Premier League predictions: The bottom 10

With the new Premier League season about to get underway, most fans and pundits are speculating over who will win the title and finish in the top four. But Premier League soccer isn’t about trophies and Champions League spots for everyone. For many teams, it’s simply about survival.

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With that in mind, we bring you FC Yahoo’s previews and predictions for what the lower half of the table will look like – and which teams seem the least likely to remain in the Premier League – when the season wraps up next May.

20. Watford

Having just been promoted to the Premier League, Watford is already most people’s favorite to go back down. The club has made a host of signings since winning promotion, most notably acquiring winger Steven Berghuis from AZ Alkmaar and midfielder Etienne Capoue from Tottenham. But new manager Quique Sanchez Flores will need to get his new signings up to speed in a hurry.

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In the run-up to last season’s second-place finish in the Championship, the Hornets had a habit of giving up goals and coming from behind. It’s a practice that won’t serve them well in the Premier League. If Watford is to have any hope of staying up, Flores will also have to get his defense sorted. Otherwise the club, which is owned by the same family that owns Udinese in Serie A and Granada in La Liga, could be headed right back down to the Championship.

19. Leicester City

Nigel Pearson helped Leicester engineer the great escape last season. But having avoided the drop, the club’s owners are looking to progress beyond a manager whose relationship with the board was said to be "no longer viable." Part of the problem stems from an unfortunate incident when the club was on a goodwill tour of sponsor country Thailand. Several players, including Pearson's son, were caught up in a disgraceful scandal involving what headlines proclaimed "racist orgy." The players were summarily dismissed and it’s hardly surprising Pearson soon followed.

Enter Claudio Ranieri. The veteran Italian manager, known as "The Tinkerman," has the experience to potentially bring stability to the King Power Stadium. But although there is excitement over the signing of Japanese striker Shinji Okazaki, who joined from Mainz, Ranieri will still have to find a way to compensate for the loss of last season’s midfield conductor, Esteban Cambiasso, or the Foxes may find themselves bound for a return to the Championship.

18. Aston Villa

It was far from easy-going for Aston Villa last season. The Birmingham outfit flirted with relegation and following the sale of Christian Benteke to Liverpool is likely to struggle again. It’s difficult to overstate how important Benteke was to Villa. Since making his debut for the midlands outfit in 2012, Benteke scored 42 and set up eight of the 117 goals Villa scored in the Premier League during that period. In short, the man who was responsible for nearly half of Villa’s goals in the past three seasons is gone, and there’s no one who looks remotely capable of replacing him.

If there was a bright spot last season for Villa, it was the emergence of Jack Grealish. The 19-year-old who keeps his socks rolled down to emulate George Best was a revelation in the latter half of the season and it will be interesting to see what he makes of a full season. With Fabian Delph having also departed to join Manchester City, Villa is in need of a new midfield talisman and fans are hoping Grealish fits the bill. But Grealish’s potential aside, following the losses of Benteke and Delph, avoiding relegation will be the first order of business for manager Tim Sherwood.

17. Bournemouth

The winner of last season’s Championship, Bournemouth heads into its Premier League debut riding high after a thrill ride of a league campaign that saw the club clinch promotion on the final day of the season. Manager Eddie Howe says he intends to emulate Swansea City as an example of a small team that’s found stability and success in the Premiership.

And while in the early going the club will have to make do without the talented Harry Arter, who picked up an injury while on Republic of Ireland duty, there is excitement around the signings of midfielders Christian Atsu and Joshua King. An injection of pace in midfield might be just the thing to inspire a team that’s used to scoring goals and winning matches to keep doing so. Otherwise, Bournemouth’s lack of top-flight experience could easily lead to them slugging it out in a relegation battle.

16. Norwich City

Norwich’s most recent stint in the top flight ended in 2014, with goals proving a difficult commodity to come by for the Canaries. That demotion saw the departure of manager Chris Hughton and the promotion of Alex Neil from academy boss to first-team manager.

