. West Ham
13. Wolves
14. Newcastle
15. Burnley
16. Brentford
17. Brighton
18. Southampton
19. Norwich
20. Crystal Palace

Chelsea get the vote for me as they have added the world class striker they needed and...well, Man City didn’t. Liverpool just haven’t done enough work on their squad, whilst United will still be hamstrung by the lack of a top manager – and they'll only just squeak into the top four over Leicester. I think Palace are doomed and one of Brighton or Southampton will be gone.

Bonus Ball: Jurgen Klopp does not finish the season at Liverpool – and if he does, he will already have confirmed his departure in the summer.

CONSENSUS TABLE

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester United
4. Liverpool
5. Leicester
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Arsenal
8. Aston Villa
9. Leeds
10. West Ham
11. Everton
12. Wolves
13. Brighton
14. Burnley
15. Newcastle
16. Crystal Palace
17. Brentford
18. Southampton
19. Watford
20. Norwich