Who will win the English Premier League? Our writers have their say

Many of our writers are backing Manchester City to defend their crown and make it three on the bounce, while some of our analysts have their eyes elsewhere.

Chad Nagel says: Manchester City – 6/10

The pain of losing the Community Shield, especially to Liverpool, should drive the Manchester City players to maintain their level of performance in the last two campaigns. City have been the Premier League’s dominant team under Pep Guardiola, winning the title in four of the last five seasons.

The Citizens will be looking to win their third consecutive league trophy for the first time in their history this season, and after adding certified goal machine Erling Haaland, the tough-tackling Kalvin Phillips and the highly-rated Julian Alvarez, the Sky Blues should go into the new season where they left off with the belief that they are capable of beating anyone in the Premier League home or away. There’s a feeling that only one team can stop them: Liverpool.

But the departure of African Footballer of Year, Sadio Mane, will be a huge blow to Jurgen Klopp’s side. After much thought, I’ll back Chelsea to finish third and Arsenal to creep into fourth spot, but it will be very close.

Top Six

1. Manchester City
2. Liverpool
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Tottenham
6. Manchester United

Relegated

18. Leeds United
19. Nottingham Forest
20. Fulham

Ryan Liberty says: Liverpool – 5/2

There is no denying that Manchester City and Liverpool will go hammer and tongs once again to contest the title for 2022/23.

City will be an interesting watch given the arrival of an out and out number nine, does Pep Guardiola have to tweak their approach to accommodate the arrival of Erling Haaland? Nevertheless, Liverpool have clarity this year in terms of their personnel.

They have the added benefit of key players such as Mo Salah and Luis Diaz not having to play in the World Cup and they are 5/2 and not a ridiculous 6/10…the margin is small between these two – that hasn’t changed so I can’t justify the price on City. Let’s go Liverpool I guess (or Newcastle, I mean whatever you know…)

Top Six

1. Liverpool
2. Manchester City
3. Tottenham
4. Chelsea
5. Manchester United
6. Arsenal

Relegated

18. Everton
19. Fulham
20. Bournemouth

Ayanda Vezi says: Manchester City – 6/10

Premier League reigning champions Manchester City will be looking to maintain their title in the new campaign as they have made some key changes to their squad.

Pep Guardiola has made some good signings in the transfer window, bringing in the likes of Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips to strengthen a side that has been dominant in the Premier League for the past two seasons.

City are well and truly the best team in England, and I expect them to make history, clinching their third title in a row. Liverpool, on the other hand, have not been active in the market as they have only made one signing so far with Darwin Nunez, who comes in for one of their greatest ever players in Sadio Mane who is now with Bayern Munich.

While the Reds will surely secure second place again, I see the Gunners finally returning to the Champions League competition with an impressive third-placed finish, with Chelsea sneaking into fourth ahead of Spurs.

Top Six

1. Manchester City
2. Liverpool
3. Arsenal
4. Chelsea
5. Tottenham
6. Manchester United

Relegated

1. Nottingham Forest
2. Fulham
3. Southampton

Banele Pikwa says: Manchester City – 6/10

I just realised I’ve been tipping Liverpool to win the league in the last five seasons and they’ve won it just once and came second twice.

This season, however, I’ll be backing Manchester City to win the Premier League. It’s very hard to look past City after signing players like Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips to join their star-sided team that was already dominating been the league.

Haaland alone will give City so much dimension and he will be the focal point which will make players like Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne more dangerous as they will have more space.

Top Six

1. Manchester City
2. Liverpool
3. Chelsea
4. Tottenham
5. Arsenal
6. Manchester United

Relegated

18. Bournemouth
19. Fulham
20. Nottingham Forest

Joshua Gaillard says: Manchester City – 6/10

As we witness golden eras for national teams and clubs alike, Manchester City and Liverpool are building a rivalry year-in year-out at the peak of their powers.

After a few seasons without the epitome of a centre-forward, the Sky Blues and the Reds are reinventing their look in what they believe to be their suitors. The hottest clubs get the hottest prospects, and Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez are the focal points which must yield fruit.

The top two English Premier League sides continue to pick themselves, and I have Manchester City edging a fifth title in six seasons. The battle most often takes place in the engine room of any fixture, and City’s midfield is unrivalled.

The third spot is not as clear cut as it was in the previous edition of the PL as Chelsea’s transition takes its toll. Tottenham and Arsenal prove more well equipped from mentality to personnel.

