[furball]

Last Year :

My Predicted Table      Final Table             Difference

01. Chelsea		Man Utd		        DOWN 1
02. Liverpool		Chelsea			DOWN 1
03. Man Utd		Liverpool		UP 2
04. Arsenal		Arsenal			CORRECT
05. Tottenham		Tottenham		CORRECT
06. Newcastle		Everton			DOWN 7
07. Blackburn		Bolton			DOWN 3
08. West Ham		Reading			DOWN 7
09. Wigan		Portsmouth		DOWN 8
10. Bolton		Blackburn		UP 3
11. Everton		Aston Villa		UP 5
12. Aston Villa		Middlesborough		UP 1
13. Charlton		Newcastle		DOWN 6
14. Portsmouth		Man City		UP 5
15. Man City		West Ham		UP 1
16. Middlesborough	Fulham			UP 4
17. Reading		Wigan			UP 9
18. Sheffield United	Sheffield United	CORRECT
19. Fulham		Charlton		UP 3
20. Watford		Watford			CORRECT

Four correct teams, although all were relative gimmies. Some teams really surprised me this year (Reading, Everton, Pompey) whereas West Ham, Wigan and Charlton all plummeted. Irritatingly Fulham survived again, but with any luck they'll go down this year. A score of 66 which is so appalling that I refuse to believe that it won't be improved on this year.


1st - Chelsea - and so the Chelsea tank keeps rolling on despite a hiccup last season. They were missing the best goalkeeper in the world and their top-class back-up keeper, leaving Hilario in goal. Add to that the loss of their inspirational captain and you really have to admire how well they actually performed when many other teams would have crumbled. Their squad is phenomenal with a continental-class player as backup in every position. Players such as Carvalho, Essien and Joe Cole are easily taken for granted, yet would be the first name on the team-sheet in many other teams. Unless United have another stormer then Chelsea will steamroll their way to the title. Mourinho wants to play attacking football this year - and with the resources he has, god help us.

2nd - Man Utd - I don't like predicting Man United as 2nd - I supported them over Chelsea for the title last season - but unless their entire team puts in superlative performances again, the Chelsea engine will just take it on points. The club doesn't lack in self-confidence, but I'm just not feeling the victory this season. United were a little lucky last season in winning certain fixtures and that won't necessarily happen this season.

3rd - Arsenal - I haven't got a hope of being unbiased here, so I won't even pretend to try. Henry has gone, leaving Arsenal one galactio short. However, we played for a lot of last season without him and still came 4th - so anyone pretending that Arsenal will miss out on Europe is going to have a rather rude wake-up call. Wenger has been molding a young squad for the last few years and it's now time for it to come to fruition (see Diaby, Denilson and Djourou). Star players such as Fabregas and Van Persie will have to carry the team at times, which is a lot of responsibility on their young shoulders. What I do like is the strong core running through the team - Lehmann, Toure, Gilberto and Van Persie are all mentally strong and perhaps will be able to stop the team being dominated by the pettiness that characterised Henry's play.

There have been a lot of changes to the team despite few personnel changes: Eboue is now a right winger and will play in front of the solid Sagna, while Hleb will play behind a lone striker whenever we decide to go 4-5-1. This is the position Hleb played in the Bundesliga, so perhaps Arsene has seen sense and accepted that he'll never be a proper winger. He's also adapted the team's style of play from "give the ball to Henry" to "don't just give it to one player, pass it around into the gaps". This is where the frustrating play that characterised Arsenal last season has come from - no player showed the willingness to step up and take the shot. Wenger is known to have worked on this over the summer, but on the evidence of the superb Emirates Cup it still hasn't been cured. However, we do seem to have learnt how to score ugly goals.

Has Henry been replaced? Van Persie will score 20+ goals, Eduardo will score 10+ goals. Adebayor....god knows, he has great games and then he has terrible games. Bendtner has looked good in pre-season but is very raw. Walcott isn't ready to play up front yet - Wenger isn't trying to convert him to a winger, I think he's just trying to blood him. As I've said before, he belongs out on loan for a season at a solid Premiership club such as Blackburn.

Finally, we need to make one more signing: a top-class winger. Quaresma is the name quietly being mentioned by bloggers but as with Eduardo, I doubt we'll know a thing until they put pen to paper. Wenger hasn't indicated that he's not buying for the rest of the summer, which tells me that he has one more player to move for.


4th - Liverpool - I'm not convinced by Torres. Defences are going to be sitting deeper than they do in Spain and defenders have much more of a physical presence - if he can adapt to this quickly then I'd be surprised. Liverpool may have signed a goal-scorer, but in my eyes they're still lacking the midfield cutting edge that is needed to slice defences open. Players such as Alonso and Gerrard don't thrive on the pacy counter-attack a la Arsenal, they put balls in behind defences and this is something that Premiership centre-backs are used to playing against week-in week-out. A team that shuts up shop will do well against Liverpool and this is why I don't see them challenging for the title.

