Alright, the Premiership's only a few days off, so predictions time. It's tough as the transfer market is still open for 3 weeks, but I'd just feel like I'm cheating waiting to see early Premiership games.
1st - Chelsea Why bother to explain why Chelsea will win the league when I can just...
Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Gallas, Del Horno, Wright-Phillips, Makelele, Lampard, Gudjohnsen, Robben, Crespo
Cudicini, Johnson, Carvalho, Huth, Bridge, Cole, Tiago, Jarosik, Geremi/Diarra/Essien, Duff, Drogba
2nd - Man Utd I don't know why as it can really go either way with players, but I feel sure Van Nistelrooy will regain his form and that'll make a huge difference compared to last year. They've hopefully sorted out their goalkeeping problems, Rio's contract is behind them and Solskjaer's returning. They don't have the cover to compete with Chelsea over a season, and the question mark of the Glazer takeover still hangs over them.
3rd - Arsenal They get third because, despite all I'm about to say, they're still an incredibly strong team and when on their game just electric. However, not only have they not solved their problems from last season, they've gone and created a new one. They've had a horrible time in the transfer market too, only managing to bring in Hleb so far. They've tried; Wright-Phillips, Baptista and Viera (the goalkeeper, failed his medical) immediately come to mind, but they've had no luck. Finally, they desperately need a plan B. Sometimes they're just not on their game or the opposition are stopping them playing how they want, and they just flounder. If they're not going to do it through transfers, they better be working hard on something in traning.
However, if they can stay clear of injuries, not pick up too many suspensions, have players like Toure and Lauren regain their form...they might just surprise me.
4th - Liverpool They've strengthened, no doubt about that, and will probably close the gap on the top 3 slightly, but I just don't think they're good enough to break into it. Despite his record, I find Benitez a bit of a wanker and often wonder if he's the reason his team can't seem to get inspired against lower opposition or away from home and their crowd. No matter what I think of Mourinho, Ferguson and Wenger, they all have a presence about them and I don't doubt they're in charge. Benitez strikes me as...well, a bit of a gimp. They should be strong enough to shake off the chasing pack though.
11th - Blackburn Only doing them because I support them. We were 15th last year so a pretty big jump, but I actually wanted to put us top half and held myself back as it could just be bias. We solved our defensive problems January last year and looked much stronger since, both through signings and Hughes stamping his own ideas on the team as we moved on from Souness. Our problem was goalscoring, as we just couldn't, but we've signed two strikers this off season and hopefully that will have been sorted too.
My only real worry is that with an actual strikeforce now, we might well abandon our formation from last season, which was basically a 4-1-4-1 with Mokoena in the Makelele role. It made us very solid even if we couldn't score, switiching to a 4-4-2 would be risky. I like to think we'll play both, depending on the opposition.
Relegation - It's too hard to put these in actual positions, but I think Sunderland and Wigan will definitely go down. West Ham...despite sneaking in the back door, I just have a feeling they might hang on and survive. If they do, West Brom are the most likely to go down, but I have bad feelings about Portsmouth and Fulham too. I'll go with West Brom, but I wouldn't be surprised if Fulham are right around there in particular.
The Rest - I expect Spurs, Bolton, Everton, Man City, Newcastle and Middlesbrough to be fighting for the UEFA Cup places and 5th spot, and, despite year's of mediocrity, I think Spurs will grab it. I like their signings and manager, the winning mindset is what they need, perhaps Davids can provide it. Man City for the other UEFA Cup spot (there are two right?), despite losing their best player. Hello again to lower midtable for Birmingham, Villa and Charlton.
1 Chelsea
2 Man Utd
3 Arsenal
4 Liverpool
5 Spurs
6 Man City
7-10 Bolton, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Everton
11 Blackburn
12-14 Birmingham, Villa, Charlton
15-17 West Ham, Portsmouth, Fulham
18-20 West Brom, Sunderland, Wigan
Actually Birmingham seem too low there, but I'm not going back now!
