Admittedly, this is one of the more conservative predictions in this article.
Liverpool are eight points clear of their nearest rivals Nottingham Forest with a game in hand.
After picking up 14 wins, three draws and one loss, they are easily the most consistent-looking of all the challengers.
To lose the title now would be akin to Newcastle’s dropoff in the 1995-96 season — the Magpies had a 10-point lead over Man United by Christmas — though the Reds look far more solid than Kevin Keegan’s talented but flaky side.
The transition from Arne Slot to Jurgen Klopp has been relatively seamless.
It is still effectively Klopp’s team, but that is not to downplay the Dutch coach’s ability.
He has tweaked the Reds, making them slightly more conservative while hardly sacrificing their attacking prowess.
However, next season might be the true test of Slot — the futures of Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all uncertain.
Even losing one member of this key trio could have a major impact.
Yet you could argue that the contract standoff is helping rather than hindering Liverpool.
With 17 goals and 13 assists, from 18 matches, Salah is a strong candidate for Player of the Season so far.
Similarly, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold have performed excellently and have been a consistent part of the second-best defence in the league.
Consequently, the feeling that it could be the end for at least one of these players has only served to galvanise the Reds — with Salah in particular, there is a Last Dance-esque feel to this campaign thanks to his stunning form.
2. Man City to finish outside of the top four
A dejected Erling Haaland of Manchester City after the final whistle against Everton. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Man City may have stopped the rot against Leicester City at the weekend, but serious problems remain.
Pep Guardiola’s side are only four points off the top four at the time of writing, but they are experiencing an alarming downward trajectory.
In comfortably the worst run of the Catalan coach’s managerial career, in the Premier League alone, they suffered six defeats and two draws in nine games.
In the previous nine top-flight games, they were unbeaten, winning seven.
There is no one reason for this remarkable slump, but the absence of reigning Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is a key factor — they simply have no natural replacement to undertake the indispensable work he performs to break up opposition counter-attacks as the holding midfielder.
Of similar significance is that the squad is suddenly looking its age.
The previous superb form of Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Erling Haaland meant peripheral and (in most cases) younger players like Pedro Porro, Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Julian Alvarez and Morgan Rogers had to leave the club in search of first-team football.
Now that some of their stars are in a decline that looks terminal, the reigning Premier League champions have been left without adequate backup to put pressure on the underperforming stars.
Guardiola has seemed almost infallible for much of his coaching career. But in this instance, the legendary boss and others behind the scenes at City deserve at least some blame for how badly the club has been mismanaged.
Still, they are better than their recent form suggests and it’s hard to imagine it getting any worse than the nightmare past two months the club have endured.
At the same time, whether they are good enough to secure a top-four place and a guaranteed Champions League spot appears highly doubtful.
3. Evan Ferguson to get back to his best
Evan Ferguson of Brighton and Hove Albion. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
It is fair to say 2024 was largely a year to forget for Evan Ferguson.
In 36 appearances in all competitions, the Meath native managed just two goals.
However, less than half of those fixtures (16) were starts.
And at 20, Ferguson remains one of the most promising footballers of his generation.
The limited game time he has received will be frustrating in the short term.
But consider how quickly past prodigies like Michael Owen or Wayne Rooney burned out.
Partly because they played so much football as teenagers, both looked significantly diminished as they entered their 30s.
So Ferguson being used sparingly could prove somewhat beneficial in the long term.
He remains a raw talent who needs to be managed carefully and if he continues to be overlooked at Brighton, it would make sense for the Meath native to move elsewhere.
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It’s worth noting too that injuries have also been a major factor in his underwhelming year.
If the ex-Bohemians youngster can stay fit over the next few months, it is easy to envisage him showing more of the brilliant glimpses he displayed in previous years.
4. Ange Postecoglou to leave Tottenham
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou is under pressure after a series of poor results. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
After a succession of managers who played defence-oriented football — Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espírito Santo and Antonio Conte — Spurs suddenly opted to go the complete opposite direction with Ange Postecoglou.
Despite the simultaneous loss of talisman Harry Kane, this change worked well initially.
Eight wins and two draws from their opening 10 games last season meant the North Londoners appeared to be potential title contenders as Postecoglou briefly brought a feel-good factor back to the club that had been largely absent since the Mauricio Pochettino era petered out.
However, the wheels soon fell off and those early days look like an anomaly.
Since then, Tottenham have lost more Premier League matches (21) than they have won (19).