Playing in the Championship under Neil, Norwich has added a sharper edge to the attack. The emergence of winger Nathan Redmond last season was key to propelling Norwich up the table and back to the Premier League. If the England Under-21 can pick up where he left off as the Canaries' leading assist-maker last season, they should just about be capable of finishing outside the relegation zone and securing what would be a second consecutive season of Premier League soccer.

15. West Bromwich Albion

With the ink on his contract barely dry, striker Rickie Lambert hit the ground running at West Brom, scoring twice in a 4-0 friendly win over Bristol Rovers. The 33-year-old former Liverpool man will provide needed cover to last season’s leading scorer, Saido Berahino, who is currently being linked with a move to several other Premier League clubs.

Albion has already rejected an offer from Villa to sign Joleon Lescott and the spine of last season’s team looks set to remain mostly intact. This gives Tony Pulis a good foundation on which to build. With more incoming signings expected to follow Lambert, Albion and Pulis will look to avoid getting sucked into a relegation battle and achieve another relatively comfortable mid-table finish.

14. Sunderland

Although initially appointed as caretaker manager, veteran Dutch tactician Dick Advocaat has remained in charge after helping Sunderland narrowly avoid the drop last season. The club has made intriguing acquisitions in the window so far, namely the signing of Jeremain Lens from Dynamo Kiev and Younes Kaboul from Tottenham.

Lens and Kaboul join a squad that also includes journeyman striker Jermain Defoe and perennial Premier League underachiever Jack Rodwell. If Advocaat can strike the right balance between his salty veterans and new recruits, he should be able to beat the drop again and leave the Black Cats with a measure of stability in what is expected to be his final season before retiring.

13. West Ham United

As West Ham heads into its final season at Upton Park, manager Slaven Bilic will be hoping to take the storied East London outfit out on a high note. But complicating matters for the Croatian manager will be having to contend with European competition, with West Ham having been awarded a spot in the Europa League for winning the Premier League Fair Play table.

The squad on paper should be good enough to avoid getting caught in a relegation battle. And the signing of Dimitri Payet from Marseille should add a new dimension to the Hammers' attack, as Bilic attempts to move away from the long-ball game favored by his predecessor Sam Allardyce toward the more entertaining brand of attacking soccer the East London faithful like to call the “West Ham way.” Provided the rigors of the Europa League don’t prove too taxing, a mid-table finish should be well within the reach of the Hammers.

12. Stoke City

Under manager Mark Hughes, the Potters managed a second consecutive ninth-place finish last season. They might have finished even higher were it not for a season-ending injury to attacking talisman Bojan Krkic. The good news is that the former Barcelona striker will be back this season. If the diminutive dynamo can pick up where he left off and form some kind of on-field partnership with fellow ex-Blaugrana Ibrahim Affellay, there could be legitimate cause for excitement around the Britannia Stadium.

While the club lost keeper Asmir Begovic to Chelsea, the arrival of veteran goaltender Shay Given should maintain stability in the back. Although the increasingly competitive nature of the league may make it difficult to crack the top 10 for a third season running, Hughes should feel confident about attaining a mid-table finish.

11. Newcastle United

If there’s one club that seems to consistently fail to live up to expectations in the Premier League, it’s Newcastle. The Magpies endured another tumultuous campaign last season, as manager Alan Pardew resigned under pressure from supporters and assistant manager John Carver assumed control and managed to keep the club from being relegated.

The onus will be on new manager Steve McClaren to bring a measure of stability to St. James' Park. Much will depend on whether the former England manager can keep hold of last season’s leading scorer Papiss Cisse and how quickly he can integrate new signings Georginio Wijnaldum and Aleksandar Mitrovic into the team. However, with McClaren’s experience and the signings being made, Newcastle looks well positioned to avoid another relegation battler and achieve a solid mid-table finish.