Blackburn fan here. Don't pity me! We were great once.
I suppose my hopes are a top 10 finish and a good cup run. Surely we can't have a bad a season as last year, which was just awful.
As for the title, I can't see Man Utd winning it. It's between Arsenal and Chelsea for me. I realise the team who are playing at the moment are severely weakened, but that just shows the lack of quality depth in the squad. When Van Nistelrooy, Heinze, Ferdinand and Ronaldo are back, I'm sure they'll be far stronger than what I've seen so far, but what happens when someone gets injured or suspended, as they inevitably will?
I don't think much of their signings either. Heinze is good (well, from what I hear, I've never seen him in action) as he fills that dodgy second central defender role next to Ferdinand, but I'm not so impressed by the rest. Alan Smith is a decent player, but they already have decent strikers to go along with your awesome one, why have another? His goalscoring record isn't that great (1 in 4), not Man Utd level anyway. I think they needed another great stiker to partner Van Nistelrooy. You can say they can't afford those players because Chelsea will get to them and outbid them, but they've spent £19.8m on Saha and Smith, money which could have got them a world class superstar.
It's midfield where I'm really confused by the signings though. The defence is (hopefully) sorted, but I think the next weakness is midfield, not attack. And if anything I think they've weakened it over the summer by selling Nicky Butt. That Miller lad is meant to be good, but he's so young, he's really a hope for the future. That once awesome midfield is getting pretty old now. Scholes is almost 30, Keane is 33 and is having to play in defence and Giggs is almost 31 and has lost a lot of the pace which made him so terrifying. As for the rest, Fortune has never impressed me and Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson were poor, poor buys. Ronaldo is the only one who I think is really deserving of a place amongst the United midfield.
The final point on Man Utd is that Ferguson now has two rivals who are managed by people his mind games won't work on. Wenger is way too calm for anything like that to affect him, and Mourinho seems to give as good as he gets. Ferguson played the most obvious card in the world recently when he mentioned that money alone can't win a title, to which Mourinho responded by saying that this is very true, as shown by his cheap Porto team beating Man Utd's expensive side in the Champion's League last year. Haha, ZING!
As for Chelsea and Arsenal, I think it's going to be really close. Arsenal are just an awesome, awesome team, especially as they've managed to hold onto Vieira. Their pace is unbelievable and the defence is just as strong. I expect Reyes to come on this year after a pretty good half year at Arsenal last time round. I don't think they'll go unbeaten again though.
Chelsea are so much stronger this year than last year. I mean their squad has not only world class players in the team, but world class cover in practically every position. As for their signings, if Drogba and Kezman can get a good understanding together, I can see them tearing the Premiership apart. Robben was really good at Euro 2004 (if a diving bastard), I've never seen Tiago Mendes, Carvalho was one of, if not the best centre back at the Euros, Ferreira is meant to be excellent (though so overpriced) and Cech is going to have a right battle with Cudicini for that goalkeepers jersey.
The only weakness (in terms of personnel) that I can see is the lack of a natural rightsided midfielder. I suppose Geremi can play out there, but how many chances is he gonna get in the team? Duff can play there, perhaps he'll have to with Robben's arrival, but he'll be coming inside all the time.
Chelsea's problem of course will be the time they need to gel as a team. It's even worst than last year in that regard, more new players, a lot of the old players gone, a new coach...it's going to take a bit.
I think it's a pity Man Utd and Chelsea are meeting today. Unless one team completely blows the other away, I doubt we're going to be able to draw many conclusions from it. Chelsea because they've not had time to settle as a tram, United because they have so many injuries.
