A Who Cares 2019-20 Premier League Season Predictions

The biggest football competition in the world is just about to start, so it is only fitting that The Gurgler launches our annual Who Cares 2019-20 Premier League Season Predictions.

What differentiates our 2019-20 Premier League Season Preview from the many, better websites around the world? Not a great deal, there is our usual prediction which will be met with raised eyebrows and pfffts a-plenty.

We provide a Who, What, Where, When and Why of the season ahead.

We’re trying to give those folk with barely enough time, a quick look into to the upcoming EPL season as they can handle in the one minute we capture their attention for. 

So hang on for our Who Cares 2019-20 Premier League Season Predictions. We have them assembled in the order in which we think they will finish.

THE WHERE

So where will the teams finish at the end of the 2019-20 Premier League season? Here’s our slightly controversial thoughts.

2019-20 PREMIER LEAGUE FINAL TABLE PREDICTION

MANCHESTER CITY

LIVERPOOL

SPURS

CHELSEA

LEICESTER CITY

ARSENAL

EVERTON

MANCHESTER UNITED

WEST HAM

WOLVES

WATFORD

NORWICH CITY

CRYSTAL PALACE

ASTON VILLA

SOUTHAMPTON

SHEFFIELD UNITED

BURNLEY

NEWCASTLE

BOURNEMOUTH

BRIGHTON

Explain ourselves….

It looks another season of domination between Manchester City and Liverpool with the same order from last season retained. Neither side has gone berserk in the transfer window, but Manchester City do get Kevin De Bruyne back from the start of the season. 

With a transfer ban for Chelsea, and Arsenal and Man Utd failing to look much more organised than last season, we’re looking to Spurs to finish as best of the rest. Behind Spurs it gets a bit more interesting in our mind.

We have Chelsea fourth, on the back of their young players taking charge in the second half of the season. And the Frank Lampard factor.

Next rung down is the first surprise with us picking Leicester City over the other big teams/teams on the rise. New manager Brendan Rodgers turned them around last season on his arrival, and some great off season signings have added real quality.’Keeping Youri Tielemans against the odds and interest of bigger clubs is a fine achievement and a sign of intent. Throw in Ayoze Perez, a chunk of cash from Harry Maguire’s sale into a side that finished strongly, and in Leicester you have a team ready into the top six. And if not, they can have a go at the transfer market in January.

Controversial to have Arsenal sixth and Man Utd eighth, but looking at the way they tailed off at the end of last season, Man Utd being particularly that last loss against Cardiff. For all their new signings, they still haven’t got rid of the trouble makers. Both teams have hired some new faces, and in Pepe for Arsenal one of the best performed players in Europe last season, but neither are still convincing. Man Utd may also come to regret signing of their manager so quickly too.

West Ham are as hard to predict over a season as they are week to week, but in Sebstien Haller they at least have a real point of interest and potential goals.

We’re predicting that Wolves might drop back a little further this season, on the strength that teams usually drop off in the second season, and in Wolves case it is the big six working out how to play them better than last season. Their form against the bottom six from last season was a worry too. Still they should be top ten.

Watford are an interesting case, we have them finishing 11th, but can also see them battling relegation. They did very well last season, and the good early start was the key, but there is a worry that they haven’t done a great deal with the squad, but perhaps they don’t need to.

Crystal Palace are as high as they are based on Zaha staying and playing. In the new era of VAR he will either get more penalties for the constant kicking he receives, or defenders will be so worried about VAR that he’ll get more space than ever. Either way, with Zaha and their deadly penalty taker they at least have a few goals in them. They only need to slightly improve their home record from last season to be solid midfield.

We have all three promoted sides staying up. Each of them for their own different reasons. Last year’s champions Norwich scored a lot of goals, but scored a lot of them late and from drawing or losing positions. That kind of trait will ensure they are in their games right to the end, and in Pukki have a real goal scoring threat. Aston Villa have built on their squad nicely, by not quite doing a Fulham. Sheffield Utd have a steely determination, and as the Championship’s best defensive side they have the backbone for survival. They offer just a little more going forward too, compared to a recently promoted Middlesbrough, who they shared best defensive team with last season,

Southampton we more or less have as they were. They looked much better with Ralph Hassenhuttl, and all they really needed was a goal scorer, much like the Che Adams who they hired from Championship.