Postecoglou has insisted he always wins a trophy in his second season, and an unlikely League Cup triumph (which would involve beating Liverpool over two legs) could prove his salvation.
However, for the most part, in contrast with his previous clubs, it has been a case of diminishing returns with the under-fire Australian boss.
The Spurs coach has lamented injuries to several key first-team performers and cited it as a big factor in their dire run, which has seen them claim only one victory in six matches on the back of their stunning 4-0 demolition of Man City.
A similar problem arose last season and yet Spurs chose to invest largely in young players over the summer (Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert) while experienced pros like Emerson Royal, Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg departed in 2024.
The severe injury crisis for the second season running also makes you wonder whether Postecoglou’s high-octane style contributes to this recurring problem.
The embattled manager has significantly rebuilt the team and moulded it in his image, so it is hard to imagine where Spurs proceed next should they decide to part ways.
But a Champions League spot looks well beyond the current squad’s reach and compensating by winning a trophy in either the League Cup, FA Cup or Europa League seems an unlikely prospect given their stark inconsistency.
Despite Postecoglou’s suggestions to the contrary, it is hard to escape the feeling that this team is going backwards. And if their awful form continues, the controversial project will surely end in tears.
5. Man United to continue to struggle under Ruben Amorim
Manchester United's Casemiro shows dejection after conceding Newcastle United’s second goal of the game. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Arguably no team in the Premier League is more maddening to watch than Man United.
For all their flaws, it is not an untalented squad.
It is a group of players that won the FA Cup in 2024 and the League Cup in 2023.
Yet that has been the major problem at the club in the post-Alex Ferguson era.
They have won five major trophies since the Scot departed — the FA Cup (twice), the League Cup (twice) and the Europa League.
But they are a ‘moments’ team, capable of great standalone performances without the necessary resilience in their squad to sustain a successful title challenge.
They have only finished in the top four in five of the last 10 campaigns.
Last season under Erik ten Hag, they finished eighth — their worst placing since the early says of Ferguson’s extensive stint in 1990.
In the campaign before Ten Hag’s arrival, they finished with their lowest points tally of the Premier League era (58).
This season, they look capable of eclipsing those unwanted records again, as they currently sit on 22 points, closer to bottom-place Southampton than leaders Liverpool.
The decision to stick with Ten Hag in the summer now looks like a major blunder.
There were more questionable decisions in the transfer market.
The Red Devils reportedly spent approximately €221 million in the summer. But none of their five major signings — Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Manuel Ugarte — have convinced so far.
And while he inherited most of the problems at the club, Ruben Amorim has struggled to galvanise a flailing squad.
Ten Hag seemingly compromised his footballing ideals to gain short-term success at Old Trafford.
Amorim is going the opposite route, sticking firmly to his principles despite the United’s discomfort with playing three at the back among other ideas.
This idealistic approach may work out eventually — for all their problems, the Red Devils remain one of the richest and most well-resourced football clubs in the world — but don’t expect Amorim trying to impose his philosophy on Ten Hag’s squad to yield swift improvements in the results or performances.
6. Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle to secure Champions League spots
One of the best stories of the Premier League season so far has been Nottingham Forest’s remarkable run.
The 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday left them second in the table, having battled against relegation for much of last season.
However, maintaining that form is a big ask.
Even for Nuno Espírito Santo’s side to finish second would be comparable to Leicester City winning the title in 2016.
It is hard to make the case that they have the second-best squad in the top flight.
Many of their key players were let go by bigger clubs and are surely overachieving.
Forest’s top scorer Chris Wood left Newcastle. Anthony Elanga was deemed not good enough at Man United.
Morgan Gibbs-White did not always excel at Wolves and spent part of his last two seasons with the Molineux outfit on loan in the Championship with Swansea and Sheffield United.
Even fifth place could be enough for Champions League football, but despite the encouraging signs, you suspect they won’t have a strong enough squad to last the distance in the top-four race.
Chelsea and Newcastle — who have two of the best young talentes in the league, Cole Palmer and Alexander Isak — are on an upward curve and improving all the time.
While Arsenal will find it tough to catch Liverpool, they have finished second two seasons on the bounce and have the experience and quality to secure a third consecutive runners-up spot.
Even fifth place and probable Champions League football would constitute a major success story for this Forest squad.
7. Trent Alexander-Arnold to join Real Madrid
Trent Alexander-Arnold has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Of the three indispensable stars who could leave Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold is most likely to go.
