Which Premier League Teams Will Challenge Manchester City This Season?

This weekend the Premier League season gets underway with the first selection of games, starting with Manchester United facing Leicester City at Old Trafford on the Friday and progressing through until Sunday afternoon, when the final game of the weekend is one of the biggest of the season with Arsenal hosting Manchester City at the Emirates.

Top sports betting sites such as bet365 Sport have been taking plenty of bets since the end of the World Cup on who will win the Premier League and the bookmakers currently have Manchester City as the very short-priced favourites.

Current Premier League Odds from bet365 Sport (as of Fri 13^th July – 8am)

• Manchester City – 4/7
• Liverpool – 5/1
• Manchester United – 13/2
• Chelsea – 14/1
• Tottenham – 16/1
• Arsenal – 25/1
• 200/1 or longer bar these six teams

So who out of these six stands a chance of winning the title this year? Who would you want to put your money on if you were going to place a bet?

Let’s take a closer look and find out. Data used is as of Friday 13^th July 2018.

Manchester City

• Premier League Finish – 1^st
• Manager – Pep Guardiola
• Notable Players Signed – Riyad Mahrez (from Leicester)
• Notable Players Sold/Released – Yaya Toure
• Players Linked with the club – Jorginho (Napoli), Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid)
• Players Likely to be sold or loaned – Joe Hart, Alex Zinchenko

Current Squad

Goalkeepers – Claudio Bravo, Ederson, Joe Hart

Defenders – Kyle Walker, Danilo, Vincent Kompany, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi, Benjamin Mendy, Fabian Delph, Alexander Zinchenko

Midfielders – Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Fernandinho, Raheem Sterling

Attackers – Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden

Our View for 2018-19 – 1^st Place

It’s not difficult to see why City remain the massive favourites. An already strong squad has seen a significant wage removed from the bill with Yaya Toure leaving and with Mahrez arriving and likely at least one other big signing to come, City will be the team to beat once again this season.

Manchester United

• Premier League Finish – 2nd
• Manager – Jose Mourinho
• Notable Players Signed – Lee Grant (Stoke), Diogo Dalot (Porto), Fred (Shakhtar)
• Notable Players Sold/Released – Michael Carrick (Retired)
• Players Linked with the club – Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Willian (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Leicester City), Hirving Lozano (PSV Eindhoven), Ante Rebic (Eintracht Frankfurt)
• Players Likely to be sold or loaned – Daley Blind, Matteo Darmian

Current Squad

Goalkeepers – David De Gea, Sergio Romero, Lee Grant, Joel Pereira

Defenders – Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, Antonio Valencia, Matteo Darmian, Diogo Dalot, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson

Midfielders – Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Nemanja Matic, Scott McTominay, Fred, Juan Mata

Attackers – Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford

Our View for 2018-19 – 2^nd Place

The problem with United is that they are linked with so many names, it is hard to figure out the reality from the fantasy. More players could leave to allow Mourinho to bring in some more talented players but even so, I still think United will finish behind City this season, although I do expect them to drastically reduce the gap between themselves and their neighbours.

Tottenham Hotspur

• Premier League Finish – 3rd
• Manager – Mauricio Pochettino
• Notable Players Signed – None
• Notable Players Sold/Released – None
• Players Linked with the club – Malcom (Bordeaux), Andre Gomes (Barcelona), Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund)
• Players Likely to be sold or loaned – Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Janssen, Moussa Sissoko

Current Squad

Goalkeepers – Hugo Lloris, Michel Vorm, Paulo Gazzaniga

Defenders – Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Davinson Sanchez, Kieran Trippier, Juan Foyth, Serge Aurier, Ben Davies, Kyle Walker-Peters

Midfielders – Erik Lamela, Victor Wanyama, Moussa Sissoko, Mousa Dembele, Dele Alli, Lucas Moura, Harry Winks, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen

Attackers – Heung-Min Son, Harry Kane, Fernando Llorente

Our View for 2018-19 – 4^th Place

Tottenham, if they are going to do any transfer business in this transfer window have left it late once again and it will be in the last couple of weeks of pre-season they start to make changes. That’s not the best preparation for a team that has had several key men away at the World Cup for a lengthy time. Spurs will do the best out of the London teams, but I still think they’ll finish fourth at best this season.

