2020-21 Premier League Preview & Betting Guide

Let's kick off the 2020-21 Premier League!

On Saturday September 12, the 2020-21 Premier League will kick off. As per usual, 20 teams do battle for one elusive League Title, four spots in the Champions League, one spot in the Europa League and three spots in the Championship. The 2020-21 Premier League will finish on Sunday May 23, 2021.

Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion and Fulham were promoted from the Championship and replace the relegated trio of Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich City.

There's also a slight change to the transfer window. The summer 2020 transfer window opened on 27 July and will be open for 10 weeks, ending on 5 October. A domestic window, where Premier League clubs can only trade with EFL clubs, will be open from 5 October to 16 October.

Premier League Odds Favourites

The bookmakers are quite unanimous in their verdict: Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are favourites with Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool close behind. Frank Lampard's Chelsea and Ole Gunnar Solskjær's Manchester United are front runners for the remaining two Champions League spots.

Be sure to keep track of the season at our Premier League stats page. Current odds are compiled and available at our odds comparison page and betting tips and predictions are found at our betting tips page.

These odds have been compiled from betting sites bet365, Betfair, Bethard, Unibet and William Hill - for all of which we offer competitive bonuses at ThePlayer.com.

ThePlayer Premier League Preview 2020-21

Read on for assessments of every Premier League team and a few outright betting tips (bets placed on the total outcome of a season or competition).

The 2019-20 Premier League season can be examined and summarized in lots of different ways. One way is to plot created shots on target per game against conceded shots on target per game:

Teams creating lots of shots on target while also conceding few shots on target during a season tend to do well in the league table (and find themselves in the lower right quadrant in the picture above).
Teams creating few shots on target while also conceding lots of shots on target during a season tend to struggle in the league table (and find themselves in the upper left quadrant in the picture above).

With this as a rough starting point, let's have a look at how the teams have transformed and reshuffled during the summer and how it might affect the outcome of the 2020-21 Premier League:

Top of the table

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola's team failed to claim a third consecutive league title, but Manchester City did in fact create the most shots per game and conceded the fewest shots per game in during the 2019-20 Premier League.

They have lost one of their best midfielders David Silva but I'm pretty sure that the void will be filled by either Bernardo Silva or perhaps more likely youngster Phil Foden.
Manchester City have bought the Dutch international defender Nathan Aké from Bournemouth and creative defender Angeliño is returning from a bonzer loan spell at RasenBallsport Leipzig.

The Citizens have all the characteristic of a title challenger and I believe that the league title will return to Manchester after a rather close race.

Liverpool

Jürgen Klopp's men displayed the sharpest defence in the league and only Manchester City created more and slightly better goal scoring chances during the 2019-20 Premier League season.

The club have parted ways with faithful, but sporadically deployed, servants Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana.
Liverpool have grabbed Konstantinos Tsimikas from Olympiakos, as a backup for defender Andrew Robertson I recon.

The Reds also possess all the qualities of a title contender but I believe that will have to settle fro second spot after a tight race.

Chelsea

Frank Lampard did a superb job in his first season in charge. Chelsea created the third most shots on target and only Manchester City and Liverpool conceded fewer shots on target.

Lost creative midfielder Willian to Arsenal.
However, Chelsea have carried out one of the most spectacular transfer windows in many a year. How about Timo Werner (24 year old forward and RasenBallsport Leipzig's best player last season, scoring the second most goals in the Bundesliga last season), Hakim Ziyech (27 year old attacking midfielder and Ajax's best player last season), Thiago Silva (35 year old central defender and one of PSG's best players last season), Ben Chilwell (23 year old defender and one of Leicester's best players last season) and Kai Havertz (21 year old attacking midfielder and Bayer Leverkusen's best player last season)?

The Blues have strengthened the squad both defensively and attacking wise. If they can improve the goalkeeping performance, they might even challenge the Citizens and the Reds for a top 2 spot. Anyhow, anything less than a top 3 spot would be a disappointment.

