Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have made their Premier League predictions for the season, with both agreeing Arsenal will win the title but little else in common.
Opening weekend results
The first weekend of the Premier League campaign saw Manchester United and Tottenham suffer heavy defeats to Hull and Brentford respectively. Arsenal began their title defence with a convincing win over Coventry, while Manchester City came from behind to beat Bournemouth.
Liverpool snatched a late point in a 2-2 draw at Newcastle, and Chelsea overcame Fulham in an entertaining 3-2 victory on Monday night. With every side now having played, there is less than a week remaining in the summer transfer window for teams to strengthen their squads.
Title and top-four picks
Both former players tipped Arsenal for a second consecutive title, with Neville saying: "They're way out in front." However, they could not agree on the rest of the top places.
Neville believes Chelsea's summer recruitment and the arrival of Xabi Alonso can lift them from 10th last season to second. "Just purely because of the fact that they've got no European football," he explained. "If they keep Enzo Fernandez, with Moises Caicedo in midfield, with that front three, and they're only playing 45 games, they're going to amass an enormous amount of points."
He added: "That's based upon the fact that they're going to have more free weeks, they're not going to have the injury pressures, they're not going to have the travelling that comes with European football, and the mental fatigue that comes with that. I think they'll just edge past Manchester City."
In typical fashion, both tipped their ex-club to finish above the other's in fourth place. Neville said: "I can't separate Man Utd and Liverpool in fourth place, I genuinely have no idea. I think City are in a better position than United. At the moment, I'm not convinced by United or Liverpool, but I do think they'll finish fourth and fifth."
Carragher said: "I think Liverpool would want more, but I think just looking at the Chelsea situation, Liverpool where they are right now, I don't see any way they'd be in the top two, and I don't see any way they can mount a title challenge."
Relegation predictions
At the other end of the table, Carragher surprisingly tipped Sunderland for relegation. The Black Cats finished seventh in their first campaign back in the top flight last season to earn a Europa League place.
"The fact that they've got European football, they're going to be doing a lot of Thursday-Sunday," Carragher explained. "I think Sunderland last season reminded me a little bit of Sheffield United under Chris Wilder, where they came up and had a really brilliant season, finished high up the table but a lot of the games, like Sunderland, you win by the odd goal. I'm not saying it's luck but their underlying numbers had them not far away from relegation."
Neville picked the three promoted sides - Hull, Coventry and Ipswich - to go straight back down, but feels Fulham under Alvaro Arbeloa could also be in trouble.
Full predictions
Gary Neville's predictions: 1. Arsenal, 2. Chelsea, 3. Man City, 4. Man Utd, 5. Liverpool, 6. Brighton. European contenders: Spurs. Relegated: Coventry, Hull, Ipswich. Relegation threatened: Fulham.
Jamie Carragher's predictions: 1. Arsenal, 2. Man City, 3. Chelsea, 4. Liverpool, 5. Man Utd, 6. Spurs. European contenders: Brentford. Relegated: Ipswich, Hull, Sunderland. Relegation threatened: Crystal Palace.
