The 2026/27 Premier League season gets underway later this month.
Due to the World Cup, the Premier League begins at a later date than usual, with champions Arsenal and newly promoted Coventry City kicking us off on Friday, the 21st of August at the Emirates Stadium.
16 days remain in the summer transfer window, so there’s still plenty of business left to do, which could sway these predictions.
But, anyhow, TalkingPoints staff have attempted to predict the full table from 20th to 1st place.
20. Ipswich Town
This was a really tricky one to predict because we do think Ipswich Town have learned some crucial lessons from their last Premier League relegation in 2025.
Ipswich chairman Mark Ashton felt the squad wasn’t physical enough last time, so they’ve addressed that issue over the last 12 months.
Issa Diop is a very shrewd signing from Fulham, and Abdul Fatawu could surprise a lot of people – the 22-year-old has bags of talent.
But we’re not sure whether they’ll score enough goals. Emersonn has arrived in a big-money deal from Toulouse, but the Brazilian striker only netted six goals in Ligue 1 last term.
It’s a big gamble, and one that could cost them.
19. Crystal Palace
Potentially joining Ipswich in the Championship is Crystal Palace, who have lost the greatest manager in their history, Oliver Glasner.
Maxence Lacroix has also departed in a £52m transfer to Chelsea, and they’re yet to find an adequate replacement, with the season days away.
Newly-appointed manager Pierre Sage hasn’t got off to the best start in pre-season, as his side suffered 3-0 defeats to Bromley, Lens and Freiburg.
Palace are also competing in the Europa League, so those extra games could be detrimental to their league form, as is often the case.
18. Coventry City
We almost had Coventry City staying up, but others around them have had more impressive transfer windows up to now.
Frank Lampard is the main factor that makes us think they could avoid the drop, but he can’t work miracles.
That squad quite simply isn’t good enough to finish any higher than 18th, but a lot can change before the transfer deadline on September 3rd.
Coventry must sign a proven goalscorer from one of the top five leagues, as we struggle to see any of the current forward options notching double figures.
17. Fulham
Now then, Fulham were in our bottom three before they completed a couple of exciting signings from Real Madrid.
Striker Gonzalo Garcia has arrived in a £34m deal from the Spanish giants, and attacking midfielder Cesar Palacios has joined for around £8.5m.
If the Spaniards can adjust to the intensity and physicality of English football, they could be real needle-movers.
But, we’re still unsure about whether Alvaro Arbeloa is the right replacement for Marco Silva, which is why we expect a drop-off this season.
Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez will be big misses, too.
16. Hull City
Not many will have Hull City to survive, but we think that’s quite a dismissive prediction.
Sergej Jakirovic is an exceptional manager, and the job he’s done at Hull simply cannot be understated, as he took them up after spending just £941,000 on transfers last summer.
The Tigers were tipped to be relegated to League One by many, so evidently Jakirovic knows how to outperform expectations and get the best out of his players.
Hull will be very well-organised this season, and their owner has stated they have a £200m transfer budget.
They still have a lot of work left to do on the squad, but it looks as though the cogs are turning as they’ve recently completed their 11th signing.
15. Leeds United
Leeds have had one of the best transfer windows in the Premier League.
It’s been a quality over quantity approach, with James Trafford, Harry Wilson and Tarik Muharemovic joining.
We don’t expect them to be in a relegation battle this season, but they’re still one of the weaker sides in the division.
Talk of European football is very premature, and Daniel Farke probably isn’t the right manager to deliver that level of success – he does have a ceiling in our view.
14. Brentford
Keith Andrews’ debut season in management couldn’t have gone any better, as he guided Brentford to their joint-highest Premier League finish (9th) last term.
Whilst there’s no doubt Andrews is a very competent coach at this level, we do wonder if the Bees massively overachieved last season.
Usually it levels out the following year, and for that reason we are anticipating a drop-off, but they’ll still be well clear of any trouble towards the bottom.
Brentford are in the category where one statement signing between now and September 3rd could really change our prediction.
13. Newcastle United
Newcastle’s summer has been a complete mess, with Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and manager Eddie Howe all departing.
The mood around St James’ Park isn’t great, with some fans expecting the club to be in a relegation battle this season.
Given they’ve gone for a pretty unproven manager in Matthias Jaissle, it’s certainly possible, but there is still a lot of quality in that squad.
Some of the exciting young additions could turn out to be top-class players, so it’s a hard one to predict, but just below mid-table feels about right.
12. Sunderland
Sunderland may have the bragging rights over their fierce North East rivals once again, as we’ve got Regis Le Bris’ side to finish just above Newcastle.
Playing the extra games in the Europa League will have an impact on their league form, but they do have a pretty sizable squad to deal with the congested fixture list.
Keeping Granit Xhaka amid strong interest from Chelsea is a big coup, and they’ve added some European experience in Thomas Meunier at right-back.
That’s the only signing Sunderland have made so far, so they do need to add a few more, particularly in the wide areas and at centre-back.
11. Everton
There were a lot of Everton fans who wanted David Moyes to leave at the end of last season, as his side completely collapsed in the run-in for Europe.
On the other hand, some Toffees supporters feel he’s the perfect manager for the job and is slowly building a team that will challenge for the top six or seven.
Ultimately, it seems the Friedkin Group sit somewhere in the middle, as they have kept the Scotsman on for another year but haven’t offered him a new contract, with his current deal expiring next year.
Everton have only signed two new players in Hayden Hackney and Brennan Johnson who weren’t already in the squad last term, so there is still work to be done in the market.
