Rio Ferdinand expects a significant improvement from Manchester United this season, but cannot see them crashing the top four just yet.
The battle for European places should be fierce this season, as the Red Devils and Tottenham both look to bounce back from their bottom half finishes last campaign and challenge towards the top of the table again.
Picking a top eight is going to be fearsomely tricky, although a lot of onlookers seem to be comfortable with picking this season’s champions.
Liverpool were dominant in the Premier League last season and with summer signings including Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, the Reds are hot favourites to defend their title.
Ferdinand expects the Premier League trophy to remain at Anfield and the top four to stay as it was last season.
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The Manchester United legend fancies his old club to climb the table from their 15th-place finish last time round and at least crack the top eight.
‘I’m going to go Liverpool to win the league. Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea,’ he said on Rio Ferdinand Presents of his top four picks.
‘I think United are top eight, anything above that is ridiculous, like wow, wow, wow compared to what it was. Biggest improvement this season will be Man United.’
The former centre-back also dished out predictions for the top scorer and fancies Manchester City’s star forward to shine again.
‘I’m going to go [Erling] Haaland,’ he predicted. ‘I’ve said [Alexander] Isak if he joins Liverpool but I don’t think he’s going to go there, so I’ve gone Haaland.’
On the relegation battle, Ferdinand expects more pain for the promoted teams after back-to-back seasons of all three going straight back down.
Of the three he fancies Burnley to have the best chance of survival, but does not see it happening.
‘Burnley, Sunderland and Leeds all go back down for me,’ he said. ‘Scott Parker maybe could get his team out of it…maybe.’
Premier League 2025/26 odds
Title winners
Liverpool 13/8
Arsenal 9/4
Man City 10/3
Chelsea 8/1
Man Utd 22/1
Newcastle 50/1
Tottenham 50/1
Top scorer
Erling Haaland 6/4
Alexander Isak 6/1
Viktor Gyokeres 6/1
Mohamed Salah 13/2
Cole Palmer 14/1
Joao Pedro 14/1
Hugo Ekitike 17/1
Ollie Watkins 25/1
Benjamin Sesko 25/1
Relegation
Burnley 1/4
Sunderland 1/3
Leeds 11/10
Brentford 3/1
Wolves 3/1
West Ham 11/2
Odds courtesy of Betfair
The season gets underway on Friday night with Liverpool beginning their title defence at home to Bournemouth.
The eye-catching fixture of the opening weekend sees Manchester United host Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.
