Who will win this year’s English Premier League title

With the English Premier League already into round two having kicked off two weeks ago, majority of the local and international pundits think Manchester City will retain this year’s title.

This will make Manchester City the first team to win a hat trick of Premier League trophies since Manchester United in 2009. Will anyone stop them from completing a hat-trick?

No team has been champions of England for three successive years since Manchester United reigned from 2006-07 to 2008-09, but that seems to be the next target for City boss Pep Guardiola, who has already achieved the feat in Spain (Barcelona, 2008-11) and Germany (Bayern Munich, 2013-16).

Pundits believe, he will achieve it. They think Liverpool will come second, Tottenham Hotspurs third and Manchester United will squeeze in at fourth Place. I don’t want to sound any different from their predictions.

Though, with Arsenal, having had their best start to a Premier League campaign since the 2008/2009 season, they will have a word to say on how the table will finally come out in May 2020.

Unai Emery is seriously working on a team that is improving day by day from what former Coach Arsene Wenger left behind.

Having been beaten in the Europa League Finals last year, their first European final since losing to Barcelona in 2006, Emery has attempted to blend experience and youngsters with the signing of David Luiz from Chelsea, Nicolas Pepe, on loan Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid among others.

This new-look Arsenal side with an experienced manager in Unai Emery and the enthusiastic Manchester United will have a say on how the Premier League table will look like at the end of the season.

Their only undoing will be their participation in the Europa League, where they will be required to play on Thursdays, Sundays or Saturday late kick-offs or Monday night football. This may have a negative impact on their performance in the Premier League if they insist on staying longer in the Europa League. Notwithstanding though, they have the squads that can help them negotiate through.

Manchester United’s strengthening of the defence through the acquisition of the now most expensive defender in the world Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan Bissaka, which was their weakest department last season, will likely earn them a top-four finish this season. They can still be big contenders to the Premier League Trophy if Manchester City and Liverpool slip up.

A combination of experience, ambitious and enthusiastic youngsters will likely push Ole Gunnar Solskjear’s troops to perform better than last season. Even Paul Pogba’s decision to stay for another season will be a big factor in this achievement.

The only shortcoming may happen to Chelsea who has not won a game in their two opening matches, have not signed new players following the UEFA ban and have a new Manager with seemingly little experience in Frank Lampard and will have to play in the UEFA Champion’s League courtesy of their winning the Europa League and Premier League Third Place Finish last year.

With such a small squad of no additions and his opening campaign to the season was suffering a 4-0 humiliating defeat to Manchester United a fortnight ago at Old Trafford, Lampard will encounter a very tough season. Brandon Rodgers’ Leicester City also gave him a tough start to his Stamford Bridge debut with the visitors looking the far better side.

Tottenham Hotspurs will still be a tough opponent this season but I don’t think they will be able to finish in the top four this season. I believe, them and Chelsea will be the two teams to forfeit their positions in the top four finish this year. Other teams like Wolves, Everton, Leicester City, Burnley and West Ham United will compete for the other Europa League positions and also giving a tough challenge to the top six teams.

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