Aston Villa for the top four and Premier League predictions for 2024

This has been a very exciting season in the Premier League, as Aston Villa prepares to replace Newcastle United in the top four.

The competition is the most exciting in the world, and it always delivers above its promise of good football and competitiveness until the end of every season.

England’s top flight has been one of the most-watched and followed for decades and there are established teams in the competition.

Previously, we all knew about the “top-four” comprising of Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

It has since expanded to the top six to accommodate the rise of Manchester City and Tottenham. Over the last few seasons, we have seen other clubs try their best to destroy the traditional other on the league table.

Last season, Brighton finished sixth in the standings, above Tottenham and Chelsea, while Newcastle finished inside the top four at the expense of Liverpool.

This unpredictability makes Premier League fans buy tickets for the best seats in every game to support their teams and get some entertainment.

After some inconsistency, Manchester City is back in form, and the return of Kevin de Bruyne makes them automatic favourites to win the league for a fourth consecutive time, which has never been done before.

There is still a long way to go before the league season finishes in England, but here are some predictions to look forward to.

Aston Villa to make the top four

One of the most underrated managers in the world is Unai Emery, and the Spaniard is doing a superb job at Aston Villa.

After struggling at Arsenal and PSG, it is now clear that Emery is a coach who relish a challenge and loves to manage underdogs.

He did wonders at Almeria and consistently qualified for the Champions League at Valencia despite their many problems.

He has made Villa one of England's most effective teams, and we believe he will take them to the Champions League in a few short years.

Villa’s players have accepted Emery’s style of play and know he is a manager who can help them win trophies.

As they continue to follow his instructions and win more games than most of the traditional top four clubs, we expect them to remain inside the top four by the end of the season.

Manchester City to win the title

Manchester City has won the last three Premier League titles and five of the previous six English crowns, so we thought they no longer had the hunger to be the champions of England.

However, as they struggled for form and lost Kevin de Bruyne alongside Erling Haaland to injuries, the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal failed to open up a wide gap between them.

This means City is still within touching distance of the top of the Premier League table, which is bad news for their rivals.

We already witnessed what the return of De Bruyne can provide to City as he came off the bench to score and provide an assist against Newcastle United in a recent game.

Haaland will soon return, and even Jurgen Klopp admits everyone has been worried about the return of De Bruyne.

City has not lost any player to the AFCON and the Asian Cup this month, so they have a full team and might soon embark on a long winning run.

That will make it inevitable for them to be champions, and we expect them to win the league title again in the summer.

Liverpool to take the title race to the final day

Liverpool and Manchester City have been the two main clubs in the Premier League since Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola came to England.

Both managers did battle in Germany with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, with Pep getting the better of Jurgen for most of it.

The German knew he had to stop it when both managers came to England, and it took him a while to defeat the Spanish manager.

Liverpool won the title in 2020 by being by far the best club in England, but in 2019, they took the title race to the last day of the season and needed City to lose for them to be champions.

Liverpool collected a stunning 97 points, but it was not enough, as City won the title with 98 points.

That season set the standard for the Premier League and established both clubs as the main rivals in the competition.

In the 2021/2022 season, Liverpool almost won the quadruple and took the Premier League title race to the last day of the season again.

This time, they collected 92 points, but City got 93 points, thanks to a stunning comeback win against Aston Villa on the final day of the campaign, and we expect a similar outcome in this campaign.

Both clubs are having a good season as Liverpool bounces back from being terrible last term to compete to be the champions of England.

The Reds top the standings now, but we expect that position to change hands as the season progresses until the final day of the campaign.

Mohamed Salah to win the Golden Boot

Erling Haaland blew everyone away in the race to win the Premier League’s Golden Boot last season as the Norwegian goal machine scored so many goals.

Haaland was simply too good for a striker who was in his first season in England. Harry Kane came second in the chart.

However, Haaland has been plagued by injuries in the last few weeks heading to months, while Kane now plays for Bayern Munich in the German top flight.

This means a new man could emerge as the leading goal scorer in the Premier League at the end of this campaign, and it might be Salah.

Liverpool rejected a big money offer from Saudi Arabia for the Egyptian king in the summer, and he has shown appreciation for that.

Before leaving for the AFCON, he had drawn level on goals scored with Haaland on 14 goals from 20 league matches, he also had 8 assists.

If Salah returns from the competition and continues his blistering run of form, we expect him to challenge Haaland for the top scorer award.

If the Norwegian cannot shake off his injury problems, that could help the Liverpool man to top the charts.

Manchester United to sack Ten Hag

Erik Ten Hag is the most likely manager to get sacked soon among the coaches in the top Premier League club.

The Dutchman had a fantastic first year at the club and was hailed as one of the best coaches that United has ever had.

He broke several records along the way as his team reached the final of the FA Cup and won the Carabao Cup, while making a return to the top four.

United has since been impressing as one of the Premier League’s biggest clubs that they are but this season has not been the same.

The Dutchman is dealing with a lot of negativity and might be very close to losing his dressing room.

His treatment of Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo, and his insistence on using the ineffective Antony despite the Brazilian’s terrible form, will likely cost him his job eventually.

But if his team gets back to form and begins to win games consistently, and perhaps, win another trophy, he will likely get another season on the bench.