Salah and Van Dijk are in different positions. At 32 and 33 respectively, they are closer to the end of their career than their start.
If the Reds offer enough money — and perhaps more importantly, lengthy contracts — it’s not hard to imagine both players staying at Anfield.
By contrast, 26-year-old Alexander-Arnold ostensibly has the peak years of his career ahead of him.
He has already won all the major trophies with Liverpool and could add another Premier League crown to his list of honours at the end of this season.
It is easy to understand why someone in his position would want to test himself in a different environment.
The Merseyside-born defender has been playing for Liverpool since the age of six — it is essentially all he has known in football.
This next contract will likely be a four or five-year deal. If he stays with the Reds, Real Madrid or a team at a similar level may not come calling again when he is in his 30s.
Compare his potential career path to other former stars.
Steven Gerrard could have moved to another club but stuck with Liverpool.
It ensured legendary status at Anfield for the midfielder, but he likely would have won more trophies and at least one league title if he had opted to join Chelsea or Real Madrid.
By contrast, Steve McManaman and Michael Owen left Liverpool near their pomp.
Neither is as loved as Gerrard. But McManaman won two league titles and two Champions Leagues during his time with Real Madrid.
Owen was less successful, winning nothing in his single season in Madrid. However, he won the Premier League and League Cup with Man United, which may not have happened had he stuck with their rivals originally.
All the recent signs do not seem promising from a Liverpool perspective.
It’s hard to imagine that happening, but he certainly has a better chance at Madrid, as they are in contention for the Champions League most seasons and virtually guaranteed to finish among the top two or three teams in Spain every year.
Jude Bellingham is also a close friend and Alexander-Arnold will no doubt have watched on enviously as the 21-year-old’s star has risen considerably since moving to La Liga.
If Liverpool lose their prized asset, they can hardly afford to have too many complaints.
In eight seasons as a regular, Alexander Arnold has been outstanding for the Anfield outfit.
He will be remembered as being synonymous with Jurgen Klopp’s time in charge — his rise as a key player coincided with the German’s arrival at the club.
And he will surely continue to excel if he does join Real — the slower pace and extra emphasis on technical ability in Spain will likely accentuate Alexander-Arnold’s strengths.
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7 Premier League predictions for 2025
1. Liverpool to win the Premier League title
Admittedly, this is one of the more conservative predictions in this article.
Liverpool are eight points clear of their nearest rivals Nottingham Forest with a game in hand.
After picking up 14 wins, three draws and one loss, they are easily the most consistent-looking of all the challengers.
To lose the title now would be akin to Newcastle’s dropoff in the 1995-96 season — the Magpies had a 10-point lead over Man United by Christmas — though the Reds look far more solid than Kevin Keegan’s talented but flaky side.
The transition from Arne Slot to Jurgen Klopp has been relatively seamless.
It is still effectively Klopp’s team, but that is not to downplay the Dutch coach’s ability.
He has tweaked the Reds, making them slightly more conservative while hardly sacrificing their attacking prowess.
However, next season might be the true test of Slot — the futures of Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all uncertain.
Even losing one member of this key trio could have a major impact.
Yet you could argue that the contract standoff is helping rather than hindering Liverpool.
With 17 goals and 13 assists, from 18 matches, Salah is a strong candidate for Player of the Season so far.
Similarly, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold have performed excellently and have been a consistent part of the second-best defence in the league.
Consequently, the feeling that it could be the end for at least one of these players has only served to galvanise the Reds — with Salah in particular, there is a Last Dance-esque feel to this campaign thanks to his stunning form.
2. Man City to finish outside of the top four
Man City may have stopped the rot against Leicester City at the weekend, but serious problems remain.
Pep Guardiola’s side are only four points off the top four at the time of writing, but they are experiencing an alarming downward trajectory.
In comfortably the worst run of the Catalan coach’s managerial career, in the Premier League alone, they suffered six defeats and two draws in nine games.
In the previous nine top-flight games, they were unbeaten, winning seven.
There is no one reason for this remarkable slump, but the absence of reigning Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is a key factor — they simply have no natural replacement to undertake the indispensable work he performs to break up opposition counter-attacks as the holding midfielder.
Of similar significance is that the squad is suddenly looking its age.
The previous superb form of Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Erling Haaland meant peripheral and (in most cases) younger players like Pedro Porro, Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Julian Alvarez and Morgan Rogers had to leave the club in search of first-team football.