Liverpool

• Premier League Finish – 4th
• Manager – Jurgen Klopp
• Notable Players Signed – Fabinho (AS Monaco), Naby Keita (Red Bull Leipzig), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City)
• Notable Players Sold/Released – Emre Can
• Players Linked with the club – Domagoj Vida (Besiktas), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Paulo Dybala (Juventus),
• Players Likely to be sold or loaned – Marko Grujic, Danny Ings, Divock Origi, Simon Mignolet, Lazar Markovic, Daniel Sturridge, Harry Wilson

Current Squad

Goalkeepers – Loris Karius, Simon Mignolet, Danny Ward

Defenders – Nathaniel Clyne, Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren, Joe Gomez, Ragnar Klavan, Alberto Moreno, Andy Robertson, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold

Midfielders – Fabinho, Naby Keita, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ben Woodburn, Marco Grujic, Harry Wilson

Attackers – Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi, Danny Ings, Dominic Solanke

Our View for 2018-19 – 3^rd Place

As an attacking threat, Liverpool are a match for City but their issues in goal are yet to be resolved and with Jurgen Klopp ruling out a move for a goalkeeper (it seems), then Liverpool fans will be hoping Danny Ward gets his chance to be the regular number one with Simon Mignolet seemingly on his way out of the club and Loris Karius showing no signs he has found his form after an error-strewn campaign last season that proved ultimately so costly. If Liverpool can resolve their goalkeeper issue, then they could be City’s closest challengers. If they don’t, then they could even struggle to stay in the Champions League places.

Chelsea

• Premier League Finish – 5^th
• Manager – Maurizio Sarri
• Notable Players Signed –
• Notable Players Sold/Released –
• Players Linked with the club – Jorginho (Napoli), Alisson (AS Roma), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid)
• Players Likely to be sold or loaned – Laurent Courtois, David Luiz, Cesc Fabregas, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Willian, Eden Hazard, Kurt Zouma

Current Squad

Goalkeepers – Willy Caballero, Thibaut Courtois

Defenders – Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso, Davide Zappacosta, Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Andreas Christensen, Emerson Palmieri, Victor Moses, Kurt Zouma

Midfielders – Cesc Fabregas, Danny Drinkwater, N’Golo Kante, Ross Barkley, Pedro, Tiemioue Bakayoko, Eden Hazard, Willian, Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Attackers – Alvaro Morata, Olivier Giroud

Our View for 2018-19 – 6^th Place

I think with Conte finally leaving Chelsea and Sarri coming in, this is going to be a period of upheaval for Chelsea. Real Madrid need a marquis signing and it seems Eden Hazard is their prime choice, Thibault Courtois seems sure to move on, while PSG also want N’Golo Kante, Barcelona and Manchester United want Willian and Fabregas could be used in the deal to secure Jorginho from Napoli. That’s a huge amount of change and in truth, even if all these players don’t move, I still think Chelsea are going to struggle again this season.

Arsenal

• Premier League Finish – 6^th
• Manager – Unai Emery
• Notable Players Signed – Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Sokratis Papasthatopoulos (B.Dortmund), Matteo Guendouzi (Lorient), Lucas Torreira (Sampdoria), Bernd Leno (Leverkusen)
• Notable Players Sold/Released – Jack Wilshere (West Ham), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal)
• Players Linked with the club – Cristian Pavon (Boca Juniors), Steven N’Zonzi (Sevilla)
• Players Likely to be sold or loaned – David Ospina

Current Squad

Goalkeepers – David Ospina, Peter Cech, Bernd Leno, Matt Macey

Defenders – Laurent Koscielny, Rob Holding, Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi, Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers, Konstantos Mavropanos, Sead Kolasinac, Stephan Lichsteiner, Sokratis Papasthatopoulos

Midfielders – Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka, Mohamed Elneny, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson, Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi

Attackers – Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Danny Welbeck, Eddie Nketiah

Our View for 2018-19 – 6^th Place

I do like the fact Arsenal have got their business sorted quickly during pre-season and I think that will benefit new manager Unai Emery in the post-Wenger era. However, I don’t really see the signings that are going to push Arsenal on into being a genuine title contender and in truth, I think they’ll finish a somewhat distant sixth place once again, several points off the top four. We’ll get a much better idea of where Arsenal are after their opening game of the season at home to Manchester City.