Premier League predictions: 26 BBC pundits predict the top four | OneFootball

It's that time of the year again, with many football pundits revealing their Premier League predictions as the league gears up to return this weekend.

Rio Ferdinand recently shared his thoughts on the upcoming season, with a couple of pretty outlandish calls, but now the BBC's top 26 pundits have chipped in, all giving their predictions for who will finish in the top four this year.

Some are fairly straightforward, and the majority of the team agrees on who will be in the top four, but not what order they will be in. There are a few names, though, who throw a spanner in the works, with a couple of surprising inclusions.

So, without further ado, here's how BBC's 26 football pundits see the top four shaping up.

Considering how dominant they've been in recent years, it's no surprise at all that 25 of the 26 pundits think Manchester City will once again retain the Premier League, for a record-breaking fourth straight season.

No time in the English Football League's history has achieved the feat, but the overwhelming majority of BBC's punditry team believes they're about to do so, and it's hard to disagree. That didn't stop one member of the team from doing so, though, with Ellen White going against the grain, and not picking Pep Guardiola's side for the win.

England Women's record goalscorer tipped Arsenal to dethrone City, which while surprising at first glance, makes a little more sense considering White's long-term ties to the Gunners. You often see a little bit of bias play into these sorts of predictions, but considering the 34-year-old ended her career at the Cityzens, it's a surprising claim. Either way, picking anyone other than City to win the Premier League is a brave shout, and could leave the former striker looking very clever come May.

17 of the 26 agree on who will be in the top four

While there are quite a few varying predictions in the list, 17 of the 26 pundits actually agree on who will finish in the top four, but they're not quite on the same page in terms of what order the four sides will finish in.

The general consensus seems to be that Man City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool will finish in the Champions League qualification places, with seven believing City will win, with Arsenal finishing as runners-up, Liverpool taking third and United rounding out the four.

Eight have pretty similar predictions, just swapping Liverpool and United's places in the group.

All 26 agree that both Manchester City and Arsenal will finish in the top four

While there are a number of teams included in the predictions, the only two that appear in every single pundit's top four list, are Man City and Arsenal.

All but one think City will win the league, but even White doesn't have Guardiola's side lower than second, while the Gunners are nailed on to qualify for the Champions League according to every single one of the team.

The overwhelming majority have Mikel Arteta's side finishing as runners-up for the second year running, with 21 out of 26 pundits predicting so, while White has them finishing first, Fara Williams, Leon Osman and Shay Given tipping them to finish third and Steve Sidwell believing they'll drop to fourth this year.

Chelsea only appear in three of the predictions

Despite spending hundreds of millions of pounds over the last 12 months, there aren't many who expect Chelsea to be one of the best four sides in England this season, with the Blues appearing in just three of the 26 predictions.

Williams, Glenn Murray and Danny Gabbidon are the only ones who seem to have faith that Chelsea will turn things around this year, with shouts that they'll finish second, third and fourth, coming from each pundit respectively.

Considering the struggles the team suffered last season, finishing 12th in the league, and with a brand-new manager in Mauricio Pochettino taking charge this campaign, it's no surprise that the majority of the pundits don't expect the Blues to be up there this year, but time will tell on how well that will age.

Two of the pundits think Aston Villa will qualify for the Champions League

After their impressive end to last season following Unai Emery's appointment, a couple of predictions have Aston Villa taking another step forward under the former Arsenal manager and qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in decades.

The Villans finished seventh last season, with Emery replacing Steven Gerrard as manager midway through the year, but both White and Stephen Warnock (a former Villa player) believe they're going to continue to improve this season and break into the top four.

It's hard to see the club doing so, with the top of the table just being so deep, but when you consider the incredible business that Villa have done in the transfer market this summer, with Moussa Diaby, Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans arriving at Villa Park, it isn't completely out of the realm of possibility.

Only three pundits think Newcastle will remain a top-four side this year

Last season, under Eddie Howe, Newcastle United sealed a return to the Champions League for the first time in over 20 years after an impressive year where the club had one of the best defences in England.

It seems, almost no one believes the Magpies have what it takes to repeat that feat, though, with only Given (a former Newcastle man), Chris Waddle and Pat Nevin tipping the club to once again finish in the top four when all is said and done this season.

The former goalkeeper predicted the club to finish fourth again, while Waddle and Nevin both believe they'll take a step forward, finishing third.

Considering they've now got European football to contend with, alongside the domestic tournaments, it does seem likely that Howe's side will experience a bit of a fall-off compared to last season, but with some astute business being done this summer, and the likes of Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes continuing to improve the club's squad, it's surprising that so many of the pundits don't have faith in the team to replicate last year's success.

The 26 BBC pundits and their top four predictions