Manchester United will bring up the rear, but don’t count out a massive club with something to prove.

Top Six

1. Manchester City
2. Liverpool
3. Tottenham
4. Arsenal
5. Chelsea
6. Manchester United

Relegated

18. Leeds United
19. Bournemouth
20. Fulham

Jesse Nagel says: Liverpool – 5/2

As has been the case for the past few years, you sort of have a 50/50 chance of correctly predicting who will win the English Premier League with Liverpool and Manchester City head and shoulders above the rest of the competing teams in the division.

The fancy for this season has to be the Reds who just seem to have a cutting edge over City.

No team has won the league three times in a row besides Manchester United, so that has proven to be a feat Liverpool have stopped Man City from in the past, and should do so again.

Despite losing Sadio Mane, Jurgen Klopp’s men have acquired the services of Darwin Nunez from Benfica, coupled with Luis Diaz, who has hit the ground running since joining the Merseyside giants in January.

Much of City’s reliance on a title charge will be put on Erling Haaland, who is unproven in the Premier League, while Liverpool have one of the greatest goalscorers on the planet in Mohamed Salah.

Top Six

1. Liverpool
2. Manchester City
3. Arsenal
4. Chelsea
5. Manchester United
6. Tottenham

Relegated

18. Leeds United
19. Nottingham Forest
20. Brentford

Mcebo Mpungose says: Tottenham – 12/1

The recruitment done by Antonio Conte at Tottenham Hotspur has tempted me to throw their name in the Premier League dark horse’s hat. In recent years, Conte has shown he’s the man of marathons with teams. With just half a season under his belt, he pulled Spurs from outside the top four to help them qualify for the 2022/2023 Champions League season.

In his first couple of months, Conte moaned a lot about his players’ mentality, wanting more from his team, whom he felt wasn’t giving a 100% in every game.

With perfectly timed recruits (early in the transfer window, unlike some other clubs), the players have had plenty of time to gel and get used to Conte ball, something they didn’t get last season since he joined midway. The Tottenham board has backed him up with signings such as Dejan Kulusevski, Yves Bissouma, Clement Lenglet, Fraser Foster, Ivan Perisic, Richarlison and others.

Tottenham have also managed to keep Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, who were both mildly linked with moves away from the club and probably approached by one or two bigger clubs in Europe but quickly turned them down.

Like many football fans, I still think Manchester City and Liverpool will be fighting for the league, but I don’t see it being a two-horse race like last season.

Top Six

1. Tottenham
2. Manchester City
3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal
5. Chelsea
6. Manchester United

Relegated

18. Bournemouth
19. Fulham
20. Leeds United

Jason Dewey says: Liverpool – 5/2

I’ve backed City to win the league over the last few seasons, however, this time around I feel like they’ve got their recruitment wrong… and it could derail their title hopes.

I don’t really think that Erling Haaland is a forward in the City mould. Julian Alvarez probably better fits the role that Gabriel Jesus filled so brilliantly in his time with the club.

For a side that has forgone the use of traditional number 9s over the last few seasons with so much success, it seems strange trying to integrate two forwards into the group. The sale of Oleksandr Zinchenko and City’s failure (thus far) to land Brighton’s Marc Cucurella leaves them with two senior fullbacks – Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo.

Liverpool, in Fabio Carvalho, have plucked arguably the best technical attacking talent the Championship has seen since Fernando Forestieri was tearing it up for Sheffield Wednesday circa 2015. They’ve also provided more competition to Trent Alexander-Arnold in the form of Calvin Ramsey. Of course, the big talking point from their window was the obscene amount of money they paid for Darwin Nunez.

The team behind the scenes at Liverpool don’t tend to get these sort of things wrong, but it remains to be seen whether the powerful Uruguayan will deliver in the long term. He got off a pretty decent start in the Community Shield, though. There’s also the mid-season break for the farcical Qatar World Cup.

This may prove invaluable for the Reds as it’ll allow Mo Salah – who has played a silly amount of football over the last two years – time to recharge his batteries. Last season Salah benefitted from some crazy purple patches before the goals dried up for periods.

Looking at the margins in which the league has been won or lost recently would suggest a few more good days at the office for the oft-unplayable Egyptian could tilt the balance of things in favour of the Jurgen Klopp’s charges.

Top Six

1. Liverpool
2. Manchester City
3. Arsenal
4. Chelsea
5. Tottenham
6. Manchester United

Relegated

18. Leeds United
19. Nottingham Forest
20. Bournemouth