I agree with almost everything
@Dummy Hoy said.
City is in their own tier. Liverpool and Spurs after that.
1. City. Might not be clearly the best 11, but with their depth, something out of the ordinary will have to happen for them to not win.
2. Liverpool. Can their front 3 hold up? Ox coming back is huge, but they haven't done anything to improve what was clearly the 2nd best team last season to make me think they can challenge City.
3. Spurs. As a fan, it's still hilarious to me that last year's team is the one that was the most successful since I've been following. Loved the ride, but there was a lot of luck involved. Their midfield was a joke last season, they bought Ndombele and Lo Celso, and now it's a strength. I'm cautiously very optimistic.
Then the 4-9 teams are the most fascinating to me. I think things could get really weird in this tier this season. And if Liverpool or Spurs have a couple of serious injuries, there's the possibility for a real goat rodeo.
4. Man U. Gun to my head, I think this is the team I'd pick, because of pure talent (Pogba is easily the best player in this tier), and somewhat due to reputation. But they're a mess and their coach seems incompetent. AWB is legit and fixes a huge problem for them defensively. Maguire helps too, but his value is more in his offense They'll miss Lukaku and Herrera. If Pogba is sold, they're in big trouble.
5. Leicester. They're Arsenal, without the history. Huge hole on defense, huge talent everywhere else.
6. Arsenal. They're Leicester, with more insufferable fans ;-) I don't get the Pepe signing. With the holes they have on defense, playing him with Obama and Lacazette is going to be suicide. Will be circling the Arsenal/West Ham games to watch this season.
7. Everton. Everton is going to Everton. The least volatile team in the group, I think. Iwobi is going to be very good for them, and will work nicely with Richard Arlison and Kean.
8. Wolves. The most volatile team in the group, I think. xG models had them as a top 6 team last season, but they struggled against inferior teams who parked the bus. If they can adapt to situations where they're the superior team, and they punt Europa, I think they can do damage. If they do neither of those things, they're going to have a rough season. They're not deep enough to compete in Europe right now.
9. Chelesa. Ok they finished 4th and got rid of their best player and manager. And a bunch of depth guys. That's not going to end well. But I like their plan of using the transfer ban (which they very likely could have won an appeal on) to give them cover to rebuild for a season.
They are who we thought they were / Comfortably mediocre:
Bournemouth
Palace
Southampton
Watford
Same, but with much more exciting games (echoing CellarDoor):
West Ham
Fighting for relegation:
Everyone else