By: Jake Lofgren

The Premier League is here and with that comes an uncountable number of variables and uncertainty from which teams will stay up to which teams will secure a Champions League spot. Here is a prediction of the premier league table from 20th to 1st.

20. Sheffield United

Sheffield United have surprised the entire league before when looking like a relegation candidate, but they haven't done enough in the transfer window to make me feel confident they stay up. Even with the addition of Luton Town, Sheffield United's squad looks like the worst in the entire league. Especially after letting two of their best players, Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge, leave this summer. I think they're in for a long season.

19. Wolves

Wolves were on the brink of relegation last year before their season was saved by the appointment of Julen Lopetegui. Despite having a lackluster transfer window, at least they could feel safe having a great manager going into a new campaign. Well, one week before the season, Lopetegui parted ways with the club. The club appears to be in a rough spot right now, focused more on profiting off talent rather than backing a manager to get more. I'd hate to be the guy that gets this job.

18. Luton Town

Luton Town became the first English club to go from the first tier to the fifth and then back to the top again. As much of a feel-good story as this is, I have a hard time seeing them fend off the strength of the toughest league in the world. I think they'll start the season with an energy that will be hard to match, but that will die down eventually. Luton may not even have the proper field facilities to play games in the winter if their pitch freezes, which could cause the club to postpone games into a tighter window towards the end of the season. The positive news for Luton is their transfer policy of buying some of the best talent they could from the Championship. Instead of breaking the bank to stay up for one more season, they've put themselves in a prime position to come back up again in 2025.

17. West Ham

It took them years (literally) to finally let Declan Rice leave the club, and now rumors are heating up that Lucas Paqueta may follow him out the door. The club finished 14th last season and were still technically "European Champions" as they won the Europa Conference League. For a team that got worse on paper, was already a bottom-half club, and now has to spend Thursday nights in random countries around Europe, I think West Ham is in for a long and worrying season. Luckily, I think they are just good enough to avoid the drop.

16. Burnley

The club will be unrecognizable to any Burnley team the Premier League has seen before in Vincent Kompany's journey as a coach. However, being the best team in the Championship rarely translates towards survival in the EPL. Burnley could get away with dominating possession at that level but will not in most games this season against top opposition. Unfortunately, Kompany couldn't keep two of his better players, Nathan Tella and Ian Maatsen, but the team still made plenty of signings that could hit in a big way for the club this year.

15. Everton

Everton have only survived by the skin of their teeth in the last two seasons, to the point where they have stormed their field in celebration on the last day two years in a row. The club still doesn't have the strongest team on paper and is reportedly working on a small budget due to financial mismanagement. So, the squad lacks reinforcements of quality and depth they've needed for a while now. Who knows if Arnaut Danjuma and Ashley Young will be enough for them to survive the drop. The good news is a few teams in the league appear to be in more precarious spots than them.

14. Bournemouth

Opta Analyst says that Bournemouth has the third-largest relegation odds this season. This does make sense when you look at the quality of their squad and the fact that they have a coach foreign to the Premier League. However, I think Bournemouth are in a decent spot. Andoni Iraola is a great manager who found success at Rayo Vallecano for his possession-based and well-organized teams sitting in a mid-block waiting for the ideal pressing trap. Gary O'Neil did a great job keeping the club in the Prem, but Iraola looks like a guy who could help the club take that next step to stability.

13. Fulham

Fulham was the largest over-performer last season, finishing tenth with 52 points despite only accumulating 39.24 expected points. That would rank them in 16th place just based on XP. However, this season is full of clubs with lower expectations, which means Fulham should be pretty comfortable since their squad is full of experienced players. I think they'll have a pretty boring season, but maybe that is a good thing.

12. Crystal Palace

Who would've known that a team coached by a 75-year-old man could be so young and exciting? Michael Olise did pick up a multiple-month injury, but the club still has Eberechi Eze and Matheus Franca to create excitement. We've been playing this game with Palace for a while now on if they'll slip up and start to creep further down the table, but they never seem to. So I won't bet against them anymore.

11. Brentford

I fear for Brentford a bit because relegation often seems inevitable for non-top-6 clubs that seem to be overstaying their welcome. Now that the club is without Ivan Toney for the first half of the season, they'll have to find goals from other places to keep up. However, I think the club is too well-run and coached to fall too far down the table. Mark Flekken, Kevin Schade, and Nathan Collins are all signings I am excited to watch with Brentford this year.

