Manchester United kicked-off Matchweek 2 with an early Saturday morning home game against Southampton by comfortably beating the Saints 2-0. Their City rival replied to that with an even more convincing 4-1 victory over Stoke.
Defending champions Leicester were held to a 0-0 stalemate against Arsenal, while Chelsea, Spurs and Everton picked up important wins. Not exactly a very inspiring performance for Leicester given their breakout performance last season–here to stay or flash in the pan?
Liverpool on the other hand further proved the point of not being able to win small teams by losing 2-0 to newcomers Burnley.
Based off the first two matchweeks, stature and with a little a bit of instinct, I am going to boldly predict the top 4 teams of the 2016/2017 Premier League season in no particular order…. except for one team.
[divider]Chelsea[/divider]
Even with their extremely disappointing campaign last year, I still do fancy the Blues to be high up the ladder next season. They still do have one of the best squads in the league and also a fantastic new manager.
Chelsea fans can be quite sure that Antonio Conte will showcase a defensively solid team and if your defense is good in the Premier League, a high finish is highly likely.
[divider]Manchester United[/divider]
It will be a shocker for everyone if Manchester United still doesn’t make it to the top 4 with their latest ground breaking transfers.
After the first two wins, it seems like the Special One has revived the classic fast-paced attacking Red Devils! Moreover, with the dominating aura of big names such as Ibrahimovich, Rooney and Pogba on the field, Old Trafford might just return to their glory days!
[divider]Manchester City[/divider]
One man, one name, many syllables: Pep Guardiola!
Coming to Manchester from the game’s biggies such as Bayern Munich and Barcelona, ‘winning’ is ingrained in this genius Spaniard. With him managing, seeing City attain 70% of the ball week-in week-out would be no surprise.
However, with deadly players such as Aguero, Gundagon and De Bruyne, City fans can expect those passing to turn into goals as they fight for the title!
[divider]Arsenal[/divider]
While my list is in no particular order, it is of no coincidence that Arsenal is the 4th name on the list.
Until they get a quality striker and a central defender, I don’t see Arsenal getting the title again this time. Having creative midfielders working the ball to the box and not having a centre forward banging those killer passes into the net isn’t going to get you the title.