A preview of the upcoming 2023/24 Premier League season with predictions and bets for the season! Continue reading for a load of gibberish and my thoughts on each team as well as a punt or two along the way…

Arsenal

Prediction: 3rd.
New Signings: Kai Havertz, Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber.

Arsenal look to have strengthened their squad depth a lot in the transfer window. Only spent about 200 million quid in magic beans by doing so!

I’m still not convinced that they’ll have enough to win the title but I think Arsenal and Liverpool will be the teams putting the pressure on Pep Guardiola’s Man City team until the latter stages of the season and will be there to try and take advantage of any slips the Cityzens make.

Can’t make an argument for any Arsenal-related bets but I’m just buzzing to back Kai Havertz to be booked on a fortnightly basis again. Long, rangy, dangerous, giraffe-legged motherfucker. Cards out ref! 10/1 v Forest…

Aston Villa

Prediction: UEFA Conference League Winners. 8th.
New Signings: Youri Tielemans, Pau Torres, Moussa Diaby

Unai Emery’s record in European Cup competitions speaks for itself. A 4 time Europa League Champion, 3 times with Sevilla and 1 with Villarreal. As well as a runners-up medal during his time at Arsenal. Similar to West Ham last year, I think Aston Villa will be targeting the UEFA Conference League as a means to qualification into the Europa League proper next year. Villa will likely be challenging for qualification to the competition on merit via league position anyway, however, with Tottenham and Chelsea overseeing managerial changes and much more positive outlooks than last year, lifting the UECL may be the priority come the knockout rounds of the competition later on in the season. There are no odds yet but I imagine the Villains will be priced up as favourites by some distance maybe around the 2/1 mark, could form the first part of a decent ante-post acca or two!

Bournemouth

Prediction: 12th
New Signings: Hamed Traore, Justin Kluivert, Milos Kerkez, Romain Faivre, Andrei Radu, Alex Scott

Bournemouth could be in for a decent season, I think dismissing Gary O’Neil was a good move regardless of how it pans out, he doesn’t strike me as the manager to take them forward. Their new owners have continued to splash the cash but Andoni Iraolo may be their best addition of the summer. The former Rayo Vallecano manager is used to punching above his weight guiding the La Liga side to comfortable mid-table finishes in successive seasons tallying 42 & 49 points.

Bournemouth tallied 39 points last season despite losing over 50% of their PL games and conceding the third-highest amount of goals in the league (71), only Leeds (78) and Southampton (73) conceded more. Iraolo should make them harder to beat and an improvement in defence should lead to a few more points.

Punt: Over 41 Bournemouth Points @ 2.50 (6/4) - Bet365
Punt: Bournemouth +50 Season Handicap - Winner @ 19.00 (18/1) - Bet365
The 18/1 is available as a Bet Boost. 17.00 (16/1) in the normal market.

Brentford

Prediction: 11th.
New Signings: Nathan Collins, Kevin Schade, Mark Flekken

Brentford are without Ivan Toney until January and they’re going to be a bit of an unknown for the first few weeks of the new season. Will they play Mbeumo centrally? Will Schade or Wissa replace Toney? Who knows! I’m not sure any of those options offer the same quality that the gambling man has produced since his introduction to Premier League football. I imagine Thomas Frank will already have an idea of how he’s going to handle it and The Bees will probably survive another year in the EPL quite comfortably.

Ivan Toney returns in January but it could take until February for him to regain match fitness and get back to his best. Bryan Mbeumo has only just turned 24 and scored 9 PL goals last year, the Cameroon man should be Brentford’s main man until the turn of the year at a minimum.

Punt: Bryan Mbeumo To Be Brentford’s Top PL Goalscorer @ 2.10 (11/10) - Bet365

Brighton

Prediction: 9th.
New Signings: Joao Pedro, Bart Verbruggen, Mahmoud Dahoud, James Milner, Igor Julio

Brighton scored 72 goals last season on their way to the club’s highest-ever finish, 6th place in the Premier League. Although this comes with a more congested fixture list after qualifying for the Europa League, I see no reason why Roberto De Zerbi’s men can’t repeat the feat.

The progression of Evan Ferguson combined with summer signing Joao Pedro will only complement their array of attacking threats and I’m sure the Seagulls will be another exciting watch every time they play this season.

Punt: Brighton To Score 70+ League Goals @ 4.00 (3/1) - SkyBet
Punt: Brighton To Score 75+ League Goals @ 9.00 (8/1) - SkyBet

Burnley

Prediction: 13th
New Signings: Jordan Beyer, Dara O’Shea, Lawrence Vigoroux, Michael Obafemi, Zeki Amdouni, James Trafford, Nathan Redmond, Jacob Bruun Larsen, Sander Berge, Luca Koleosho

The Clarets haven’t been afraid to splash the cash and they’ve mainly invested their money in young talents. Swiss international Zeki Amdouni (22) & England U21 goalkeeper James Trafford (20) specifically. It looks as though Vincent Kompany isn’t going to change his style regardless of who they play which may lead to some heavy defeats but they could inflict their fair share of misery on teams in and around them as well.

I’m confident Amdouni will be Kompany’s main man this season and similar to Mbeumo for Brentford, he should be the one finding the back of the net the most often for Burnley.

Punt: Zeki Amdouni To Be Burnley’s PL Top Goalscorer @ 2.10 (11/10) - Bet365/SkyBet

Chelsea

Prediction: 6th.
New Signings: Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson, Malo Gusto, Andrey Santos, Angelo, Axel Disasi, Robert Sanchez, Lesley Ugochukwu, Tyler Adams.

It’s hard enough predicting a Chelsea XI never mind their league position over a 38-game period. Mauricio Pochettino is the man in charge of the circus currently and he’s seen a mass exodus of the squad from last season with a few unwanted players still lurking around their Cobham training ground. Lukaku, Ziyech & Hudson-Odoi to name a few.

It’ll probably take time for Pochettino to get a settled team and to get his message across, however, they could benefit from the new Champions League format which is highly likely to see 5 EPL teams qualify from the 24/25 campaign, I could see them battling it out with Newcastle and Tottenham for the 5th placed spot.

Crystal Palace

Prediction: 17th.
New Signings: Jefferson Lerma, Matheus Franca

Although Roy Hodgson did turn the Eagles’ fortunes around at the end of last season, it’s difficult to feel optimistic about their chances in the new season with a now 76-year-old manager at the helm. Paired with the fact that Wilfried Zaha left Selhurst Park to join Turkish giants Galatasaray upon the expiry of his contract.

They’ll probably benefit from the fact that there’s likely going to be at least 3 teams worse than them although they’ll be reliant on a lot of individual quality from the likes of Eberechi Eze & Michael Olise when he’s back fit and firing. They’ve invested in young Brazilian talent Matheus Franca from Flamengo but that’s a gamble on his potential and what he could be rather than what he is. Which to most is an unknown.

Everton

Prediction: 14th.
New Signings: Ashley Young, Arnaut Danjuma

Good old Dyche-ball. What we’re all here for. What we live for. The man who swallows gravel for a living barking orders at his soldiers for 90 minutes. It’s back!