Ten Hag to be sacked in 2024 predictions as Tottenham get better of Arsenal

We've all got one. We've all got more than one, if we're honest about it.

With the beginning of a new year comes a fresh chance to claim just what we are convinced will happen in football in the 12 months ahead. On January 1 everything is possible, and that includes the beliefs of our team.

We asked the Mirror Football writers to name one thing will will  definitely, absolutely, 100 per cent  happen in football in 2024, and they did not disappoint.

John Cross - Jude Bellingham to definitively become the best player in the world

What will definitely happen in football in 2024? Well, if we knew that it wouldn’t be half as much fun. Other than Manchester City winning the title. Again.

City are the best team by far, with the best manager and the best players with the best set-up. But if Jude Bellingham doesn’t definitely win every player of the year award going then something is seriously wrong. And that’s with huge apologies to Harry Kane who has taken Bayern Munich by storm.

No-one goes to Real Madrid and does what Bellingham has done. Not Cristiano Ronaldo, not Zinedine Zidane or Luis Figo. And he’s ours! He’s our superstar who plays for England and is already a national treasure destined to be the best player in the world.

He scores goals, dominates games and behaves with such maturity on and off the pitch. He’s just incredible. What a player, talent and man. His family deserve to be so proud. We are in the presence of greatness.

Tom Victor - Graham Potter to return to the Premier League

There were surprisingly few managerial changes in the first half of the season, at least as far as the Premier League is concerned. If that’s taught us anything, it’s that a lot will change between now and May.

Those rolling the dice in the second half of a season will often turn to experienced heads, for better or worse. And by worse I mean Leeds’ appointments of Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce last term.

Graham Potter has not returned to management since his Chelsea stint came to an early end. He was linked with jobs on the continent but didn’t end up taking any of them, and some have taken this to mean he wants to stay in England. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is understood to be a fan, prompting talk of a Manchester United approach, but might he be tempted to drop down the table? I’m saying he’ll be back in the Premier League, but I’m not saying where just yet.

Darren Lewis - England to win the Euros

England will win the Euros. How can they not? Gareth Southgate will never have a better chance, and neither will we. We are a squad crammed to bursting with attacking talent and the experience of coming within touching distance of a major tournament at both the World Cup in 2018 and the European Championship in 2021.

And yes, it might seem a bit tiresome to start tub thumping already with Christmas trees yet to be taken down and the decorations stuck back into the attic. But the quality we have in these shores is too frighteningly strong not to be confident enough to say it with our chests.

There’s no point in running through what the likes of Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, James Maddison, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, John Stones and many others can do. You know it - and have seen it time and again - already. Add to that, however, the fact that most of the traditional European powerhouses such as Spain, Germany and Italy do not boast vintage squads and you can understand why we no longer have to whisper it quietly.

We can do it. Especially if we go attacking and play to our strengths. We can do it. Especially if Southgate plays players in form and on merit. We can do it. Especially if Southgate configures a formation allowing Bellingham and Kane to function with the confidence they do for Real Madrid and Bayern respectively. We can do it. Especially if - here’s a suggestion - Southgate ends the Ben White exile and pairs him with Stones at the heart of our defence. We can do it. It's in our hands.

This would be my first eleven, if fit (4-2-1-3): Ramsdale, Alexander-Arnold, White, Stones, Shaw, Rice, Maddison, Bellingham, Foden, Kane, Saka.

Tom Blow - Erik ten Hag to get sacked

Bad signings, questionable tactics and the odd excuse - it's clear Erik ten Hag isn't the answer to Manchester United's problems.

The Red Devils are enduring a nightmare campaign, with the team nine points behind Arsenal in fourth and already out of Europe. They've lost nine of their opening 20 Premier League games for the first time since the division was established in 1992. Forget David Moyes, forget Louis van Gaal, forget even Ralf Rangnick - THIS is statistically their lowest ebb.

Ten Hag still has time to turn things around and has blamed United's poor season on their injury list. But just ask Tottenham, Newcastle and Sheffield United - everyone has injuries. Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup last season - ending a six-year trophy drought and writing his name in United's history books - but his signings have been utterly dreadful. Antony cost £87million. That's right - a small, slowish left-footed right winger who boasted a modest record in the Netherlands cost £87m.

