The new Premier League season is just over a week away.
With that in mind, many pundits are putting their necks on the line and attempting to forecast how the top flight will look at the end of the 2017/18 season.
Robbie Savage is one of those to have predicted where he feels each Premier League club will finish the season, sharing his thoughts with The Mirror.
Having backed Manchester United – who eventually finished sixth – to win the title last season, Savage is tipping them to battle Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City for this year’s campaign. Describing it as a ‘photo-finish’, the former Welsh international once again sees United finishing top of the pile.
Elsewhere, he explains that Chelsea will finish their league title defence behind the Manchester clubs in third, suggesting a return to Champions League will prove too much for them to sustain a title charge.
Savage expects Arsenal (5th) and Tottenham (6th), the two north London clubs, to finish outside the top four with Liverpool securing a Champions League berth for the second year on the spin. Pointing to Spurs’ Champions League woes at Wembley last season, Savage adds that playing their home league fixtures under the arch this year will cost them in the league.
At the other end of the table, Savage predicts an immediate return to the Championship for Brighton (19th) and Huddersfield (20th), with Watford also joining them in bowing out of the top flight.
Here’s how Savage sees the final standings in the 2017/18 Premier League:
- Manchester United
- Manchester City
- Chelsea
- Liverpool
- Arsenal
- Tottenham
- Everton
- West Ham
- Crystal Palace
- Leicester
- Bournemouth
- West Brom
- Southampton
- Newcastle
- Stoke
- Swansea
- Burnley
- Watford
- Brighton
- Huddersfield