Burnley are the last of our teams to survive. The stern gruffness of Sean Dyche made us too scared to pick them for relegation.

As for the relegated sides Newcastle is the biggest name, and that is solely because of the off-field issues and hiring Steve Bruce. With Rafa they had a chance with a basically Championship squad, this season they have replaced two of their best performed from last season with Joelinton, a hire from the Bundesliga. He could turn out a goal scoring genius. If not, lucky they have a Championship manager.

Bournemouth are our big surprise for the bottom three. There’s a feeling they really overachieved last season at times, and the question is whether they can do that again. There were a few runs of awful form last season, and if not for the great early start would have been in relegation trouble. Something they’ve avoided for most of their EPL existence so far.

Last sadly is Brighton. It could go so well with Graham Potter in charge of some decent players, after he did a magic job at Swansea in the Championship last season, but then again you look for goals and find just Glenn Murray. Who is ever reliable and great, but another year older, and he looked out of form in the last third of the season.

DON’T HAVE A TEAM TO SUPPORT? THEN TAKE OUR ADOPT-AN-EPL PERSONALITY QUIZ

THE WHO

Who are our picks for the players to watch. Either up and comers, interesting new additions or geniuses of football that we could watch time and time again. Not necesarily for Fantasy football, just great artisans or points of interest.

2019-20 PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS WE CARE ABOUT

MANCHESTER CITY – Kevin De Bruyne

LIVERPOOL – Mo Salah

SPURS – Tanguy Ndombele

CHELSEA – Callum Hudson-Odoi

LEICESTER CITY – Youri Tielemans

ARSENAL – Pepe

EVERTON – Moises Kean

MANCHESTER UNITED – Harry Maguire

WEST HAM – Sebastien Haller

WOLVES – Diogo Jota

WATFORD – Gerard Deulofeu 

NORWICH CITY – Teemu Pukki

CRYSTAL PALACE – Wilfried Zahs

ASTON VILLA – Jack Grealish

SOUTHAMPTON – Nathan Redmond

SHEFFIELD UNITED – Billy Sharp

BURNLEY – Jay Rodriguez 

NEWCASTLE – Joelinton

BOURNEMOUTH – Ryan Fraser

BRIGHTON – Adam Webster

CHECK OUT OUR FPL PAGE FOR MORE ON PLAYERS WITH A VIEW FOR FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE ACTION

THE WHAT

What can you bet on? Anything, and here are our season betting predictions. Sure, some of our selections are obvious and cheal (like us) but why not multi them all up.

2019-20 PREMIER LEAGUE BEST BETS

MANCHESTER CITY – Win EPL and FA Cup @ $6

LIVERPOOL – EPL title quinella with Man City 1st Liverpool 2nd @ $2.10

SPURS – Top 4 finish @ $1.45

CHELSEA – Finish higher than Man Utd @ $1.67

LEICESTER CITY – Top Six @ $4.50

ARSENAL – Finish higher than Man Utd @ $1.72

EVERTON – To finish Top Six (in case they do) @ $4.33

MANCHESTER UNITED – Outside Top 4 @ $1.66

WEST HAM – Top 10 finish @ $2.10

WOLVES – Top 10 finish @ $1.50

WATFORD – To finish bottom half @ $1.36

NORWICH CITY – To stay up @ $1.67

CRYSTAL PALACE – Roy Hodgson to win Sack Race @ $7

ASTON VILLA – Jack Grealish – Young Player of the Year @ $34

SOUTHAMPTON – To finish bottom half @ $1.25

SHEFFIELD UNITED – To stay up @ $2.00

BURNLEY – To finish bottom half @ $1.07

NEWCASTLE – Relegation @ $2.88

BOURNEMOUTH – Eddie Howe wins sack race @ $41

BRIGHTON – Finish bottom @ $8.50