Big 6: Why each team will or won't win the Premier League

The new Premier League season is almost upon us so, in anticipation of the big kick-off, theScore looks into each of last term's top six and explains the reasons why they will or won't finish at the summit of English football.

Arsenal

Champion elect

Arsenal hasn't signed an out-and-out frontman of Alexandre Lacazette's repute since Julio Baptista arrived on loan from Real Madrid in 2006. Expect the ex-Lyon man's Gunners tenure to go much better.

He's strong like the Brazilian, but possesses traits that should help Arsenal breach stubborn English backlines. He's expert at using his body to shield the ball as he homes in on goal, and his smart usage of the channels saw him score 91 goals over the past four Ligue 1 seasons.

More welcome grit will also be displayed by Sead Kolasinac, the freebie full-back who can be a wrecking ball down the left-hand side.

"Sead looks an absolute tank," Theo Walcott said last week. "He's one tough unit to get past and I'm sure his physical attributes are going to be key to us this season."

Also-ran

Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin shouldn't feature regularly for a side with title aspirations.

An improved Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey finished as the first-choice pairing in central midfield, but beyond them is Elneny, Coquelin, and the gifted yet oft-sidelined duo of Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere.

It's not a new problem area for Arsene Wenger, but one he's been reluctant to sufficiently address.

Chelsea

Champion elect

The 2016-17 Premier League table didn't lie. Chelsea was the best team in England, and by some distance.

David Luiz was an assured presence at the back, Gary Cahill effortlessly stepped into the role of leader, and even Victor Moses was reborn. They were well-drilled and hard-working players, and mostly versatile: Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta may crop up in more positions in the new campaign.

Antonio Conte has also had the luxury of keeping Eden Hazard around, who will look to retain his mantle of being the division's most exceptional player after alleged interest from Real Madrid. N'Golo Kante will continue to be the heartbeat: not as much a midfield metronome as Lars Ulrich's double bass pedal.

Also-ran

The three key signings for Chelsea - Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko, and Antonio Rudiger - are all risks not attuned to English life.

Getting rid of a reliable head in Nemanja Matic was odd, particularly when at-times erratic Bakayoko will be tasked to hold the fort next to another madcap operator in Kante. Two talented and breathless midfielders, but together it could be messy.

Rudiger is probably the safest gamble as he began to show his unfathomable potential last season, but Morata, a technically adept and intelligent player, only broke double figures in league goals for the first time in 2016-17. Morata and Harry Kane are both 24, but the latter - a late bloomer at Tottenham Hotspur - has almost double the league strikes.

Liverpool

Champion elect

Why would Jurgen Klopp sell Philippe Coutinho? The German has been stubborn over what he wants - see the single-minded, daft, and ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of Naby Keita - so why would he deny himself the most frightening attacking quartet the Premier League has to offer?

Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, and Mohamed Salah are full of running and are the perfect players to execute Klopp's gegenpressing philosophy. And when Coutinho is picking holes and pinging shots behind, it'll be pandemonium.

Crack a beer and sit back: this is going to be a treat of hamstring-snapping havoc and dodgy defending that promises Kevin Keegan scorelines.

Also-ran

It's already been said. The defending is dodgy.

The Virgil van Dijk pursuit ended in embarrassment but, most critically, robbed Joel Matip of a reliable defensive partner. Dejan Lovren is always going to provide several wobbles, and Ragnar Klavan shouldn't be higher than a fourth-choice centre-back for a club with title aspirations.

Maybe the foundations are to blame. Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius look like strapping All-American lane swimmers, but unconvincingly and frantically flap at crosses like paddling bull terriers.

Manchester City

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

Champion elect

That's a lot of money spent on full-backs. €140 million, in fact. But when you take into account that nothing was spent on those spots since 2012 - dating back to Maicon's ill-advised €3.75-million signing - Manchester City was simply making up for lost time.

City last had serious pace at full-back when an injury-free Micah Richards was tipped to be a future England captain, so the performances of Danilo and Kyle Walker over pre-season have the club's fans rightly excited.

And the explosive Benjamin Mendy - who belted over 170 crosses in Ligue 1 last season - is yet to play.

Related - From Maicon to Mendy: Overdue full-back signings make City team to beat

Also-ran

When Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones were paired in the middle of a back-four, neither had the nous to lead the line. Injury-plagued Vincent Kompany's revival at the end of the 2016-17 campaign was a surprise, and his presence lifted the performances of those around him.

Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola is resting too much pressure on the Belgian's creaky calves.

If Kompany falls to another fitness issue - transfermarkt.com counts 90 City matches missed through injury since the start of the 2013-14 term - the Blues look bare in that department, and promising local lad Tosin Adarabioyo is an unlikely answer right now.

Manchester United

Champion elect

Jose Mourinho's relationship with agent Mino Raiola paid dividends once more as he brokered the arrival of Paul Pogba's big mate Romelu Lukaku.

What a response to the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic (who's not necessarily done at Old Trafford), as Lukaku can fulfill the back-to-goal traits of his Swedish predecessor in attack while forming a devastating combination with Pogba and Marcus Rashford when charging towards the opposition's goal.

Then there's the bolstered defence. Eric Bailly was often superb at the back last term, and will now develop an understanding with Victor Lindelof. If Mourinho is trying to form something akin to the Rio Ferdinand - Nemanja Vidic partnership in central defence, Lindelof more closely resembles the former in his pomp, while Bailly can frighten the opposition in a similar vein to Vidic.

Also-ran

Winning trophies kept a huge section of the United fanbase content in Mourinho's first season at the helm, but can they put up with more plain pragmatism that upsets the attacking traditions of the club?

True, the signing of Nemanja Matic does alleviate some defensive burden from Pogba and should allow him to stampede down the channel just-left-off-centre as he did for Juventus, but it will take more than that to entertain the hordes of fans that travel great distances to watch United.

The reliance on Marouane Fellaini continues to be troubling, and Lindelof and Bailly will need protection up ahead while they become accustomed to one another. On days that Matic and Michael Carrick are out of commission or sluggish, Fellaini's flailing elbows could have disastrous consequences.

Tottenham Hotspur

Champion elect

Over the past two seasons, Tottenham has been comfortably stronger than all of its title rivals:

So why change it?

Last summer's depth signings of Moussa Sissoko and Vincent Janssen were poor, but the performance of the former in the conclusion of the club's pre-season programme - a 2-0 ease past Italian honcho Juventus - provides some hope that the pair can settle in their sophomore seasons in north London.

Even if there's no discernible improvement, the starters ahead of them have been drawing ever closer to Spurs' first title since 1961. That experience will only benefit their surge.

Also-ran

As he is wont to do, chairman Daniel Levy held out for some big cash for Kyle Walker, but that £50 million is yet to be reinvested in the right-back or right wing-back slots.

That leaves Kieran Trippier and the inconveniently named Kyle Walker-Peters vying for those positions, but then Trippier suffered an ankle complaint in the Juventus friendly. An early test may be upcoming for Walker-Peters, and season-opener opponent Newcastle United possesses a legion of wingers poised to spin him and shatter his confidence.

The issue with depth isn't just on the right of defence, though. Beyond Harry Kane, Janssen is yet to prove he can cut it, while backup centre-half Kevin Wimmer's physique certainly suggests he can chew it.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images, unless stated otherwise)