Now that some of their stars are in a decline that looks terminal, the reigning Premier League champions have been left without adequate backup to put pressure on the underperforming stars.
Guardiola has seemed almost infallible for much of his coaching career. But in this instance, the legendary boss and others behind the scenes at City deserve at least some blame for how badly the club has been mismanaged.
Still, they are better than their recent form suggests and it’s hard to imagine it getting any worse than the nightmare past two months the club have endured.
At the same time, whether they are good enough to secure a top-four place and a guaranteed Champions League spot appears highly doubtful.
3. Evan Ferguson to get back to his best
It is fair to say 2024 was largely a year to forget for Evan Ferguson.
In 36 appearances in all competitions, the Meath native managed just two goals.
However, less than half of those fixtures (16) were starts.
And at 20, Ferguson remains one of the most promising footballers of his generation.
The limited game time he has received will be frustrating in the short term.
But consider how quickly past prodigies like Michael Owen or Wayne Rooney burned out.
Partly because they played so much football as teenagers, both looked significantly diminished as they entered their 30s.
So Ferguson being used sparingly could prove somewhat beneficial in the long term.
He remains a raw talent who needs to be managed carefully and if he continues to be overlooked at Brighton, it would make sense for the Meath native to move elsewhere.
It’s worth noting too that injuries have also been a major factor in his underwhelming year.
If the ex-Bohemians youngster can stay fit over the next few months, it is easy to envisage him showing more of the brilliant glimpses he displayed in previous years.
4. Ange Postecoglou to leave Tottenham
After a succession of managers who played defence-oriented football — Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espírito Santo and Antonio Conte — Spurs suddenly opted to go the complete opposite direction with Ange Postecoglou.
Despite the simultaneous loss of talisman Harry Kane, this change worked well initially.
Eight wins and two draws from their opening 10 games last season meant the North Londoners appeared to be potential title contenders as Postecoglou briefly brought a feel-good factor back to the club that had been largely absent since the Mauricio Pochettino era petered out.
However, the wheels soon fell off and those early days look like an anomaly.
Since then, Tottenham have lost more Premier League matches (21) than they have won (19).
Postecoglou has insisted he always wins a trophy in his second season, and an unlikely League Cup triumph (which would involve beating Liverpool over two legs) could prove his salvation.
However, for the most part, in contrast with his previous clubs, it has been a case of diminishing returns with the under-fire Australian boss.
The Spurs coach has lamented injuries to several key first-team performers and cited it as a big factor in their dire run, which has seen them claim only one victory in six matches on the back of their stunning 4-0 demolition of Man City.
A similar problem arose last season and yet Spurs chose to invest largely in young players over the summer (Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert) while experienced pros like Emerson Royal, Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg departed in 2024.
The severe injury crisis for the second season running also makes you wonder whether Postecoglou’s high-octane style contributes to this recurring problem.
The embattled manager has significantly rebuilt the team and moulded it in his image, so it is hard to imagine where Spurs proceed next should they decide to part ways.
But a Champions League spot looks well beyond the current squad’s reach and compensating by winning a trophy in either the League Cup, FA Cup or Europa League seems an unlikely prospect given their stark inconsistency.
Despite Postecoglou’s suggestions to the contrary, it is hard to escape the feeling that this team is going backwards. And if their awful form continues, the controversial project will surely end in tears.
5. Man United to continue to struggle under Ruben Amorim
Arguably no team in the Premier League is more maddening to watch than Man United.
For all their flaws, it is not an untalented squad.
It is a group of players that won the FA Cup in 2024 and the League Cup in 2023.
Yet that has been the major problem at the club in the post-Alex Ferguson era.
They have won five major trophies since the Scot departed — the FA Cup (twice), the League Cup (twice) and the Europa League.
But they are a ‘moments’ team, capable of great standalone performances without the necessary resilience in their squad to sustain a successful title challenge.
They have only finished in the top four in five of the last 10 campaigns.
Last season under Erik ten Hag, they finished eighth — their worst placing since the early says of Ferguson’s extensive stint in 1990.
In the campaign before Ten Hag’s arrival, they finished with their lowest points tally of the Premier League era (58).
This season, they look capable of eclipsing those unwanted records again, as they currently sit on 22 points, closer to bottom-place Southampton than leaders Liverpool.
The decision to stick with Ten Hag in the summer now looks like a major blunder.
There were more questionable decisions in the transfer market.