5th - Tottenham - Spurs have spent freely over the summer, signing Bent and Bale in particular, but perhaps haven't strengthened as some might have hoped. Robinson is a good keeper but not international-class. Defence is strong, especially with the signing of Kaboul, although lacking in quality depth. Up front Spurs have obvious depth, even with Mido (probably) leaving, but only two of their strikers can play at any one time. If Berbatov gets injured for any serious length of time then they definitely won't be pushing for a Champions League spot. Most importantly, I'm concerned about their ability in midfield: Lennon is superb but Zokora didn't take his chance last season, Jenas is incredibly average at every part of the game and Huddlestone is too green. Malbranque is experienced but lacks the cutting edge he once had. Kevin-Prince Boateng, on the other hand, may be an excellent replacement for Jenas if Martin Jol has the guts to play a German over an Englishman.

6th - Newcastle - the signing of Joey Barton is looking worse and worse these days - Parker hardly set the world alight but at least he wasn't banged up in prison. Barton's been charged with ABH for his assault on Dabo and I'd be surprised if a judge chose to suspend his sentence given the 'outrage' that would undoubtedly ensue. Such a waste of talent, I don't want to see him going down the same route as Lee Bowyer but it doesn't look unlikely. Turning to the rest of the team, Bramble is gone (hurrah), Given is still there and Newcastle have a great team of strikers up-front. However, if Dyer leaves then the creative spark will be lacking in midfield, so I'm wondering where the assists will be coming from.

7th - Blackburn - one giant 'meh'. A very solid team with no real weaknesses, and with Derbyshire and Santa Cruz competing for a place alongside McCarthy they could make Europe this season. Then again, Friedel and Nelsen are the only bright spots in a fairly weak defence which was reflected in their 'For' and 'Against' columns last season. It's likely that they'll be involved in a few high-scoring matches this season.

8th - Everton - Deffeh was pretty spot on about Everton - great base to the team, no attacking flair. If they can grind out repeated 1-0s as they did in 2005/6, they'll make Europe, but Mikel Arteta does not a team make. David Moyes has probably got the club as far as he can and it may be time for a bright young manager such as Aidy Boothroyd to be brought in to spark things up. They have a lot of effective (but boring) players, so they shouldn't have to concern themselves about relegation.

9th - West Ham - West Ham have brought in several players of the quality that belong in the top half of the table - Bellamy, Ljungberg, Parker and Faubert (injured). Their team - Wright/Green; Neill, Ferdinand, Upson, McCartney; Ljungberg, Parker, Noble, Boa Morte; Ashton, Bellamy. That's a team for the top half of the table, and Curbishley is a good enough manager to get them all working well together. With the club now settled in the post-Argentinean era and the Iceman able to bankroll them out of any trouble, I see no reason why West Ham can't finish in the top half of the table. Upton Park is a superb home ground, but one where the Hammers will need to pick up a lot of points since they're going to have a difficult time on the road this season in front of opposition fans.

10th - Aston Villa - for Villa to have a good season, they'll need to avoid the terrible mid-season lapse of form that ruined their last campaign. Typically Villa start a season strongly, tail off as the weather turns cold and then perk up again in the last few months. You don't get into Europe that way. Looking at their squad they haven't added much over the summer aside from a couple of ex-Hammers who will have very different seasons: Reo-Coker will fulfil his potential (prediction 1) and Harewood will spend the season on the subs bench (prediction 2).

11th - Bolton - Bungdyce is gone and with the assistant manager brought in to take over, I'm going to confidently predict them to finish outside of a European spot this season. Lee hasn't exactly been wheeling and dealing; with the rock that is Tal Ben-Haim gone, Jaaskelainen will be tested much more often this season. Kevin Nolan was once touted as a future England star, but after an appalling last season he'll need to pull his finger out to prove his worth to the team. Nevertheless, Wilhelmsson and Braathen are good signings for the flanks (who will be the Rommadal and who the Gamst Pedersen?) and if they can regularly lob balls at Kevin Davies then goals will come. Anelka and Stelios both still remain at the club which must be a relief for any Bolton fan, with Anelka as the team's only true match-winner.

12th - Man City - they had a terrible team last season but it's all change at Eastlands. I know **** all about their new signings other than their names and price-tags, and so I can't go into much detail on them. Besides, they still have half a team to buy unless they intend to play 1-1-8. They won't make Europe, they won't be looking at relegation. Safe mid-table with Eriksson expected to make Europe by 2008/9.

