With just around four weeks left to play in the 2023-24 English Premier League season, each club’s few remaining matches are as meaningful as ever with their futures looming in the balance.
For some, the next weeks will end their chances at glory in the top-
flight league, and for others they will be granted the spectacular opportunity to compete alongside the nation’s best clubs in the EPL.
Let’s predict the 2023-24 champion, top five, top scorer, which clubs will be relegated to the second-tier EFL Championship and which clubs will rise from the Championship to the Premier League.
Premier League Winners
To win Europe’s most competitive league, I have to go with Manchester City. The most complete roster in England, City’s depth is exceptional and, no matter what lineup they field, the Sky Blues can go toe-to-toe with any club in the world. I absolutely love Phil Foden and he is just one of the many chess pieces (alongside the world-class Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland) that City have offensively. Rodri is the best holding midfielder in the world and their backline does not falter one bit. With a fairly easy schedule left, a game in hand and just one point behind leaders Arsenal and Liverpool, there is no reason that Manchester City will not be champions yet again come late May. Lower Dauphin students Rees Schrode and Brett DeBell disagree, with the latter believing that, “of course Liverpool will win it,” and Schrode saying, “it would be cool to see Arsenal win it, someone different for a change.”
Top Five
While Man City sit in the top spot, the competition for the next four gets more complicated. Arsenal and Liverpool will clearly finish second and third, but the order could truly be flip-flopped any way. The Gunners, in my opinion, have a more complete roster, especially with some of the injuries that the Reds have dealt with. Kai Havertz is in perfect form, Bukayo Saka is expectional, Declan Rice and Kai Havertz own the midfield and Saliba and Gabriel lock down opposing forces. Arsenal are a very underrated football club that could very well push for a title and I do think they will finish in second. Behind third-place Liverpool will be Tottenham, who currently sit six points behind Aston Villa but have two games in hand and a lineup that I think allows for them to garner just enough to surpass the Villains and finish fourth, putting Unai Emery’s side in fifth.
Top Scorer
This very well may be the hardest of these to pick, but I do think that Cole Palmer will claim the golden ball. “Cold” Palmer has been arguably the signing of the season with his clutch performances to keep Chelsea in the thick of the table. Currently tied with Erling Haaland for first, I think Palmer has a lot more opportunity to score down the road, especially considering that he has proved to be the Blues’ only consistent attacking threat, whereas City have countless other capable forwards that can score. Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa has been equally as impressive this season and does not get the recognition that he deserves. A few more games of bagging multiple goals could very well lift him to be the top scorer, but I do think that Palmer will ultimately win the award over his former Man City teammate Haaland.
Relegation
Currently in the bottom three places are Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United—a group that will not change. As poorly as Nottingham Forest have been recently, I was tempted to predict them to be relegated, but at the same time Luton have been playing equally as bad. All season Luton were able to rival any club in the Prem, using their small stadium’s crowd to their advantage, but they have lacked energy over the last week and I do not see them being able to scrape themselves out of the bottom. As for Burnley and Sheffield, it would take nothing short of a miracle for them to stay up and they should already begin preparation for the EFL Championship in 2024-25.
Promotion
Rising up from the EFL Championship to the Premier League will be the top two teams and then an additional squad that wins the promotion playoff. The first two securing automatic promotion will definitely be Leicester City and Ipswich Town who I think have been the best sides in the Championship this season. Winning the playoff, coming as a surprise, will be Norwich City FC. The Canaries, in my opinion, have been able to handle every Championship side this year except for first place Leicester (and oddly 20th Plymouth Argyle) and continue to own their cross-town rivals, Ipswich. I see them being the third team to venture back into the top tier, replacing Burnley, Luton and Sheffield as Norwich look for some Premier League success for the first time in the post-Teemu Pukki era.