The Red Devils reportedly spent approximately €221 million in the summer. But none of their five major signings — Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Manuel Ugarte — have convinced so far.
After losing to Newcastle, they face a daunting trip to Anfield on Sunday.
And while he inherited most of the problems at the club, Ruben Amorim has struggled to galvanise a flailing squad.
Ten Hag seemingly compromised his footballing ideals to gain short-term success at Old Trafford.
Amorim is going the opposite route, sticking firmly to his principles despite the United’s discomfort with playing three at the back among other ideas.
This idealistic approach may work out eventually — for all their problems, the Red Devils remain one of the richest and most well-resourced football clubs in the world — but don’t expect Amorim trying to impose his philosophy on Ten Hag’s squad to yield swift improvements in the results or performances.
6. Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle to secure Champions League spots
One of the best stories of the Premier League season so far has been Nottingham Forest’s remarkable run.
The 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday left them second in the table, having battled against relegation for much of last season.
However, maintaining that form is a big ask.
Even for Nuno Espírito Santo’s side to finish second would be comparable to Leicester City winning the title in 2016.
It is hard to make the case that they have the second-best squad in the top flight.
Many of their key players were let go by bigger clubs and are surely overachieving.
Forest’s top scorer Chris Wood left Newcastle. Anthony Elanga was deemed not good enough at Man United.
Morgan Gibbs-White did not always excel at Wolves and spent part of his last two seasons with the Molineux outfit on loan in the Championship with Swansea and Sheffield United.
Even fifth place could be enough for Champions League football, but despite the encouraging signs, you suspect they won’t have a strong enough squad to last the distance in the top-four race.
Chelsea and Newcastle — who have two of the best young talentes in the league, Cole Palmer and Alexander Isak — are on an upward curve and improving all the time.
While Arsenal will find it tough to catch Liverpool, they have finished second two seasons on the bounce and have the experience and quality to secure a third consecutive runners-up spot.
Even fifth place and probable Champions League football would constitute a major success story for this Forest squad.
7. Trent Alexander-Arnold to join Real Madrid
Of the three indispensable stars who could leave Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold is most likely to go.
Salah and Van Dijk are in different positions. At 32 and 33 respectively, they are closer to the end of their career than their start.
If the Reds offer enough money — and perhaps more importantly, lengthy contracts — it’s not hard to imagine both players staying at Anfield.
By contrast, 26-year-old Alexander-Arnold ostensibly has the peak years of his career ahead of him.
He has already won all the major trophies with Liverpool and could add another Premier League crown to his list of honours at the end of this season.
It is easy to understand why someone in his position would want to test himself in a different environment.
The Merseyside-born defender has been playing for Liverpool since the age of six — it is essentially all he has known in football.
This next contract will likely be a four or five-year deal. If he stays with the Reds, Real Madrid or a team at a similar level may not come calling again when he is in his 30s.
Compare his potential career path to other former stars.
Steven Gerrard could have moved to another club but stuck with Liverpool.
It ensured legendary status at Anfield for the midfielder, but he likely would have won more trophies and at least one league title if he had opted to join Chelsea or Real Madrid.
By contrast, Steve McManaman and Michael Owen left Liverpool near their pomp.
Neither is as loved as Gerrard. But McManaman won two league titles and two Champions Leagues during his time with Real Madrid.
Owen was less successful, winning nothing in his single season in Madrid. However, he won the Premier League and League Cup with Man United, which may not have happened had he stuck with their rivals originally.
All the recent signs do not seem promising from a Liverpool perspective.
Alexander-Arnold has said he wants to be the first full-back to win the Ballon d’Or.
It’s hard to imagine that happening, but he certainly has a better chance at Madrid, as they are in contention for the Champions League most seasons and virtually guaranteed to finish among the top two or three teams in Spain every year.
Jude Bellingham is also a close friend and Alexander-Arnold will no doubt have watched on enviously as the 21-year-old’s star has risen considerably since moving to La Liga.
If Liverpool lose their prized asset, they can hardly afford to have too many complaints.
In eight seasons as a regular, Alexander Arnold has been outstanding for the Anfield outfit.
He will be remembered as being synonymous with Jurgen Klopp’s time in charge — his rise as a key player coincided with the German’s arrival at the club.
And he will surely continue to excel if he does join Real — the slower pace and extra emphasis on technical ability in Spain will likely accentuate Alexander-Arnold’s strengths.
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