For that reason, it may be another underwhelming finish, but a few late additions could really move the needle.
10. Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest made the bold decision to replace Vitor Pereira at the end of the season, despite the Portuguese head coach guiding the club to a Europa League semi-final and keeping them in the division.
To get rid of Pereira, it would have to be for a notable upgrade, and it certainly is, with Oliver Glasner joining after a trophy-laden spell at Crystal Palace.
The reigning Conference League winner will make Forest a hard side to beat this season, and they’ll be in with a shout of Europe.
But we couldn’t put them any higher than 10th due to their lack of transfer activity as it stands.
They still need to find a proper replacement for Elliot Anderson.
9. Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola’s departure is a major blow, and Junior Kroupi’s injury, which will rule him out for at least three months, is far from ideal.
Truthfully, we considered putting Bournemouth a lot lower than ninth.
But Marco Rose has enjoyed a positive pre-season, beating St Pauli 4-1, Augsburg 5-2 and most notably Genoa 10-1.
Of course, you can’t really read too much into friendlies, but we do feel they at least carry some weight.
Pair that with the fact they’ve just signed one of the best defenders in Portugal – Antonio Silva – and we think they’ll have another strong year.
Knowing Bournemouth’s recruitment, there is good reason to think Alvaro Rodriguez, who has joined in a £25m deal from Elche, will be able to fill Junior Kroupi’s void.
It won’t quite be Europe for the Cherries, though.
8. Brighton
Brighton are one of the best-run clubs in England, and Tony Bloom has set them up for success for the next decade.
The Seagulls have stockpiled a ton of exciting talent, and their squad is more than big enough to handle the extra games in Europe this term.
If anything, it’ll help some of the fringe players get into a rhythm with more opportunities to start.
We love the addition of Pascal Struijk; he was excellent at Leeds United last season, and Luka Vuskovic is another top signing at the back.
The Croatian defender joined in a club-record £50m deal from Tottenham Hotspur, who seemed very reluctant to lose him.
They will lose experience and ultimately goals up front with Danny Welbeck joining Chelsea, but it’ll give 19-year-old Charalampos Kostoulas the chance to show why he was bought for £30m last year.
7. Aston Villa
This summer has unfortunately proved that Aston Villa sit below the big six in the food chain.
Morgan Rogers has left in a £117m deal to join Chelsea and Youri Tielemans departed in a £35m transfer to Manchester United.
For that reason, it will be hard to compete with the big boys this year – they’ve all made terrific signings.
The Villans are back in the Champions League, and it wouldn’t at all surprise us if Unai Emery takes one eye off the league in the new year and starts to go all out in that competition.
Seventh would still be a commendable finish.
6. Chelsea
We couldn’t make our minds up with Chelsea.
The Xabi Alonso appointment has made us think they could be in a Premier League title race this season.
It seems as though BlueCo have learnt their lessons in recruitment too, as they’ve added experience to the dressing room with Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck.
But, despite those positives, it’s hard to put them higher than sixth given Robert Sanchez is still the number one goalkeeper.
Sanchez is error-prone and will cost Chelsea too many points.
5. Tottenham Hotspur
We’re really big admirers of Roberto De Zerbi – he’s one of the best managers in the division in our eyes.
De Zerbi has already built up a great relationship with the Tottenham Hotspur supporters too, after keeping them up last season.
The Italian head coach has been heavily backed in the window, with Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Jan Paul van Hecke, Marcos Senesi and Andrew Robertson all joining.
There’s a common theme with those additions – they are all Premier League proven.
For that reason, we’ve got Spurs in fifth, which was enough for Champions League qualification last term.
4. Liverpool
Many felt Arne Slot severely underperformed last season despite Liverpool finishing in the Champions League spots.
So, the newly-appointed manager Andoni Iraola has big pressure on his shoulders to mount a title challenge.
We’re not sure it’ll be that straightforward though, as the forward line has more questions than answers.
How will Liverpool cope without Mohamed Salah? Will Alexander Isak begin to show why he cost £125m? Is Florian Wirtz going to come good? When will Hugo Ekitike return from injury and be back firing?
There’s too much uncertainty to put them any higher than fourth.
3. Manchester United
Since Michael Carrick’s arrival in January, no team in the Premier League has picked up more points than Manchester United’s 39.
The title winners Arsenal trail United in second place on 36, so the data suggests that with a full season, Carrick’s side could genuinely win the league.
We do expect United to be in the title race, but they’re still missing certain components to end their 13-year wait for number 21.
It feels like they are one world-class player away from becoming league winners.
2. Arsenal
Arsenal are probably fancied to retain the Premier League title by most, but we do get the sense Mikel Arteta will be laser-focused on winning the Champions League after last season’s heartbreak against PSG.
It may only be a subconscious thought; Arteta would never suggest he’s taken his focus away from the league.
But European silverware is the only missing piece in Arsenal’s history, so it’d almost be impossible not to have tunnel vision for that if they reached the latter stages of the competition.
They’ll be close runners-up.
1. Manchester City
With Pep Guardiola leaving after a decade of success at Manchester City, there’s a feeling among other fanbases that this is the time to overthrow the Citizens and motor past them.
What many are missing is how good a manager Enzo Maresca is – the City board don’t get much wrong.
Maresca showed glimpses of his tactical genius throughout his 18 months in West London, most notably in the Club World Cup final when Chelsea beat reigning Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain 3-0.
With a best-in-class structure around him, we’re tipping Man City to win their ninth Premier League title.
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
