The campaign just gone saw City battle Arsenal for the crown on the final day, an enticing race for Europe and a record number of goals.
For many players, Euro 2024 and Copa America is next on the agenda over the summer before pre-season with their respective clubs.
However, Adrian Durham and The Mirror journalist Darren Lewis were on hand to preview next season with some interesting forecasts.
“Do you want a bold prediction for next year?” Kick Off host Durham asked to Lewis and Danny Murphy. “Chelsea are going to win the title.”
This was met with an almost stunned silence and he added: “I take it nobody agrees? Do you think no chance, honestly?”
Chelsea ended the season strongly with a sixth-place finish to qualify for the Europa Conference League, although they will play in the Europa League if City win the FA Cup.
The Blues showed significant improvement from the prior campaign in which they finished in a dismal 12th spot, with Cole Palmer named the Premier League Young Player of the Season with 22 goals.
However, Mauricio Pochettino’s exit and Enzo Maresca’s arrival will certainly shake things up.
Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali chose to sever ties with the Argentine and will hope their decision is wise.
The coming weeks are set to prove crucial to their success in the new campaign with more transfers surely on the cards.
Despite this, Durham believes that Chelsea could take the Premier League crown for themselves next summer, something they haven’t done since 2017.
He also had another prediction to make: “The other thing I think is, if they all stay together, [Crystal] Palace will challenge for top four.”
Palace sat 15th in the table and just five points above the relegation zone when Roy Hodgson stepped down as manager in February.
Oliver Glasner was named as his replacement and guided the Eagles through a very impressive run of form in the season run-in.
The south London outfit won six of their final seven games but such form could see them face a long summer of interest in some of their best talents.
Along with Jean-Philippe Mateta, Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze have been excellent in front of goal under Glasner, with the duo scoring a combined ten goals and providing six assists.
But should they keep hold of their key players, then Champions League football could beckon for them as per Durham’s prediction.
One final bold call on the show came from Lewis about Aston Villa after their incredible season that saw them finish fourth.
“I’ll throw one from left-field. I think, given the finance they have and the manager they have, [Unai] Emery could build a side to challenge for the title. Not win it, challenge for it.
“My argument for that is this. Liverpool came from 25 points off the pace to challenge for the title from nowhere, Arsenal were fighting for fourth place one minute, suddenly they’re challenging for the title. They didn’t have the squad last year, they were better second time around.
“Also, Emery has a body of work if you look across everything he’s done, with Villarreal he took a team of rejects and got to the Champions League semi-final.
“He’s a winner, and if you give him the finance and you give him the team… Villa had three players out with ACL’s this season, am I right? They had a striker [Ollie Watkins] who was decent, who was turning in elite Premier League numbers this season.”
Emery’s first full season in charge at Villa has seen them qualify for the Champions League, beating Tottenham to the final top four spot.
They won five matches against the traditional top six, including both home and away at Arsenal, en route to an outstanding finish.
Watkins was their star man throughout the campaign having scored 19 goals and assisted another 13 in the Premier League.
Villa have the foundations to build upon their progress under Emery even further, with the title race now a touted prospect for them.
Meanwhile, Simon Jordan has also weighed in on the title race next season.
“Yeah, I’ve sort of put my colours to the mast, I think Arsenal will win the Premier League,” Jordan told talkSPORT. “I think there’s a natural progression.”
“I think ultimately you’ve gone from 84 points to 89 points.
“You look at the weaknesses and you go, ‘We’ve got a Champions League campaign which we were moderately successful in so we’ve proven that we’ve got a squad that’s capable of competing on two fronts.’
“A couple of improvements, the manager’s involvement, a couple of tactical decisions they got wrong in games against Aston Villa and over the Christmas period, and they’re in business.”
