2024-25 English Premier League predictions: Picks, forecast for all 20 teams

Doug McIntyre

Soccer Journalist

The end of the last English Premier League season feels like a lifetime ago after a summer packed full of international games. Now the Prem is suddenly back, with the planet’s most popular and competitive domestic circuit scheduled to kick off on Aug. 16 when Manchester United hosts Fulham and USMNT standout Antonee “Jedi” Robinson at Old Trafford.

For the fourth consecutive year, Manchester City is the defending champion. Yet plenty has changed elsewhere heading into 2024-25, most notably at Liverpool, which has a new manager in Arne Slot after the beloved Jürgen Klopp stepped down following his ninth season on Merseyside.

There are three newly promoted clubs in Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton. And there are plenty of potential new stars, like West Ham striker Niclas Füllkrug and Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori.

It’s an awful long time until the season concludes in May. But on the eve of the new campaign, here’s how we see things shaking out.

Even after selling Argentine forward Julian Alvarez to Atlético Madrid, there is little reason to believe that City won’t better their own record and add an unprecedented fifth straight Prem title next year. They still have the deepest and most experienced squad in England, if not the world. And they still have arguably the best manager in the game in Pep Guardiola, who is in the final year of his contract and could leave next summer after nine years at the helm. What a mic-drop that would be, especially if the Citizens can also claim their second Champions League crown in three seasons. If Erling Haaland can stay a little healthier this year, don’t bet against it.

If City doesn’t win it all again, surely the Gunners will. Arsenal has been outstanding over the last 24 months under club legend Mikel Arteta, Guardiola’s former assistant coach in Manchester. The North London side finished a close second in each of the last two year even while juggling a long run in the Champions Legaue last spring. Arteta’s team is battle-tested, and they’ll again pose a formidable challenge to the Sky Blues at the top of the table.

Slot has the unenviable task of replacing Klopp, who snapped the Reds’ 30-year league title doubt when he won the Prem in 2020. Klopp finished runner-up on two other occasions and made three Champions League finals, winning once. That’s an impossible act to follow. Still, the Dutchman has a truly elite squad at his disposal — once that features lineup mainstays Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.

The Magpies fell back to earth year after earning a top four finish in 2022-23. As unforgettable as that Champions League group stage win over Paris Saint-Germain was, playing every three days caught up with Eddie Howe’s men, who’d slipped to seventh in the standings by year’s end. That could be a blessing; Newcastle won’t have to worry about European competition and can focus solely on reestablishing themselves as one of England’s best.

Despite losing captain Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, Spurs climbed from eighth to fifth under first year manager Ange Postecoglou — good enough for a spot in this season’s Europa League. Tottenham will be stretched thinner this year, no question. But with the addition of $51 million midfielder Archie Gray and former Chelsea striker Timo Werner, “Big Ange” & Co. are still capable of equaling their 2023-24 position.

It’s hard to know what to make of the Red Devils, who finished eighth last term but saved their season (and embattled manager Erik ten Hag’s job) by beating crosstown rival Man City in the FA Cup final. United should be better this year. They landed blue chip 18-year-old central defender Leny Yoro on $66 million transfer from Lille and also inked Dutch forward Joshua Zirkee, who helped Italian outfit Bologna qualify for the Champions League last season. He’ll take some of the pressure off fellow striker Rasmus Højlund, scorer of 10 goals in his debut campaign.

Last season was one to remember for the Villans and manager Unai Emery, who guided Villa back to the Champions League for the first time since they were defending European champs in the early 1980s. The Birmingham club is determined to do well both in that tournament and in the Prem, outspending every other English team this summer. They dropped almost $50 million on Dutch left back Ian Maatsen, and another $64 million on Belgian destroyer Amadou Onana. Onana replaces the departed Douglas Luiz in the heart of Emery’s midfield.

The Hammers got better this summer by adding the prolific Füllkrug, who helped Germany’s Borussia Dortmund reach the Champions League final in June. Making the transition to the Premier League isn’t easy for some strikers, but the brawny 31-year-old’s physical game is well-suited to the rigors of England’s top flight. Füllkrug isn’t even West Ham’s most expensive summer signing; that’s $51 million man Max Kilman, who previously anchored Wolves back line under new Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui. The club also acquired wingers Luis Guilherme and Crysencio Summerville for a combined fee of around $65 million.

