With the League starting on Saturday with the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium and Bristol v Brighton at Ashton Gate, it is time for my annual predictions.

As usual, they are based on the following six parameters: squad stability during the transfer window, youth/experience balance in the squad, quality of players signed during the transfer window, training environment quality, squad depth, and manager’s ability.

So, here are the final ratings:

1st: Arsenal, Chelsea 19

3rd: Man City 17

4th: Man Utd 16

5th Reading 14

6th Brighton 13

7th Bristol, Liverpool, West Ham 12

10th Tottenham 11

11th Birmingham, Everton 10

So what does it mean?

I think Arsenal and Chelsea will probably end up in the Champions League places with Man City and Man Utd quite close behind them.

Reading are at the top of the middle table teams.

At the bottom of the table, I can see up to six teams who could potentially be involved in the relegation battle: Brighton, Bristol, Liverpool, West Ham, Tottenham, Birmingham and Everton.

Note, last season I had Bristol as one of the team fighting to avoid relegation and they finished comfortably in mid-table position.

As we know, it ended up as a straight fight between Everton and Yeovil with the Glovers demoted two divisions by the FA.

So any of the six teams I rate as possibles for the relegation battle might actually end up fighting for a top four place.

It simply depends on how they gel as seen with Bristol.

We will see in June how goods these predictions are.