The Premier League season kicks off again tomorrow, and the summer has been full of big changes. Three new teams have come up to join the top tier of English football, while plenty of signings have been made by most teams in the league. From big money strikers to bargain deals, there's a lot to be analysed when making any prediction about the fate of the teams in the league.
With that in mind, the team from the Newstalk Sports desk and the Off The Ball crew, as well as Team 33, have come together to give their predictions for the season to come, so bookmark this page for the end of the season so that you can email or tweet in to let them all know just how wrong they got it.
Each member of the respective teams will give their predictions on a number of concrete categories, with no space for waffle. They need to pick the winners and the top 4 (in order); the best and worst signings in the transfer window; the candidates for relegation; a team that might surprise fans(either positively or negatively); and the first manager to get the boot.
Let the fun begin.
Colm "Woolberto" Parkinson (Off The Ball, Professional Complainer)
Winners: Manchester City
Top 4: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United
Best signing: Gerard Deulofeu for €6m at Everton
Steve Paston / PA Wire/Press Association Images
Worst signing : Connor Wickham for €12.8M to Crystal Palace.
Relegation candidates: Watford, Leicester, Norwich.
Surprise package: Newcastle aren't going to set the world alight, but they won't come as close to relegation as they did last season.
First manager sacked: Brendan Rodgers.
Nathan Murphy (Off The Ball, Top Scorer U-15 Mayo League Division 5, 1995)
Winners: Manchester City
Top 4: Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United - It will be a hell of a lot closer than last season but if Sergio Aguero can stay fit his goals will fire City to the title. The new SAS of Sterling, Aguero and Silva is going to rip apart a whole host of defences this season.
Best Signing: Raheem Sterling is back playing with a world class striker again, and will have the space for his pace to wreak havoc.
Worst Signing: Radamel Falcao - His hips don't lie.
Relegation candidates: Leicester, Watford and Norwich.
Surprise Package: West Ham will regret getting rid of Big Sam and be involved in a relegation fight.
First Manager Sacked: Quique Flores. Watford could easily have four managers again this season!
Adrian Barry (Off The Ball, The Original Adrian):
Winners: Chelsea.
Top 4: Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City.
Best signing: Ibrahim Afellay - What's he doing at Stoke? (Also a quick nod here to Petr Cech).
Worst signing: Connor Wickham to Crystal Palace.
Gareth Fuller / EMPICS Sport
Relegation candidates: Leicester, Sunderland, Watford
Surprise package: Southampton - with a number of their big players gone, there's a good chance that they finally come unstuck.
First manager sacked: Quique Flores at Watford - pretty much a nailed on certainty.
Dave McIntyre (Off The Ball, Ex-College Celtic & Castleknock Celtic stalwart):
Winners: Chelsea.
Top 4: Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City.
Best signing: Petr Cech
Best signing: Petr Cech
Worst signing: Bastien Schweinsteiger
Relegation candidates: Bournemouth, Watford, Leicester.
Surprise package: Crystal Palace will over achieve and have made some decent signings.
First manager sacked: Claudio Ranieri. A strange move from Leicester after sacking Nigel Pearson.
Relegation candidates: Bournemouth, Watford, Leicester.
Surprise package: Crystal Palace will over achieve and have made some decent signings.
First manager sacked: Claudio Ranieri. A strange move from Leicester after sacking Nigel Pearson.
Scott Heavey / EMPICS Sport
Cian Roche (Newstalk Sport, Matt Holland Superfan):
Winners: Arsenal will be champions, but I will probably regret this prediction after the first weekend.
Top 4: Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool.
Best signing: Christian Benteke is an out-standing signing if he can stay fit, while the smartest transfer could be Petr Cech. Best value could be Afellay for Stoke.
Worst signing: Raheem Sterling will be a bust.
Teams to get relegated: Sunderland, Watford, Leicester.
Surprise package: I think Bournemouth are going to do alright, but I fear for Manchester City under Manuel Pellegrini, who looks to be a bit of a lame duck.
First manager sacked: Manuel Pellegrini
Tommy Rooney (Off the Ball, Meath Hill 4 lyf)
Winners: Arsenal.
Top 4: Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City.
Best signing: André Ayew to Swansea. He's a quality player and he moved on a free, can't go wrong. Might even have a Michu-esque (in his first season) influence.
J Pat Carter / AP/Press Association Images
Worst signing: Falcao to Chelsea. They needed a proper back-up for Costa, and Falcao's an expensive punt.
Teams to get relegated: Leicester, Watford, Norwich.
Surprise package: Bournemouth have spent the cash, they play lovely football, and it would be great to see them do well.
First manager sacked: Quique Flores at Watford. It's just what they do there right?
Raf Diallo (Team 33, Ambassador for Leitrim)
Winners: Chelsea.
Top 4: Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United.
Best signing: Petr Cech finally brings much needed quality to the goalkeeper position at Arsenal.
Worst signing: Jordan Ayew, a man who perhaps had the worst first touch in Ligue 1 last season.
