Premier League predictions: Telegraph writers select their bankers for the season
New Arsenal not always playing one way
It is going to take a while for Unai Emery to get Arsenal playing the way he wants but for the first time in the modern era they will play differently according to the opposition.
There will be times against more expansive sides when they will sit back and absorb pressure. There will be games when they are comfortable not to have the ball. And there will be other times when they play more Wengerian football, with all the possession and lots of passing around the edge of the opposition area. Supporters will be surprised at first, then pleased. Sam Wallace
Fans will be frustrated
The fanbase of about two clubs – probably Manchester City and one as yet undefined but plucky underdog punching above their weight – will be happy. The rest will be a mixture of the mildly frustrated and outright angry at their team’s failure to ‘reach the next level’.
And yet beneath them, in the Football League, there will be at least another 40 fanbases smarting at the thought that we ‘should be a Premier League club’.
It will all keep Twitter furiously whirring for another season. Jeremy Wilson
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Spurs will start slowly - and still flourish
Tottenham Hotspur will start the season slowly – Harry Kane might, once more, not score in August – and there will be angst-ridden debate about the new stadium, the drain it is on the club, the delay in it opening, the effect it has on the team, the strength of the squad, whether Spurs have shown enough ambition or spent enough money or can keep their best players and manager Mauricio Pochettino.
And then they will again finish in the top four with Kane winning the Premier League’s Golden Boot as top scorer. Jason Burt
The first sacking will be in w/c Oct 8
I have no idea who it will be at this stage, but pencil it in for that week in October: there is an international break in early October, eight fixtures will have been played, and those managers finding themselves in the bottom three will be fire-fighting.
Usually, those clubs heading into the campaign with inflated expectations are quickest to act after a poor start.
Expect Big Sam to be waiting by the phone. Chris Bascombe
United's defensive chaos will continue
Jose Mourinho has on his books the most injury-prone roster of central defenders in the division.
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Which means before October is out, with Eric Bailly sidelined after tweaking something unexpected, with Victor Lindelof permanently ensconced in the treatment room alongside Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo, with Phil Jones having damaged his jaw gurning, Mourinho will be obliged to field a makeshift centre-back partnership of Timothy Fosu Mensah and Nemanja Matic. Jim White
Stones to step up
John Stones was arguably England’s most important player at the World Cup, and this could be the campaign in which he evolves into a genuinely world-class operator.
As he showed at the start of last season, when he was one of the league’s most impressive performers before suffering a serious injury in November, Stones is the defender most capable of setting the tone for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Only another injury can prevent him from finally fulfilling his potential. Sam Dean
Read Thom Gibbs' definitive list
Fulham will finish in the top 10
Under Slavisa Jokanovic Fulham have developed a pitiless passing and pressing style that exhausts opponents and have recruited astutely.
Jean Michael Seri is a class act and should be the perfect midfield foil for Tom Cairney, who became the Championship’s Frank Lampard over the past three seasons. Alfie Mawson will bolster the back line, the wonderful Ryan Sessegnon will feed Aleksandar Mitrovic and Andre Schurrle, a dead-eyed finisher in his Chelsea days, can get his career back on track.
Well worth watching. Rob Bagchi
Liverpool will thrill - but won't be champions
Liverpool's brilliant front three will blow teams away, especially at the start of games. Their exciting talents down the flanks and a solid but not spectacular midfield will be fine.
But they are still not convincing in the centre of defence and how the goalie takes to English football is a known unknown. Prediction: thrilling bridesmaids. Alan Tyers
De Gea will be shown to be mortal
David De Gea's reflexes and dexterity masked a multitude of sins for Manchester United last season. United had the second-best defensive record in the division with only 28 goals conceded, but six teams including Watford conceded fewer shots than United's 122 with De Gea saving them at a rate of 79.9%.
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It is no slight on United's No1 to suggest that such performances are unsustainable. There is a reason Jose Mourinho spent his summer pleading for a new centre-back. Daniel Zeqiri
Cardiff will go down - but claim a few scalps
An (un)welcome throwback to football's times of old, Cardiff and Neil Warnock won't be popular this season with a direct style of play that is reflective of the limitations in their squad.
What they do won't be pretty but it will be difficult to play against and they'll make their home a really tough place to go.
Can Arsenal or Spurs do it on a wet and windy night in Wales? Quite possibly not. All that said, survival might be too much to ask. Alistair Tweedale
Mourinho will silence sceptics
Without wishing to get too meta, one thing we can almost be sure of is that one high-profile pundit will make a prediction so wide of the mark it is constantly brought up as a stick to beat them with.
Last year it was Richard Keys' claim that Everton would finish above Liverpool. This season, I suspect claims of Jose Mourinho's demise may prove to have been a little premature. Charlie Eccleshare
