At the start of every season once the summer transfer window closes, I try to predict how the final league table will look; how we’ll do in the cups and even a league-match result prediction, both at the start of the season and pre-match.
Here’s how I did…
The league table
Prediction…
1st Manchester City – Just 1 place out
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2nd Liverpool – Just 1 place out
3rd Arsenal – 5 places out
4th Tottenham Hotspur – 2 places out
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5th Leicester City – SPOT ON!
6th Manyoo – 3 places out
7th Chelsea – 3 places out
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8th Everton – 4 places out
9th West Ham United – 7 places out
10th Wolverhampton Wanderers – 3 places out
11th Watford – 8 places out and relegated
12th Burnley – 2 places out
13th AFC Bournemouth – 5 places out and relegated
14th Aston Villa – 3 places out
15th Southampton – 4 places out
16th Brighton & Hove Albion – Just 1 place out
17th Norwich City – 3 places out and relegated
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18th Newcastle United – 5 places out and survived
19th Crystal Palace – 5 places out and survived
20th Sheffield United – A WHOPPING 11 places out and survived
Not so good there really; nowhere near as good as my league predictions from the previous season.
It might be worth noting also, on this occasion, what I wrote at the time, I think…
Notable points about that predicted, final table of 2019/20…starting with us:
Well, I have to say that I was wavering as-to-whether to put us top or second and I’ll go on to give you the reasons for that in the “Any concerns” section soon. It wouldn’t have necessarily have been a bad thing, however; the last time I predicted City to finish 2nd in the league we went on to win it.
The positives I see for us in addition to having a treble / quadruple-winning squad with the best manager in the land and all the world are, for me…
- Keepers: We have the mighty Ederson in net and, in addition, a Claudio Bravo who looked a completely transformed player in pre-season. Additionally, we have the very experienced Scott Carson as 3rd-choice. There should be no worries there!
- Right of defence: We’ve added the class of Joao Cancelo and, so, with him and Kyle Walker, we’ve got that area well & truly covered!
- With the addition of class-signing Rodri, we’ve got the defensive midfield slot final sorted; with the Spaniard, Fernandinho plus others in the squad who “can play” in the role for short periods if required.
- And despite the almost-season-long injury to Leroy Sane, the list of wingers / midfielders should leave anyone who knows their players drooling, which includes a David Silva who continues to do an impression of Benjamin Button; Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, who was absent for most of last season don’t forget, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan, who recently extended his contract, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling. Wow…
Any Concerns then? Yes…and this is why I almost wobbled in my league table prediction.
- Have we sorted the left-back slot out? Huffff…well, sort of. I like Oleksandr Zinchenko, I really do…and I’m even more impressed with how Pep has molded him from an attacking midfielder / left-winger to a left-wing back. But he’s still learning for me and when he is up against a REAL, right-sided, attacking quality player; I think he struggles a bit with the juggling of the defensive side of that duel role.
That being the case, we have a recovering Benjamin Mendy who could, of course, break down for a 3rd time and a recently returned Angelino, who looked ‘well flaky’ with his defensive duties in pre-season…although Guardiola must see something in the youngster if he sanctioned his summer return. Apparently Cancelo “can play” at left-wing back if required.
- Now for an…”Obvious alert”! The central defence. Yes, something most, if not ALL, Blues are talking about at the moment; even more-so than during the summer transfer window after Vinny left our club.
It’s a severe-looking injury to Aymeric Laporte, following his rather silly, in my opinion, challenge, which was not dissimilar to the one Benjamin Mendy made short after signing for us; an injury that saw him…well, you know the rest. Following “successful surgery”, initial rumors are that the earliest we can expect the Frenchman back is January 2020; meaning he-basically misses over half this season’s fixtures in all competitions, including 8 fixtures between 3rd December and 1st January.
It leaves us, therefore, with just 2-senior, recognised central defenders in Nicholas Otamendi, a player who had one eye on the exit door in the summer, and John “sick note” Stones. City fans should be excused for thinking…“Oh dear”.
Other than that, we have a youngster with some first team experience, in Eric Garcia. Another option I’ve thought of should it get REALLY desperate with injuries / suspension / exhaustion, is Kyle Walker. Whenever we have changed to a ‘back 3’ during the odd game, the England man has played on the right-side of that trio and with Joao Cancelo added to the ranks; we could still maintain the ‘status quo’ in the right-wing back department should Kyle have to ‘slot inside’.
- Then there’s the attack. This is something I know many City fans have talked about for the last 2 seasons at least, which is the fact that we run our long, 4-season campaign with just 2, recognised strikers. Yes, Raheem Stirling can play there and, to be fair, he’s starting to show much more whenever asked to play more centrally in front of goals. And, yes too; should it be needed, I’ve no doubt some of those afore-mentioned midfielders / wingers could also wreak havoc with opposition defenses as a makeshift striker.
But we’ve already seen, this season, just how important Sergio Aguero is to us – that’s…31-year old Sergio Aguero who has already found himself to be the only striker for the last 2 of our first 4 games; with Gabriel Jesus already out injured. That does give me the wobbles a little bit, if I’m being completely honest.
Having said THAT, though, we do score a hell of a lot from other departments and why wouldn’t we; with the vast amount of creativity we have in our squad?! Pep too is sort of famous for deploying an attacking, 4-6-0 formation when he feels it right to do so.
As for some notable points about the rest:
· Liverpool will be strong again and it will be a very close finish regardless of who has the crown come May. They will fall foul of VAR, as we seem to be doing at the moment, and I still think our squad is stronger than theirs overall and, so, we’ll see how they cope with absences.
· Although both can be flakey at the back at times, Arsenal & Spurs should be ‘up there’; with both teams having potent, attacking players and their disposal.
· I think we’ll see Leicester have a good season – Brendan Rogers is a decent organiser of teams and he has some considerable talent in his squad.
· Manyoo have talent too but I can see them struggling to string a run of games / form together and should be pleased with a 6th-place finish; as they attempt to re-build / find their feet once again. Will they, in fact, have the same Manager come the end of the season? Mmmm…
· I’m sure Frank Lampard will be given a full season, though, but I think they’ll struggle with their 1-year transfer ban in place and as he attempts to put ‘his stamp’ on the squad.
· At the other end, all I’ll say about Newcastle United is…Steve Bruce. Crystal Palace currently sit 4th after 4 games but they do so having only scored just 3 and conceded 2. I think we see ‘em drop and drop over time as they struggle to find goals. And although I’d like to see them survive and have-had a really good starting-return to the top league; I can see ‘fighting spirit’ not being enough to keep Sheffield United. I fear a lack of quality against the other sides will, eventually, see them suffer. And if they can keep Pukki fit, I can see Norwich just about surviving their return.
League match result predictions:
Number correct from pre-season: 63.16%
Number correct from pre-match: Just 55.26% in this strange, interrupted season, which included 9 league defeats for us.
The cups
League Cup - Predicted quarter finals
2 rounds out and winners again!
F.A. Cup - Predicted that we’d reach the final again and, therefore, possible winners again
1 round out
Champions League - Predicted semi-finals.
1 round out
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