Yep! It’s that time again. That time when your favorite teams go head-to-head against each other every weekend battling for the title; that time when even the most beloved friendships turn into heated rivalries on Sundays; that time when you sit down with the family and gather around the television to watch everyone’s favorite sport! You guessed it. It’s the underwater hockey season again (look it up: it’s a real thing)!
No, of course I’m talking about the Premier League, the top division of English football and arguably the second best league in world soccer. Everyone has an opinion; everyone has hot takes; everyone has predictions. So embark on an adventure with me to discover the wonders of accredited analysts’ predictions along with special guests’ hot takes on the 2024-25 Premier League Season.
Mr. Luca Shipley ’26
Luca Shipley plays winger for Jesuit and has scored his fair share of goals. He possesses incredible ball knowledge and soccer prowess. But, as a supporter of Liverpool, he is undoubtedly crazy. See Luca’s picks:
Predictions for this Season:
“I think Liverpool will have a great season this year, I feel like we will finish in first just edging out Manchester City in the final weeks. My top four predictions are as follows: 1. Liverpool, 2. Man City, 3. Arsenal, 4. Aston Villa.”
“My hot take is Man United finishing 9th in Premier League.”
Mr. Williams (Counseling)
Coach Williams is a renowned soccer analyst and coach. He has led some of Jesuit’s greatest JV soccer teams and, in his spare time, plays against them to show them what real soccer used to look like. And although they say to “leave the football before the football leaves you” and although you can hear his knees creak and groan when he walks, Coach Williams keeps playing! His passion for soccer is like no other. His favorite team is Aston Villa which illustrates how passion can outweigh logic. Here are his predictions:
Predictions for this Season:
“This Aston Villa squad is clearly comfortable being an underdog, but this year they’ll have to change that mindset. Teams will be better prepared and wins will be harder to come by. If I’m being realistic I think the Villains will struggle to make the top five again this year. I’m hoping that this team (with veterans Ollie Watkins and John McGinn alongside newcomer Amadou Onana) will take care of business against weaker opponents, pull off at least one upset in the Champions League, and finish mid-table in May.”
“My table picks:
- Man City – I hate it but also haven’t seen anyone challenge their authority in the league.
- Liverpool – Look for them to pull an Arsenal and lead the league for most of the season until Man City decides to come on.
- Arsenal – An emotional side with a bit too much expectation … they’ll have a great season that won’t be quite enough.
- Tottenham – I like Postecoglou but he doesn’t have the defensive players to push the team into the top three. Solanke could be the key to next season’s Champion’s League berth.
- Newcastle – Tactical and dangerous. A lot of teams figured them out last year but they had a ton of injuries so it was a much easier job.
- Brentford – My surprise pick this season. This team grinds and can beat most opponents on any given day. They’ve been waiting for a breakout year and this might be it.
- Chelsea – A true dumpster fire but they have too many good players to ignore.
…
- Villa – Disappointing, but watch out for 2026 when they win the Treble!”
Mr. Marcelo Elizondo ’25
Mr. Marcelo Elizondo RodrÃguez Treviño Bonetti has been an esteemed Jesuit soccer player, playing two seasons as a goalkeeper and holding the astonishing achievement of being the only left-footed player named Marcelo Elizondo to play goalkeeper for Jesuit Dallas. What a legend! His ball knowledge is mediocre and his jokes are even worse. Without further ado, let’s see what this star of the game has to say!
Predictions for this Season:
“I think my favorite club, Manchester City, will pull off the 5-peat and win the league again because of how much firepower they have on the squad. Plus, adding the club legend Gundogan is only going to make them better. As for the top six, I think it will be:
1. Man City, 2. Liverpool, 3. Arsenal, 4. Brighton, 5. Newcastle, and 6. Aston Villa.”
Mr. Berry (English)
The only member of the Jesuit community to be bold enough to admit his liking toward Arsenal, Mr. Berry, is a seasoned soccer mind. Having learned to subdue his hopes, Mr. Berry has been hardened by the harsh reality of Premier League soccer. After the disappointing (and honestly traumatic) results of the past two seasons, Mr. Berry gives his predictions on the 2024/25 Season:
Predictions for this Season:
“Disappointing? For sure; of course I wanted Arsenal to win. Traumatic? I don’t think that’s really how it felt for me. Two seasons ago, it was really disappointing to see how, after accumulating a solid lead at the top of the table (I think we were up by 8-11 points at some point), we did not sustain the great form we had in the first half of the season and lost it to City–that was tough. I was lot prouder of the team last year. Being able to take it to the last day of the season is something that I’ve never seen Arsenal be able to do since I became a fan in 2013. I’ve always heard about ‘The Invincibles,’ Thierry Henry, and the Arsenal of years past, but it feels really exciting around the club now to see a group take shape that can actually challenge for a title.”