Leicester City

The squad turned a corner when Brendan Rodgers took over the reins in early 2019. For the second part of the 2018-19 season and for most part of the 2019-20 season the stats looked really great.

Lost defender Ben Chilwell to Chelsea. However, when the club sold Harry Maguire to Manchester United in 2018 they had Çaglar Söyüncü ready as the successor and I'm sure the loss of Chilwell has been planned in a similar way (Leicester have the English U19 international Luke Thomas who started the final games of last season and also played during pre-season this summer).

The Foxes finished last season on a terrible points-per-game run and a Champions League spot slipped through their fingers. However, the stats looked good throughout the season and I believe quite a few people will underestimate Leicester.

Manchester United

Securing a Champions League spot last season was rather well-deserved, the Red Devils being one of the best performing teams in the end.

Have bought attacking midfielder Donny van de Beekfrom Ajax.

There's an interesting quirk to the last couple of seasons. When United have competed in the Champions League they haven't been able to secure a top 4 spot in the domestic league. When not competing in the Champions League, United have had a better track record in the domestic league. I believe that this season will be yet another one where the same pattern emerges.

Position 6-10

Southampton

I think Southampton is transforming into a peculiar entity. As a team they performed better as last season went by and in the final stages the south coast detachments points-per-game were only bettered by Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester United and Manchester City.

Have sold midfielder Pierre-Emile Højbjerg to Tottenham. Used Oriol Romeu and James Ward-Prowse in central midfield though after the covid break.
Obtained defender Kyle Walker-Peters from Tottenham as an upgrade to Cédric Soares who left for Arsenal.
Have also acquired defender Mohammed Salisu, one of Valladolid's best players last season.

The Saints are enjoying an upward trend and in the second part of last season, Ralph Hasenhüttl's game seemed to settle. If Southampton can build on this, I believe they will spring a surprise or two in the 2020-21 Premier League.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton continue to look strong defensively but have lost some of the power going forward.

Have sold defender/midfielder Matt Doherty to Tottenham.

Wolves look stable enough to launch yet another pursuit of a top half spot.

Tottenham Hotspur

Overall, Tottenham performed as a mid-table team last season and José Mourinho looked like he's lost some of his magic touch.

Have bought defender/midfielder Matt Doherty from Wolverhampton and attacking midfielder Pierre-Emile Højbjerg from Southampton.

The Lilywhites have strengthened the squad but still lack that injection of quality that would propel them back into the race for the top spots.
However, Tottenham land European football yet again by claiming the FA Cup title.

Sheffield United

The stout defence was the key for Chris Wilder and Sheffield United last season: only 6 teams conceded fewer shots on goals and only Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United conceded fewer goals than Sheffield United last season.

Have lost goalkeeper Dean Hendersson but picked up Aaron Ramsdale from Bournemouth.

The Blades look solid enough to fight for another mid table finish.

Arsenal

Looking at shot on goals statistics and/or Expected goals (e.g. Experimental 361 or Infogol) Arsenal performed pretty much like a mid-table team last season.

Only two teams have seen a decline in the overall shots and xG data over the past two seasons, and Arsenal is one of those.

Arsenal enjoyed a fine second part of the season but still: only two teams have seen a decline in the overall shots and xG data over the past two seasons, and Arsenal is one of those.

• 9 teams created more shots on target than Arsenal last season.
• Only Norwich, Newcastle and Bournemouth conceded more shots on target than Arsenal last season.

Have sold Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
It's also plausible that Arsenal will let go of one or two central defenders.
Have picked up:
Attacking midfielder Willian from Chelsea.
Defender Cédric Soaresfrom Southampton (spent second part of last season on loan at Arsenal).
Central defender Pablo Mari from Flamengo (spent second part of last season on loan at Arsenal but played only 2 games).
Central defender Gabriel Magalhaes from Lilles.
Defender William Saliba from Saint-Etienne.

