EUROPE'S TOP FOUR LEAGUE PREDICTIONS

Soccer

Written by Aaron Cantin

Just like that, a new season across Europe begins on Friday. Unlike the top four North American leagues, the soccer off-season can be counted in weeks rather than months. This season will be different. The World Cup will begin in November pausing all leagues for over six weeks. This changes the approach for players. For example, Paul Pogba of Juventus has elected not to get knee surgery so he will be fit for the World Cup. Borussia Dortmund is in the search for another striker on loan after confirming new signing Sebastian Haller will be out until the end of October (half of the season compared to the first 8-10 matches).

Nonetheless, the favourites remain the same. Below I preview and predict who will be crowned champions of the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A. I will also predict the top four (champions league qualifications) and top scorer. Here we go.

Source (Background Photo): NLSA

ENGLISH PREMER LEAGUE

English Premier League 2022/23 winner odds

Manchester City Liverpool Tottenham Chelsea Manchester United Arsenal

-165 +250 +1200 +1600 +2800 +3500

Everyone starts from scratch, but certain teams are no doubt ahead of the pack with regard to their title chances. Manchester City secured last season's title by a single point, beating out Liverpool as the Reds came up just short down the stretch. Pep Guardiola's side is clearly the favourites to win the league again this season but will have stiff competition yet again as teams battle to take down the reigning champions.

Manchester City is unsurprisingly given the edge to win the league again this season, after topping the table in four of the last five campaigns. Liverpool, who finished one point back of City last season, are second favourites. Tottenham has third-best odds in Antonio Conte's first full season, while Chelsea is deemed fourth most likely to win it all after the Blues struggled through the preseason.

League Winner: Manchester City

Boring as can be, I know. There's just no other club with the justification to challenge Man City at this point. Adding Erling Haaland is a significant upgrade for an already deadly attack, even without Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, who both underperformed their expected goals in the last campaign. Kalvin Phillips is maybe the most unheralded transfer addition of the summer, as Man City made a midfield improvement whereas Liverpool — despite a more worrying midfield situation — did not. Kevin de Bruyne's preseason performances suggest another top campaign despite reaching 31 years old, and there are no real holes in this squad.

Champions League: Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal

Top Scorer: Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

LA LIGA

La Liga 2022/23 winner odds

Real Madrid Barcelona Atletico Madrid Sevilla

6/5 5/4 6/1 20/1

Spain’s La Liga begins on August 12th and the title battle may well be a two-way fight between Real Madrid and Barcelona yet again. Real claimed the top prize last term as they finished 13 points ahead of the Catalan giants. Los Blancos also head into the new campaign as European champions, but they may face a bit more resistance in their bid to secure a record-extending 36th crown in Spain’s top tier.

Barca improved after the arrival of club legend Xavi as manager last season, while Sevilla and Atletico Madrid shouldn’t necessarily be written off either.

League Winner: Barcelona

A bit of a surprise considering how far off the pace they were just one year ago and considering Real Madrid are European Champions yet again. But I believe the Catalan club has strengthened their squad enough with the likes of Rafinha and Robert Lewandowski to push them over the edge. Real Madrid will struggle to rely entirely on Karim Benzema for offence yet again.

Champions League: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal

Top Scorer: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)

BUNDESLIGA

Bundesliga 2022/23 winner odds

Bayern Munich RB Leipzig Borussia Dortmund Bayer Leverkusen

-700 +1000 +1000 +2000

Perennial champions Bayern Munich is the books’ sure-fire favourites this season, as high as -700 to maintain their stranglehold on a title they haven’t lost in well over a decade. It’s easy to see why, with Bayern dominating both the actual table and overall data last year in the German league. However, there have been some changes from last season, especially with league top scorer Robert Lewandowski leaving for Barcelona in the off-season, so as an outside play on RB Leipzig arguably presents the strongest title contenders to Bayern out of any team in the league this season.

Italian Domenico Tedesco took charge of Leipzig back in December of last year and did a fantastic job of changing this team’s fortunes around, taking them from 11th in the league in mid-December to the best team in the Bundesliga from January 1st on. If they can keep that same energy going into the new season, Leipzig may well end up being a dark horse for the title this year.

And then there is Borussia Dortmund. Hit with devastating news as club record-signing striker Sebastian Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer only weeks after acquiring him means he will miss the first half of the season at least. Dortmund has still drastically improved their squad this year, especially on defence where they were heavily lacking. Centre-back duo Nicolas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck will be a devastating duo and will surely maintain a consistency Dortmund has lacked over the past several years.

League Winner: Bayern Munich

No surprise here. Although Dortmund and Leipzig have both had terrific transfer windows, Bayern has done the same if not better. The signing of Sadio Mane is enough to make any Bayern faithful happy. Add defender Mathis De Ligt from Juventus and it is one of the best transfer windows the club has seen.

Champions League: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen

Top Scorer: Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)

Serie A

Serie A 2022/23 winner odds

​Inter Milan Juventus AC Milan Roma

at 7/4 at 15/8 at 4/1 at 8/1

While many of Europe’s top divisions look like one-horse races, that’s no longer the case in Italy. Juventus have seen their iron grip on the division broken in the last couple of years, with AC Milan wrestling the title off neighbours Inter last season.

Juve is trying to roll back the clock by resigning Paul Pogba to work under Max Allegri. Inter are looking to the past as well, moving to bring Romelu Lukaku back to the club after a 12-month absence.

Given that AC Milan hasn’t stood still this summer and Roma have produced arguably the coup of the window, Serie A is the most open of Europe’s Big Five leagues.

League Winner: Inter Milan

While this is likely to be an open race, I see Inter Milan as a worthy favourite. They were just two points off retaining their title last term, despite losing Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi and Antonio Conte the summer before. Simone Inzaghi took over in a tough spot and took Inter out of their Champions League group, pushed for the title and won the Coppa Italia. They were still the league’s top scorers without Lukaku, so the Nerazzurri look a scary prospect with the Belgian back leading the line.

Juventus have clearly improved with their signings, but it’s hard to see that being enough to close the 16-point gap between them and the title last season. AC Milan should also have a strong year, but they can’t match Inter’s game-changing signings of Lukaku and goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Champions League: Inter Milan, Juventus, AC Milan, AS Roma

Top Scorer: Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan)