With the season now incoming fast, we thought we’d take a look at a few predictions for the season ahead.
Earlier, I spoke to Dan Wilcox about what he thinks is in store for Liverpool this year and I also spoke to Ste Hoare to get his thoughts on the Reds.
Here’s what Ste had to say:
Where will Liverpool finish in the league?
This is such a difficult question. There are six really good teams in the league all battling for the title and any combination of them at the top of the table is realistic. I personally think Manchester City will win the title but I’m not exactly 100% confident on that! As for Liverpool, I’m going to say third place behind City and Chelsea but again, I say that with not a lot of conviction!
Top goalscorer
With such a dynamic, attacking side, it’s tough to know who’ll bag the goals as I see perhaps four players getting into double figures in the league, then you can add in all the cup competitions too. I’m going to go with Roberto Firmino, though. I’m hoping we don’t see him out wide too much which will help him, plus I’m delighted that it looks like he’ll be taking penalties too. Don’t get me wrong, I have every faith in James Milner but strikers like Harry Kane and Zlatan Ibrahimovic padded their stats with penalties last season and Firmino should do the same for us.
Key Player
Provided Liverpool stick to their guns and actually keep him, I’ll go with Philippe Coutinho. Playing in a deeper role, I think he’ll flourish. He ended last season so well playing in midfield and I think he’ll carry on this year. He will get plenty of goals and assists from there.
One youngster to watch
Dominic Solanke. I think he’ll get a decent amount of game time in cup games and off the bench and I think he’ll impress. He has an eye for goal and his hold-up play will come in very handy for Liverpool.
Ben Woodburn and Trent Alexander-Arnold are super talented but I think both will rarely see the field. I know there’s buzz around Trent and rightly so, but I think once Nathaniel Clyne is fit, he’ll go back in at right-back.
Who needs to step up?
As it stands, Dejan Lovren is a first-choice player. I was hoping by now he’d be the first sub option at the back but that’s not the case and therefore, he needs to cut out the mad games he has. He and Joel Matip actually performed pretty well together at times last year but Lovren still has games where he just falls to bits. In a tight Premier League, we can’t afford him to have any of those real shockers.