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Premier League 2021/22 predictions – Ask the Captains
Another new season is already here. Thanks to the drama of Euro 2020, it feels as though we never even had a break and now the 20 top clubs in English football will go head to head again battling for the Premier League title, European qualification or simply to avoid relegation back down to the Championship. We’ve asked five Colossus Captain, Brizzle Bets (BB), garydoc777 (GD), im the bkpool tower (BT), thefreetipscout (FT) and The Gambling Panel (GP) to give us their Premier League 2021/22 predictions so, without further ado, here are our Premier League 2021/22 predictions.
Premier League 2021/22 predictions – Ask the Captains
Who will win the 2021/22 Premier League?
BB: You have to fancy Man City with the addition of Jack Grealish and I’m sure that isn’t the only business that Pep will do. They need a centre forward and, if Kane goes, that’s the league tied up.
GD:: It’s got to be Man City to win the league this season. They have too good a squad to fail.
BT: Man City. Kevin De Bruyne will continue to be their best player alongside Phil Foden. Jack Grealish is an excellent addition but surely won’t play as much as everyone expects.
FT: Difficult to look past Man City who have got so much strength in depth, which is often the key to winning titles. The addition of Jack Grealish is a smart signing and if City get Kane or Messi too they could really end up running away with it.
GP: Man Utd to win it. They’ve got the strongest back four in the league already and, with new man Verane that could be enough to contain the more free-flowing attacking teams. The addition of Sancho to their formidable counter threat makes them our pick.
What about the rest of the top four?
BB: 1st. Man City, 2nd. Chelsea, 3rd. Man Utd, 4th. Liverpool
GD: 1st. Man City, 2nd. Man Utd, 3rd. Chelsea, 4th. Liverpool
BT: Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and then Man Utd. Surely liverpool can’t have as many injuries as last season while Chelsea, in Thomas Tuchel’s first full season, will win by the odd goal often enough to do well. United overachieved last season.
FT: 1st Man City, 2nd Man Utd, 3rd Liverpool, 4th Chelsea
GP: The Manchester clubs will still dominate but Chelsea could close the gap this season after a strong finish and their side becoming more settled. Liverpool to have a stronger season with their defensive key men returning. 1st. Man United, 2nd. Man City, 3rd. Chelsea, 4th. Liverpool.
Which three sides will be relegated?
BB: Southampton, Watford and Norwich
GD: Watford and Norwich will go down. Southampton look destined to struggle.
BT: Southampton have got a huge chance of going down, while Norwich never seem to stay up. Finally, Crystal Palace to join them with an inexperienced manager in charge.
FT: Norwich often struggle when they get promoted due to a limited transfer budget and that appears to be the case again this season. They’ll give it a good go will fall short. Star man Ivan Toney will definitely get Brentford goals in their debut Premier League season but this is a huge step up for them and their squad lacks players with Premier League pedigree so it will be a short lived experience for the Bees. It’s a fantastic achievement that Brighton are heading into their fifth consecutive season in the Premier League but all good things have to come to an end and I see this being their final season. They’ve been fortunate enough to dodge the relegation bullet but their squad offers very little to get excited about and I think their luck is about to run out.
GP: Brentford, Norwich and Crystal Palace. There won’t be a honeymoon for new boys Brentford and it could be a torrid time for Palace after a huge rebuilding job.
Who will fire their way to the Golden Boot?
BB: If Harry Kane goes to City, its a given.
GD: Whichever team he’s playing for, I think Harry Kane will win the Golden Boot this season.
BT: Mo Salah should win top goalscorer. Liverpool score plenty and it always helps if your striker takes the penalties.
FT: Got to go for Mo Salah here given the uncertain situation around Harry Kane. Liverpool will be just as dangerous as ever going forward this season and their talisman Salah is a consistent goalscorer in the Premier League who gets 20+ a season, although I expect Bruno Fernandes to push him hard this year.
GP: Mo Salah will have a strong season with an out of sorts Kane unlikely to be at the same level if he stays at Spurs.
Which team will perform better than expected?
BB: If Ivan Toney keeps fit , Brentford will score plenty.
GD: I genuinely think Aston Villa. Despite losing Grealish they have strengthened well and will finish in the top six.
BT: I reckon Wolves might do better than expected, if they are granted some luck with injuries.
FT: Aston Villa are the team I’m most looking forward to following this season. Never thought I’d be saying that but they had a decent campaign last season despite missing their star man Jack Grealish for half of it and the signings of Buendia, Bailey and Ings are truly ambitious captures for the club, so I fully expect Villa to get into the Europa League this season.
GP: Despite losing Grealish, Aston Villa have strengthened well and other players could get be boosted from removing the reliance on their star man.
Which team will perform worse than expected?
BB: Hope I’m wrong but I can see Wolves struggling.
GD: I can’t see Southampton having a good time this year as they haven’t done well in the transfer market.
BT: Southampton will do worse than expected. Their form without Ings last season was dreadful and now he’s gone.
FT: I think Southampton fans should be worried this year. Selling Danny Ings, who would get them 20+ goals a season when fully fit, and not replacing him makes it look as though they’ve hit the self detonate button. I wasn’t convinced by their defending last year and they were often bailed out by the goals Ings scored but, without him, now I don’t know where the goals are going to come from. I’d be surprised if they aren’t in a relegation battle.
GP: West Ham. So well drilled last season but they haven’t strengthened and have a serious lack firepower without Lingard and no marquee striker signing. Goals could be a problem for them.
Who will be the first manager out?
BB: The Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhüttl
GD: Ralph Hassenhüttl
BT: Ralph Hassenhüttl will be the first manager sacked.
FT: Ralph Hassenhüttl at Southampton. See above.
GP: Joint favourite for the sack, Patrick Vieira simply might not be given the time to build a style of play. Early wins will be a problem.
Best signing of the season?
BB: Emi Buendia is pure quality all over.
GD: I really like Leon Bailey as a new signing as he’s a top player.
BT: Bryan Gil for £20 million might be a surprisingly good signing. He looked really good last season at a struggling Eibar as an old fashioned winger who is good at dribbling, has a fantastic first touch and is a good passer of the ball. He could be great replacement for Bale.
FT: One of the longest transfer saga’s of the last 12 months finally came to an end this summer and Man Utd fans should be delighted because they’ve signed one of the hottest young talents in world football right now. Jadon Sancho is not only a technically gifted player but he offers explosive pace, bags of creativity that has often been lacking in the Utd squad over the last few years and he can score and assist for fun too.
GP: What a player Jadon Sancho is. He’ll handle the spotlight and will be such a handful for defences over the course of the season. Possible player of the year.
Worst signing of the season?
BB: Technically not a new signing but I’m going to say giving Granit Xhaka a new contract. Liability
GD: He’s not a player but I personally think that the worst signing of the season is Rafa Benitez. It’s all going to end in tears.
BT: If it happens it would surely be Harry Kane for £150 million+. He’s injury prone and overrated. If not, Jadon Sancho to United might prove to be poor business as well. German football would make me look good.
FT: Don’t get me wrong, I think Ben White is a decent young player with huge potential and he’ll bring a lot more stability to the Arsenal defence which has been their weakness for the last few years. But £50m? From Brighton’s perspective, they are laughing all the way to the bank but you have to question what Arsenal were thinking making the deal, especially when Man Utd bought Varane in the same transfer window for £45m and Liverpool bought Konate for £36m.
GP: Andros Townsend is a strange signing in our opinion. Can’t imagine Benitez will offer him much licence and unfortunately can see him enduring a frustrating campaign on the sidelines.
Who will win the Champions League?
BB: Chelsea to retain with big Romelu Lukaku to shine.
GD: It’s finally going to be the turn of PSG to win the Champions League.
BT: Most of the strongest teams in europe are english at the moment and Man City have one of the biggest and best squads.
FT: Man City came so close last year and if it wasn’t for Pep Guardiola overthinking his tactics for the final, I believe they would have won. City and Guardiola will have learnt a lot from the experience and the pain of coming so close and just missing out will not only have made them stronger as a unit but will also be a huge motivation for their players to set the record straight.
GP: Barcelona or Real Madrid won’t compete late on with their financial woes and Man City will be prioritising this again for the owners. PSG will clearly be in contention given their signings but could just fall short yet again.
Those are our experts 2021/22 Premier League predictions, what about yours?
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