13th - Portsmouth - unlikely to repeat their heroics of last season, yet their defence is strong enough to prevent relegation. Forty points will be the initial target I think, and then we'll see what Redknapp can do from there. Some good summer signings (Muntari and Nugent) along with skilled first-team members (Taylor, Mendes, Krancjar) but what they're really lacking is an experienced striker to partner Nugent. Someone like Jermaine Defoe would be a good player for Pompey.

14th - Reading - a virtuoso performance last season, but little strengthening over the summer has meant that Reading may be left behind by both the 'solid Premiership clubs' and the clubs with sugar-daddies. I don't think they're ready for relegation just yet, but forty points as a target and then go from there. Sidwell is a major loss, there's no doubt about it, and although I'm eagerly awaiting Leroy Lita's first season as a guaranteed starter, I'm not sure where the ball's going to come from. Doyle will remain a vital player and if they lose him in January, it could be curtains for them.

15th - Sunderland - it's tough to distinguish between the facts and hyperbole when you talk about Sunderland, and perhaps they're one of those clubs that you either love or you hate. Their record counts against them - completely unable to stay up the last two times they've been promoted - but it's a choice of cliche really, whether you want to go for 'third time lucky' or 'bad things come in threes'. Edwards, Kavanagh and new signing Richardson are all Premiership-quality players, but the rest are fairly average and Keane will need to work wonders both in the dressing room and in January to make sure that Sunderland don't go down.

16th - Birmingham City - I have a soft spot for Birmingham - they had three Arsenal youngsters on loan last season, two of whom signed permanent deals. They have the makings of a surviving team like Reading last year, but I don't see a match-winner along the lines of a Kevin Doyle. Forssell and O'Connor could be a very good strike partnership though, so I'm not ready to condemn them to relegation instantaneously. Their first team is full of players with Premiership experience, but they're worryingly lacking in depth and an injury crisis would spell the end for their season competitively.

17th - Middlesbrough - Gareth Southgate has not yet shown that he's a Premiership-quality manager: in fact, I think he'll be first to go this season after a terrible start to the season. Woodgate keeps the defence running in front of Schwartzer, but Aliadiare is a terrible replacement for Viduka and I don't see Tuncay adapting to the Premiership or the North-East especially quickly. Definite relegation candidates, and once Southgate is gone it'll depend on the ability of his replacement as to whether or they stay up. Graeme Souness anyone?


18th - Fulham - **** off you complete and utter losers. Lawrie Sanchez may be bringing in half of Northern Ireland but their survival for the last couple of seasons has been by sheer fluke, and I don't see anything changing. Their team will be good enough to avoid last season's relegation battle, but everyone's improved this season and with two relegation spots to avoid, I refuse to accept that Fulham won't be occupying one of them.

19th - Wigan - experience of working for JJB Sports means that I hate Dave Whelan with a passion, and with his appointment of Chris Hutchings as manager to replace the relegation saviour that is Paul Jewell I see no reason how Wigan can finish any higher than 19th. Their big summer signing has been Titus Bramble - a player that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Any talent they have left at the start of the season (Baines, Scharner) will be bought in January by a team that has a chance of staying up, and it's only because Derby are so weak that I'm not predicting them the wooden spoon.

20th - Derby - this season's Watford. Giles Barnes even fits the bill as this season's Ashley Young, so I assume that he'll be bought in January by a struggling sugardaddy-funded side. We'll have him, actually. Honestly Derby stand no chance, but at least financially they'll be sorted for the next few years without breaking a sweat.

1.  Chelsea
2.  Man United
3.  Arsenal
4.  Liverpool
5.  Tottenham
6.  Newcastle
7.  Blackburn
8.  Everton
9.  West Ham
10. Aston Villa
11. Bolton
12. Man City
13. Portsmouth
14. Reading
15. Sunderland
16. Birmingham City
17. Middlesborough
18. Fulham
19. Wigan
20. Derby

I did contemplate writing out a points table with each team given a points total rounded to the nearest 5. However, it proved impractical and so I'll settle for predicting a few of them. Both Chelsea and Man United will have over 90 points this season. Arsenal will be around 20 points behind Man United, who would completely dominate in a sans-Chelsea era, but the gap between Arsenal and Liverpool will be less than 5 points (the two teams are impossible to choose between) and the gap between Arsenal (3rd) and Spurs (5th) will be less than 15 points. The remaining UEFA Cup spots won't be decided until the last day of the season, and it won't be until Portsmouth in 13rd that we see any real daylight between the teams. The relegation battle is half decided already with both Wigan and Derby looking good for the drop, but it'll be a case of picking one from four to decide who'll occupy the other spot.