Relegation candidates: Norwich, Watford, Leicester.
Surprise package: Crystal Palace proved in the second half of last season that they're a strong side, while West Ham may find themselves in a relegation battle.
Scott Heavey / EMPICS Sport
First manager sacked: Claudio Ranieri at Leicester.
Richard Chambers (Newstalk, currently AWOL from Team 33)
Winners: Chelsea.
Top 4: Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United.
Best signings: James Milner.
Worst signing: Jordan Ayew. The stats will back me up on this one.
Relegation candidates: Leicester, Sunderland, Watford.
Surprise package: Everton don't look to have made any big improvements and may yet lose Stones at the back, while Swansea will once again be a tough side to beat this season and do even better.
First manager sacked: Claudio Ranieri.
Joe Coffey (Team 33, Mayo For Sam Campaign Strategist)
Winners: Chelsea.
Top 4: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United.
Best signing: James Milner on a free for Liverpool.
Worst signing: Falcao's move to Chelsea, despite his poor performances for Manchester United.
Adam Davy / PA Wire/Press Association Images
Relegation candidates: Leicester, Bournemouth, Watford.
Surprise package: Southampton may finally have lost too many key players, while Crystal Palace have made some excellent signings and proved their quality in the second half of last season.
First manager sacked: Slaven Bilic at West Ham will be the first out the door.
Mick McCarthy (Off The Ball, Angry Producer):
Winners: Arsenal.
Top 4: Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United.
Best signing: Bastian Schweinsteiger brings proven quality and great experience to the United midfield.
Worst signing: Radamel Falcao at Chelsea.
Relegation candidates: Bournemouth, Watford, Leicester.
Surprise package: Newcastle have finally made some signings and will finish in the top half of the table.
First manager sacked: Brendan Rodgers.
Dan Kelly (Newstalk Sport, unused sub in Sligo Community Games Final)
Winners: Chelsea
Top 4: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United. The top 4 should be tight all season, but Chelsea's quality will shine through.
Best signing: Yohan Cabaye's move to Crystal Palace seems to be largely forgotten. He is a player thats simply too good for Palace and Alan Pardew has done a brilliant bit of business.
Worst signing: After his performances last year for Manchester United, Radamel Falcao's move to Chelsea makes little sense.
Relegation candidates: Either Villa or Sunderland have to go down at some stage, and after losing two of their most important players in Benteke and Delph, it may be Villa's turn. Leicester showed good form at the end of last season, but they may miss Pearson despite his flaws, while Watford look like the weakest of the promoted teams.
Clint Hughes / PA Archive/PA Images
Surprise package: Stoke City. Mark Hughes has transformed the club since the Tony Pulis reign and with the additions of more exciting players this summer in van Ginkel and Afellay, The Potters could be battling for a Europa League spot next May.
First manager sacked: A coin toss between Claudio Ranieri and Quique Flores. Ranieri has been out of the English game for nearly a decade, but Watford seem to be particularly volatile.
Eoin Sheahan (Off The Ball wunderkind)
Winners: Chelsea
Top 4: Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool
Best Signing: James Milner. Everything is better when it’s free, but when you’ve picked up a proven player in the Premier League who is almost never awful, then it's nearly good enough to make a club forget that they once signed Andriy Voronin. Nearly.
Best Signing: James Milner. Everything is better when it’s free, but when you’ve picked up a proven player in the Premier League who is almost never awful, then it's nearly good enough to make a club forget that they once signed Andriy Voronin. Nearly.
AP Photo/Vincent Thian
Worst Signing: Connor Wickham. I would like to meet his agent and shake his hand. A 5-year deal...hilarious.
Relegation candidates: Sunderland, Leicester, Watford.
Surprise Package: Stoke to challenge for a top six spot after a season of tearing up the league with a brand of football that will make them cult heroes across Iberia. And they’ll do it all after having released the storied Wilson Palacios this summer.
Relegation candidates: Sunderland, Leicester, Watford.
Surprise Package: Stoke to challenge for a top six spot after a season of tearing up the league with a brand of football that will make them cult heroes across Iberia. And they’ll do it all after having released the storied Wilson Palacios this summer.
Adrián Collins (Newstalk, 173 Consecutive Five-A-Side Games Without a Goal)
Winners: Manchester City.
Top 4: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United.
Best signing: Ibrahim Afellay on a free transfer is some wonderful business, and will help to continue Mark Hughes' Stoke revolution, if he can stay fit.
Worst signing: Newcastle in general. Wijnaldum and Mitrovic are good players, but it looks like they've spent huge money and will start the season desperately short at the back.
Owen Humphreys / PA Wire/Press Association Images
Relegation candidates: Watford, Aston Villa, Bournemouth.
Surprise package: Stoke have just about shaken off the mantle of being a long ball team, but the signings made this summer may well make them a slick attacking force.
First manager sacked: Brendan Rodgers. Some great attacking signings but the defence is still a huge problem, and bad results early on may end up costing him his job.
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