Our End of Season Predictions Now We're in the Flow

At this moment in time, it is hard to look past Chelsea’s chances of winning the Premier League for the first time since 2017 when Antonio Conte was manager, hence why they are priced at 11/4 to do so.

Thomas Tuchel has formed the Stamford Bridge club’s side into a cohesive well-oiled machine that prides itself on defensive discipline, as well as ball retention and chance creation. The German manager took over from Frank Lampard midway through last season and managed to turn what looked like a disorganised group of individuals into the Champions of Europe by beating the likes of Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Manchester City on their way to winning the Champions League in Porto.

With the addition of Romelu Lukaku who inspired Inter Milan to their first Serie A title since 2010 to their ranks, as well as the expected signing of Jules Kounde of Sevilla also in the pipeline, this will ultimately see the Blues look a lot stronger in attack, as the Belgian has a proven track record of scoring in the Premier League, whilst Timo Werner struggled in his debut campaign at Stamford Bridge. Kounde was part of the Sevilla side that won the Europa League with Sevilla and could be part of a strong Chelsea defence lead by Thiago Silva, as the Frenchman is quick across the ground and played a major role in his current side’s impressive defensive record that saw them conceded just 33 times.

Lukaku has already started brightly having scored against Arsenal on his debut which was his 114th Premier League goal having played for the likes of Chelsea, West Brom, Everton and Manchester United.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is priced at 5/1 to be the Premier League’s top scorer in the 2021/22 season which is decent odds considering the Egyptian’s record.

Salah has the record for most goals in a single season under the Premier League’s 20 team format when he scored 32 in his debut campaign for Liverpool in 2017/18. The former Chelsea man’s worst Premier League tally since moving to Anfield is 19 which is a staggering level of consistency, whilst his second-worst goalscoring seasons in the league have seen him score 22 goals in 2018/19 and last season, which considering Jurgen Klopp’s sides inconsistency last season, is remarkable.

The 29-year-old has won two Golden Boots in four full seasons at Anfield and you would not put it past him to manage another one having already got off the mark with a goal and two assists against Norwich City on the opening weekend of the season.

Fulham look the most likely side from the Championship to earn promotion to the Premier League alongside fellow recently relegated club West Bromwich Albion, following strong starts for the pair in the second-tier which has seen them both earn 10 points from their opening four matches, meaning that they are priced at 4/7 and 4/6 to bounce straight back.

Both have been taken over by new managers in Marco Silva and Valerien Ismael and are playing good football that has seen plenty of goals fly in, as Fulham have netted 10 in four, whilst the Baggies have managed one more.

Aleksandr Mitrovic looks to be on form this season, scoring three goals in four matches and looks to be heading for a similar trajectory to that which fired the Cottagers to the Premier League in 2019/20 when the Serbian finished as the league’s top scorer with 26 goals. What has also been notable too, is the good transfer business that Fulham have conducted, replacing the likes of Alphonse Areola and Ademola Lookman with Paulo Gazzaniga and Harry Wilson.

West Brom’s Callum Robinson also looks determined to help his side back to ‘the big time’ with three goals in his opening four games and what could be key is keeping star man Sam Johnstone this summer, following an impressive campaign in the Premier League last time out which saw the former Manchester United man called up for England’s Euro 2020 squad.

Meanwhile, a team that has a strong chance of joining both Fulham and West Brom back in the Premier League is Bournemouth, who are priced at 5/2 to be promoted. Scott Parker has only managed one season in this division, but, did manage to earn promotion with Fulham via the playoffs in 2019/20 and will be looking to give that experience to a Cherries side that lost out to Brentford in the semi-finals of the format last season.

With the likes of Dominic Solanke, David Brooks, Lloyd Kelly, Junior Stanislas, Phillip Billing and Ben Pearson still on the books at the Vitality Stadium, there is a nucleus of a good squad that Parker is trying to blend in with a series of talented youngsters which could be a good mix, as we have seen the likes of Norwich City earn promotion via this method. The Cherries have managed eight points from four matches, beating the likes of Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest, whilst drawing with West Brom and Blackpool and will be looking to return back to the Premier League as soon as possible.

This could realistically be the first time since the 1994/95 season where Arsenal don’t finish in the top half of the table, having managed to accelerate their decline under manager Mikel Arteta, with back-to-back eighth-place finishes.

The Gunners were bullied by newly-promoted Brentford on the opening game of the Premier League season where typically of their senior players in the post-Arsene Wenger era, they failed to stand up and be counted for. The Spanish manager also saw his side get off lightly with a 2-0 home loss to Chelsea last Sunday, as the Blues cruised to three points due to their dominance in the first half. Arsenal have only had seven shots on target in their opening two matches of the season and face champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium this Saturday.

Arsenal’s transfer business hasn’t been up to scratch so far either, as they have spent over £130m on their squad this season, more than any other side in the league to effectively be one player better off in their starting 11 from this season compared to last in Ben White, as Nuno Tavares, Aaron Ramsdale and Albert Sambi Lokonga are likely to be backup players, whilst they paid just over £30m for Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid who managed one goal and two assists in 14 league appearances last campaign.

Fans of the Gunners may point to the fact that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette haven’t been available for their starting line-up. When looking back at last season using a very similar starting squad of players, the Gabonese striker scored 10 league goals due to poor form in front of goal and a lack of creativity, whilst the latter managed 13. The Gunners goal tally last time out stood at 55, their worst since the 1995/96 season.

With the likes of last season’s top four and Leicester City having stronger squads, as well as Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Brighton starting the season brightly, whilst clubs such as Aston Villa have invested heavily, there is every chance that the Gunners could slide further down the league table, hence why their odds stand at 7/4 for a bottom half finish.