Antony isn't the only poor transfer Ten Hag has made. Andre Onana, Mason Mount, Wout Weghorst, Ramsus Hojlund and Casemiro are among the manager's questionable signings.

The job is simply too big for Ten Hag. And with a new co-owner arriving in the form of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, it seems inevitable that a managerial change will be made in the summer. The new boss will want his own people. United fans will hope their next manager will bring some stability after a decade of post-Sir Alex Ferguson chaos.

Fraser Watson - Joey Barton to apply for a Premier League job

Even for Joey Barton, the incoherent ramblings that accompanied his end to 2023 were something to behold. Behind the inflammatory language, insulting terms, and above all, desperation to remain relevant, there may even have been an argument worth debating sensibly. But it's not calmed and reasoned discussions that the 41-year-old is interested in when he has a podcast to promote.

To write him off as a bang-average Premier League footballer, and failed lower league manager, is a little facetious - many a youngster would long for a similar career. But it's clear that the bang-average Premier League footballer and failed lower league manager believes he possesses an elite football mind and should be rubbing shoulders with the best.

Now out of work after being sacked by Bristol Rovers, and as vocal as ever, expect him to publicly tout himself for the next Premier League job that comes available. He'll argue that players at Fleetwood and Rovers were inadequate for his high-level demands, and will throw in a few insults at whoever the departing boss is for good measure. He won't get it, but it will get people talking about Joey Barton. Which is exactly what Joey Barton craves.

Matt Maltby - Tottenham to finish above Arsenal

Tottenham will finish above Arsenal, who will miss out on a top-four spot. There's been plenty of noise about the Gunners and whether they can mount a title bid after last season's heartbreak. They can't - and they won't.  Three league defeats in their last five games shows that Mikel Arteta's side are still some way off competing with Manchester City and Liverpool for the top-flight crown. Whether they can challenge for Champions League honours remains to be seen - they've got an easy last-16 tie on paper against Porto - but it will be another season of league disappointment for the red half of north London.

And to rub salt in their wounds, Spurs will pinch the last top-four spot behind eventual champions Liverpool, City and Aston Villa. Ange Postecoglou has got his side playing some lovely, free-flowing football and despite an early-season setback, while dealing with a huge injury crisis, they're one of the more exciting teams in the division and have bounced back in recent weeks. Arsenal may have claimed bragging rights last season but come May, it will be Spurs who are laughing.

Darren Wells - Liverpool to win a Treble

Jurgen Klopp must wonder how packed his trophy cabinet would be if Pep Guardiola was not in charge at the Etihad. And while Liverpool's manager will no doubt have admired Manchester City's Treble triumph, it will most certainly have stung more than a little.

It was only 12 months previous that Liverpool were on the cusp of a quadruple, denied only by City on the final day of the Premier League season and Thibaut Courtois in the Champions League. That effort took the steam right out of Liverpool last season and much has changed in the months since with Klopp rebuilding his side; but you feel they are only just picking up speed as they head into 2024.

Top of the table and favourites to win both the Carabao Cup and Europa League, it's remarkable that fans and pundits - including Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher - are still writing off Klopp and his men. Yes they will lose Mo Salah to AFCON - and how they deal with that will be crucial. But with their rivals faltering and Liverpool yet to hit top gear, much like the late, great Gerard Houllier in 2001, Klopp can land an illustrious Treble in 2024, albeit not quite the one he had in mind.

Mark Jones - Financial realities to bite

The main reason that the reaction to Everton's 10 point deduction has been as hysterical as it often has been is simply due to the fact that they've gone first. They might not like it but the punishment given to the Toffees did fit the crime, and you can argue that they've actually got off lightly given the scale of their breaches and the current state of the Premier League.

But with financial questions hovering elsewhere, it is understandable that Everton currently feel singled out, and if they remain the only club charged by the time 2024 comes to an end then they will have every right to feel aggrieved.

Regardless of the cases against Chelsea, Manchester City and others, we appear to be entering an era when football legislation actually has teeth, with issues around profit and loss rules likely to be the key factor that dominates matters in the new transfer window and beyond. It could be a year where actions in the corridors of power are more important than those on the pitch.