The former Southampton goalkeeper spoke on the challenges Saints will face this season, but believes they will survive if a solid defence is established early on.
“The Premier League is probably the most competitive league in the world so it’s always difficult for clubs coming up. If you look at the odds it is always the clubs who come up who are expected to go down,” Niemi told Tribalfootball.com.
“They will stay up and get enough points but it’s a tough league, I am hoping and I am confident that they will gain enough points to stay up.
“I haven’t seen all the games to go into tactical detail but as a former goalkeeper if you are defending well and protecting the goal you always give yourself the chance to earn some points.
“I am sure they are going to make sure that whoever is facing them is going to have a tough game and it’s not going to be easy to score against them.”
Niemi also spoke on the chasm between the existing Premier League sides and those who have worked their way up. He believes it is a major problem that many are talking about as it gets harder and harder each year for promoted teams to avoid relegation.
“It has been a common topic in the footballing world, I am a bit worried especially in the Premier League where it looks like the bigger clubs are getting bigger and bigger and then there is a big gap where you find the so called ‘smaller clubs’ who find it really difficult to compete against these traditional clubs.
"I am pretty sure quite a few people share my opinion that it does not look very healthy at the moment. We all know who are gonna be the top eight let’s say then there is a huge gap between the other clubs.
“But I think that’s the way the world works at the moment, money really does matter and that is not always a good thing.”
Antti Niemi was speaking to Tribalfootball on behalf of Freebets.com the home of betting sites.