The Gunners have a large breach in the defensive lines. Magalhaes och Saliba might be part of the key to solving this and will probably fit Arteta's system better than most. However, both are still young and lack experience from the Premier League (Saliba only got 28 games in the French top flight under his belt). The defensive midfield remains an area of concern.

Position 11-15

Everton

Things doesn’t look bad at Everton, but something is missing. Maybe Carlo Ancelotti need a pre-season to get things right.

Lost defender Djibril Sidibé to Monaco and midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin to Nice.
Have obtained midfielder Allan from Napoli.
(There's also a lot of talk about James Rodríguez from Real Madrid and Abdoulaye Doucouré från Watford.)

The Toffees hade more in them than the Premier League table showed last season. There's enough quality around for a top half spot, but right now I will settle for a place just below.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Performed pretty much like a mid-table team last season.

Replaced defender Shane Duffy with Joël Veltman from Ajax midfielder Aaron Mooy with Adam Lallana from Liverpool.

The Seagulls and Graham Potter have enough skill for a confident lower mid table finish.

Burnley

Sean Dyche continues to work his magic with one of the least spectacular squads in the top flight. Performed pretty much like a mid-table team last season.

Have replaced attacking midfielder Jeff Hendrick with Marco Richter from Augsburg.

The Clarets look solid enough for yet another mid table finish.

Leeds United

Leeds were, by some margin, the best team in the Championship last season, conceding the fewest shots on target and goals in the second tier.

Obtained forward Rodrigo Moreno from Valencia.

The Whites are, without doubt, the best promoted this time around and look strong enough for a lower mid table finish at least.

West Ham United

It's hard to tell where West Ham are going or wish to go. Performed pretty much like a mid-table team last season but have made up with bland manager David Moyes again.

The squad is basically the same as last season and I believe we can expect pretty much the same one more time: a spot just above the relegation zone.

Bottom of the table

Aston Villa

The Birmingham outfit had a troubled first season back in the Premier League but survived in the end with a one point cushion.

Have acquired creative defender Matty Cash from Nottingham Forest.

The Lions have addressed the weakest spot and I think they will have just enough about them to do slightly better than last season.

Crystal Palace

Under Roy Hodgson, Crystal Palace have seen a decline in the overall shots and xG data for some time now.

The Eagles have bought attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze from Queens Park Rangers and that might just do the trick this time around.

Newcastle United

I believe Newcastle had loads and loads of luck last season. They were among the teams creating the fewest shots on target and only rock bottom Norwich conceded more shots on target.

Have obtained midfielder Jeff Hendrick from Burnley and goalkeeper Mark Gillespie from Motherwell.

The Magpies try to play it safe but i think reality will come back to bite them this season.

West Bromwich Albion

West Brom have acquired attacking midfielder Matheus Pereira from Sporting Lisbon but apart from that the squad is more or less the same as last season. I just think the Baggies look too thin to survive in the top flight as of now.

Fulham

Performance wise, Fulham trailed Leeds as well as West Brom and Brentford by quite some margin last season but showed great resilience. 8 teams conceded fewer shots on target than Fulham though!

Have nicked defender Antonee Robinson from Wigan and midfielder Mario Lemina (who played only limited minutes in Southampton and Galatasaray the two most recent seasons).

The Cottagers just look way too thin and are my favourites to finish rock bottom.

So, how will the 2020-21 Premier League end?

1. Manchester City
2. Liverpool
3. Chelsea
4. Leicester City
5. Manchester United
6. Southampton
7. Wolverhampton Wanderers
8. Tottenham Hotspur
9. Sheffield United
10. Arsenal
11. Everton
12. Brighton & Hove Albion
13. Burnley
14. Leeds United
15. West Ham United
16. Aston Villa
17. Crystal Palace
18. Newcastle United
19. West Bromwich Albion
20. Fulham

Premier League History

The Premier League is full of exciting history! Here's a reminder of last season, and a look back at all previous winners.

Last season's Premier League table

All-time Premier League winners history