League Predictions

‘Never ever make predictions’ is one famous man’s saying but it is that time of the year when you hardly adhere to such maxims. Predictions about this season’s English Premier League have come out left, right and center. The ‘Pundits’ who, I believe, belong to the most over-rated profession in the world have come out with their predictions; some smacking against logic, some giving us a good laugh and some actually worthy to have blogs on them.

The famous choice this season seems to be Liverpool with many pundits claiming them to be stronger than last season. Really? Do they think Glen Johnson is the final link as they go searching for their league title? By the looks of it, they don’t seem any stronger and minus Alonso they might as well have to sign up Indy Jones to trace their missing title. Alonso played a huge part in Liverpool’s quest for trophies last season. He was excellent in the center of the park and provided the creativity to free up Gerrard and Torres. Torres himself admitted a couple of weeks back that the sale of Alonso would seriously dent their title chances.

I believe Chelsea are a bigger threat to United this season. United, yes, will still be fighting for the honours sans their most prolific goal scorer for the last three seasons because they have a manager who is the best in building a side and if pre-season games are anything to go by, Owen and Valencia are already exciting the crowd.

Chelsea have failed to get a ‘marquee signing’ but have enough experience and quality in the squad to win the league. Most importantly, Chelsea and United have the players who have done it before and know what it takes to win the league. That could go against Liverpool.

People have written off Arsenal as easily as fans have written off Paris Hilton the actor. But unlike the latter, the former has quality upfront, pardon the pun, to showcase.A front line of Van-Persie, Nasri, Eduardo,Walcott,Arshavin,Rosicky and ably supported by Fabregas is worthy of a punt. If Arsene Wenger manages to get in a couple of signings as defensive cover, Arsenal should be streets ahead of City in the league table.

David Moyes has been hailed as one of the best managers in the league for quite some time now and that doesn’t defy logic. He has time and again proved that when it comes to extracting the best out of the players, he is a top dog. Everton finished fifth last season with having to do with limited resources. They’ll definitely be the ones to watch out for, if there is a chance of shaking up things at the top four of the table.

On paper, Man City’s squad looks good enough to be challenging for the top honours but with greedy mercenaries in the team, would they have the spirit and the stomach for a fight?

Tottenham haven’t added any one noticeable as they do every season. For a Spurs fan though, that might be a good omen as they deviate from their usual summer transfer antics, may be a sign that they would deviate from their abysmal starts.

The lower end of the table is always fought as closely and more as the higher end of the table. Of the teams that have managed to survive the drop last season, Hull City and Portsmouth look the most likely to go down. Of course that would hugely depend on what the new boys, Burnley, Wolves and Birmingham have to offer or rather not offer.