Charlie Nicholas has reassessed his pre-season predictions after the opening weeks of the 2016/17 Premier League season.
With seven games played, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City sit top of the table, having won six of their matches so far, while Tottenham are the league's only remaining unbeaten side.
Having missed out on a place in Charlie's original top four, have Spurs done enough to make the grade this time around? Read on to find out...
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Charlie's original top-four v latest top-four prediction
| Charlie's original prediction | Charlie's latest prediction |
|---|---|
| 1. Man City | 1. Man City |
| 2. Arsenal | 2. Arsenal |
| 3. Man Utd | 3. Liverpool |
| 4.Liverpool | 4. Tottenham |
My original top four was Man City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool, but I would change that having watched the first few games of the season.
Man City still look really strong, despite the slip-up against Spurs, although I do think Pep may have concerns about some of his players now.
Aleksandar Kolarov is not a centre-half and he may even have worries about him playing at left-back too. He is great on the ball, but looks weak defensively. Gael Clichy is the same, and I don't know his preference between Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta.
John Stones has been on the bench a few times too so it seems to be a confusing picture at the back. Still, despite all that, they're top of the Premier League!
Arsenal stay second because they have looked good in recent weeks, securing a massive win at home to Chelsea and following that with a narrow victory over Burnley.
Sometimes when you're not playing well, you just need to grind out a result and that's what Arsenal did at Turf Moor. You could see the smiles on the Arsenal players' faces at the end because you knew they thought it was a big three points.
I've changed my mind on Spurs, who do look like a top-four side. Reassessing the situation now, I would probably go Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs in fourth.
Mauricio Pochettino's side have crashed the idea Man City were marching to the title. Every system is vulnerable and Tottenham showed you can still play on the front foot against Guardiola's team.
As for Liverpool, we all enjoyed Jurgen Klopp on Monday Night Football, but his team is prone to mood swings defensively. For me, they are not strong enough to win the title, but I'm tipping them to make the top four with no European football.
After that, I am dropping Man United to fifth having originally put them third. Jose Mourinho is stuck because he has spent a fortune on big-money buys, and the big-money buys, especially Paul Pogba, are still trying to adapt.
Pogba does not understand - at least he doesn't appear to - that he can play his part in a disciplined team. It's all about him and Zlatan Ibrahimovic linking up at the moment, and his constant shots from 30 yards.
If he was an academy youngster coming into the team, people would be screaming and moaning at him but because he's new and £89m, you let him off. He is allowed to just do what he wants. It will click eventually, and it might click soon, but I've got a feeling it will take a bit of time.
Chelsea and Leicester City have been poor in comparison to the other clubs and I think a top-half finish will represent a good season for Claudio Ranieri's side.
I expect Chelsea to get stronger but they have issues there and have badly missed John Terry in recent games. I would peg them about seventh, fighting with teams like Southampton.
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