10. Nottingham Forest

This one may seem like a hot take to predict Forest making the top half after narrowly avoiding relegation last season, but I feel pretty confident in their squad. I think they suffered from similar issues as Chelsea last season where they just simply had too many players to choose from. The club still has a lot of quality players, but the direction and expectations of the squad are a bit more solid now. It looks like it's time for a jump.

9. Brighton

Brighton no longer has the shock factor they had a year ago, everyone sees them coming now. De Zerbi may be the hottest name in management now, which makes me nervous he could pull a Graham Potter very early in this season. The club has made a living off selling a player and buying a better one for half the value, but how much longer can that keep up? Is Yasin Ayari going to step out onto the field and look like a better player than World Cup champion Alexis Mac Allister? With what should appear to be a weaker team and the addition of Europa League football, I think Brighton will slip a bit.

8. Tottenham

Tottenham is now under the management of Ange Postecoglou as he arrived from Celtic this summer. Although, the Harry Kane saga has gone on far too long. Tottenham needs a complete rebuild, and they have some exciting players to kickstart it in Pedro Porro, Guglielmo Vicario, and Micky van de Ven. However, I have a hard time seeing them all hit the ground running right from the beginning. But, hey, at least they should be watchable.

7. Newcastle

Eddie Howe could end up being a prisoner of his success this season. He overachieved in a big way when getting Newcastle to Champions League football far ahead of schedule. It has been an exciting summer from Livramento to Harvey Barnes to Sandro Tonali. I just think the team isn't quite up to the standard of finishing in the top four again.

6. Aston Villa

Unai Emery may be the best coach of slightly above-average teams we have ever seen. This guy turned Aston Villa into one of the best teams in the league during the second half of last year's season. The trio of newcomers in Pau Torres, Moussa Diaby, and Youri Tielemans has them up there for one of the best windows in the league, too. I expect big things from Aston Villa, and knowing Emery, they probably win the Europa Conference League.

5. Liverpool

Klopp might officially be the most stubborn man in the soccer world. From refusing to play Trent Alexander-Arnold anywhere besides right back and not signing another defensive midfielder, I think the club is due to go through another similar season to last year. Mac Allister and Szoboszlai are great players, but does Szoboszlai truly add much more than they already had? They have an embarrassment of riches up front, but at defensive midfield and center back, they look pretty thin.

4. Manchester United

Manchester United finished third last season after benefitting from many other clubs around them having disasters. Andre Onana should help to replace the issues of a lack of ball playing from their goalkeeper, but the rest of the signings strike me more as depth. Mason Mount should not be a starter since Bruno Fernandes is at the club, and Rasmus Hojlund is a project since he is yet to score ten goals in a single season for any club. I don't necessarily think Manchester United got worse; I just think there will be a team that got better than them.

3. Chelsea

It is a rather large jump going from 12th to 3rd, but the club appears to be functioning semi-normally again. Plus, who could have possibly predicted that the club would fire their Champions League-winning coach a few months into the season, leading to a domino effect of events that couldn't get worse? Now that the club seems to have completed their fast-forwarded one-year rebuild, they should better understand what their first team should be instead of having thirty guys all deserving and expecting playing time. Mauricio Pochettino is a coach specialized in taking young rosters to new levels. Without playing in any European competition, I think this is a huge opportunity for Chelsea to shoot back up the table.

2. Arsenal

They've had a wonderful transfer window, the kind that made me think about putting them in that first spot. The main issue they ran into last season was not having quality depth. They were always one William Saliba or Bukayo Saka injury away from dropping points. Adding guys like Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber are sure to help that. However, they still need another great winger to take pressure off Saka because I still fear what that team will look like if he goes down. They wouldn't surprise me if they raise the trophy, but it is simply too hard to bet against Manchester City.

1. Manchester City

At what point does Pep get bored and move on? It is so easy to get fatigued of picking City because they've won six of the last seven titles. Surely, at some point, it will stop, right? Unfortunately for everyone else, they look even better. They lost Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez but kept Bernardo Silva and signed Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic. Knowing them, their business very likely isn't done either. It would take a perfect season (literally perfect) to beat maybe the greatest coach of all time, Erling Haaland, and Kevin De Bruyne. Good luck!