“Predictions for the season? I am obviously going to be pulling for Arsenal to win the title, but I don’t ‘expect’ that to happen. We’ll have to see how it goes. I think it’s between Man City and Arsenal, like last year. The question will be if Arsenal can reproduce last season’s form and somehow accrue a few more points. I think the other two teams in the top four could be Liverpool and … who knows. Chelsea has some exciting players. Villa was really good last year … but I think UCL will be too much for them to balance with the Premier League, and their table position will suffer. Newcastle was broken by having to balance two competitions, but they’re maybe ready to push again. Man U…I do not see top four for them this year. ”
Mr. Batik (Technology)
Mr. Batik boasts one of the greatest football minds in all of Jesuit. Although he supports Tottenham, Mr. Batik understands the game better than most, especially how to lose games that you should have won. But, as a Tottenham fan, he has been dealt numerous reality checks over the years. Similar to his archnemesis Mr. Berry, Mr. Batik truly understands what heartbreak and loss are (losing the 2019 Champions League final after a miraculous run as well as being the only club to finish above manager Pep Guardiola in the league without winning the title). Is it Tottenham’s season to prove what Angeball is all about or will it be more of the same for Tottenham? Find out Mr. Batik’s take below.
Predictions for this Season:
“So Tottenham is probably in the second year of a, probably [four-year] squad transition. One of the consequences of the club’s decision to build a new stadium, almost 10 years ago, was that they didn’t do a lot of transfers for a really long time. So, the season they were in the Champions League Final, the next year, there was almost no changes on the team. The club couldn’t buy players because they couldn’t financially [afford] it. But now that they have the new stadium and an enormous amount of revenue from it, they’ve started to undergo sort of a rebuild of the team, and with a new manager who’s exciting.”
“Tottenham probably won’t do better than top six. I mean, if they were fourth, that would be amazing. But the difficulty is that there’s at least three or four clubs that are equally as good as them, and then there’s three clubs that are better than all of those clubs. So you know, City, Liverpool, [and] Arsenal are just better than like the next bundle of teams: like Spurs, Chelsea, United, Brighton, Aston Villa, and Newcastle. So that sort of second half of the top half is really competitive. And then the rest of the league is really competitive. So top six would be great and top four would be fantastic, but probably beyond their ability this year.”
“For the top six teams, it’ll probably be exactly the same as it was last year. So, City, Arsenal, Liverpool – because City will just win the league. They’re just too good. And then, I’d like to hope that we finish fourth. But I would not be surprised if Chelsea managed to pull together like some kind of quality and finish fifth. I don’t think United is top five, though. They might be top six this year but they have a lot of problems, more than the Spurs do in my opinion.”
“So, my hot take is that Arsenal [is] one bad injury away from being a mid-table team. So if Ødegaard or Rice suffers long-term injuries, I don’t know if they have enough squad depth. If they lost one of those key players they would be in a lot of trouble”
Mr. Segal (Counseling)
Mr. Segal is a true football genius, even though his propensity towards Manchester United raises some eyebrows. Sure, he can break down the complex intricacies of the beautiful game with ease, but he’s also well-versed in the ancient art of watching his favorite team make life difficult for themselves. While Manchester United’s recent form may occasionally leave him questioning his life choices, Mr. Segal remains optimistic — because after all, you can’t lose if you’ve already accepted gut-wrenching, heart-aching, mind-boggling, and utterly depressing disappointment! But, similar to Man United’s playing style, Mr. Segal’s game intelligence will leave you lost for words.
Predictions for this Season:
“Let’s be bold. Let’s say Arsenal over City. So, Arsenal, [Manchester] City, [Manchester] United, and then Liverpool. I picked Arsenal because I don’t want City to win again, and because they were really close last year. It’s [also] just that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. City [also] can’t finish any lower than second because they have the best team that money can buy. I picked United because I want them to do better than Liverpool. Liverpool also didn’t do a lot of business in the transfer window so I don’t know that I would say Liverpool is a hugely improved team.”
“They also have a new manager, who seems pretty good, but I don’t know that he’s a Jurgen Klopp level. I think Jurgen Klopp is maybe the best manager of this era. It’s, it’s obviously either him or Pep Guardiola, right? But he had fewer resources to work with.”
“Additionally, I think if United is healthy – which is a big ‘if’ because they seem to rarely be healthy – they could actually do something because they finally signed a defensive midfielder, which is a position that they’ve lacked for about 12 years now. And I don’t know why it took them this long to figure it out.”
“But they have one now. They have a couple of good goal scorers. But, I think it depends on if Hojlund has a really good season; he needs to be in the 15 to 20 goal range.”
“Also, I think Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo has to play well. But, if those things were to happen, I think they could sneak into third or fourth place for sure.”
“And one last prediction I have is that Marcus Rashford will return to form and he’ll have at least 25 goal contributions (that’s goals plus assists). So, two years ago, Marcus Rashford was one of the best wingers in the Premier League, and then last year he wasn’t. And I still haven’t figured out why. So I’m hoping that that means that last year was the anomaly and this year he will be significantly better. Although, if you watched him against Brighton. It doesn’t look like that’s the case.”
“But, I’d say my hottest take is that I’m definitely the best FIFA player on Jesuit’s campus – EAFC player to use the updated nomenclature. It’s true.”
Tune into The Roundup for more Premier League news and reviews!