Palace was a different team after replacing manager Roy Hodgson with Austrian Oliver Glasner last February. The Austrian won his first game in charge and ended Liverpool’s 29-match unbeaten run at Anfield soon after. Only Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea were better down the stretch as Palace, which sat 16th when Glasner arrived, finished 10th. With Glasner there from the beginning this year, Palace can top that despite losing star winger Michael Olise this summer.

Perhaps the most dysfunctional club in England’s top league, the Blues parted ways with manager Mauricio Pochettino even though Pochettino led a Chelsea side that finished an embarrassing 12th in 2022-23 to sixth last season. The early returns under Enzo Maresca, the London club’s fifth boss since September of 2022, haven’t been good: The Blues conceded 12 goals in their first five preseason tuneups, including an ugly 4-1 loss to Scotland’s Celtic last month.

The Seagulls were solidly middle class last term, finishing 11th even after losing hard-running midfield duo Moisés Caicedo (to Chelsea) and Alexis Mac Allister (to Liverpool). The biggest departure this year is coach Roberto De Zerbi, who left for Marseille. Texas-born Fabian Hürzeler, fresh off getting St. Pauli promoted to the Bundesliga, is now in the job instead. With a roster bolstered by the big-money arrivals of Gambian winger Yankuba Minteh ($38 million from Newcastle) and Dutch midfielder Mats Wieffer ($32 million, Feyenoord), another mid table finish makes sense.

There’s a stability around Fulham as the Cottagers enter their third consecutive Premier League season, so much so that a three-spot drop from 10th to 13th last season doesn’t feel too concerning. Portuguese manager Marco Silva has been at the helm since 2021. Just two senior players, USMNT veteran Tim Ream and Silva’s countryman João Palhinha, left. And while the latter’s departure hurts, it’s offset by the arrival of the hugely experienced Ryan Sessegnon, Emile Smith-Rowe and Jorge Cuenca, a trio of 24-year-olds who were recruited from Spurs, Arsenal and Villarreal, respectively.

Entering their seventh straight top flight season, Wolverhampton still can’t afford to take anything for granted — not when other mid table teams have been backing up the Brinks trucks this summer. Wolves has spent $27 million on right sided duo Rodrigo Gomes and Pedro Lima, but neither are proven in the Prem. Manager Gary O’Neil might not be done shopping, but that’s a concern for a team that lost its defensive lynchpin in Kilman this summer.

The 2024-25 season will be bittersweet for Toffees fans however they finish: It’s their last at Goodison Park, Everton’s home stadium for more than a century. Where they finish matters hugely, though, for a club that has spent 70 years in England’s top division. They survived the drop in each of the last two years despite points deductions for violations of financial fair play rules. But it’s hard to argue that they got any better this summer after Villa’s swoop for Onana, who manager Sean Dyche has yet to adequately replace.

Having the smallest stadium in the Prem – there’s just 11,300 seats at Dean Court – hasn’t stopped Bournemouth from punching way above its weight since returning to the top division three years ago. Last season, the Cherries’ first under Spanish manager Andoni Iraola, was their best ever points-wise. Iraola returns almost his entire squad, with Turkish striker Enes Ünal an upgrade over the departed Kieffer Moore.

Forest too stayed up last season following a points deduction, securing safety on the final match day. So as long as they’re not docked again in 2024-25, they should be able to maintain their Premier League status again this season, the first full one under experienced Portuguese manager Nuno Espírito Santo.

Back in the Prem for the first time in more than 20 years, The Cottagers are no doubt a popular candidate to go straight back down to the second tier Championship after winning promotion last spring. There is reason to believe otherwise, the main one being rising coach Kieran McKenna, who signed a new four year extension after drawing interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.

The Bees’ luck has to run out at some point. To be fair to Brentford supporters, Brentford’s four year stay in the Premier League has already lasted longer than most expected. And while they fell seven spots between 2023 and 2024, they added coveted Brazilian striker Igor Thiago to an otherwise stable lineup.

Back with the big boys after one title winning season in the Championship, Leicester is facing a possibly severe points deduction upon their Prem return. For a squad that’s gotten only a little bit better the summer, such a penalty could prove fatal.

The Saints also came right back up a year on from relegation. But even with a whopping 15 new signings, they probably haven’t improved enough from the team that finished fourth in the Championship.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A former staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports, he has covered U.S. men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.