It is the eve of the new Premier League season and all the media is full of hype predicting which teams will finish where, which Manchester club will win the league and how many goals each striker will score. While clearly this is almost impossible and asking where do you think Southampton will finish is a moot point, I wondered what tips people had about the league in general this season: which teams do you think will over perform, who will struggle despite their top billing and who do you think will be looking nervously over their shoulders on the last day of the season? Here are a few of my suggestions: Over achievers: Fulham have developed nicely and Martin Jol rarely lets a side down. Q.P.R have bought a whole array of new players but with Mark Hughes at their helm I think them may do better than most people would expect. Stoke and Sunderland will be comfortable. Under achievers: Everyone seems to expect Aston Villa to perform well this season with Paul Lambert in charge. Lambert is a shrewd tactician who did a great job at Norwich, but is he proven elsewhere and who will score Villa's goals if Bent is not fit. I think Tottenham and Newcastle may struggle to do as well as last season. We saw how much Europe took out of Stoke last season, I think something similar may happen to Newcastle. I am surprised Tottenham went for such an inexperienced Premier League manager in Villas-Boas a disaster waiting to happen in my eyes. Relegation threatened: The teams that are relegated are usually those who fail to score many for obvious reasons, so with that in mind unless Swansea or Wigan get an extra striker they may struggle. I am ambivalent about Reading and West Brom who have been well drilled in previous seasons, however do they possess enough depth in attack. Before pre-season I thought Lambert would eclipse Holt's impressive goal scoring form in the top flight, but we really need him to up his fitness levels, will he be ready, I hope so. As for top goalscorer, I cannot see past Aguero, I know van Persie is a great player but can Sir Alex keep him fit? The top two are clear front runners but I think pretty much anything else is possible, a tight and exciting season beckons and I hope that we can just about keep ourselves above the dotted line. I would be interested to read your tips and expectations for this season.
Over Achievers - QPR, think Mark Hughes has strengthened them well this summer, and their side wasn't that bad on paper last year. Think they will be a lot better this year now the squad have had a season together. Under Achievers - Agree on Villa, though I don't think they will be as poor as last year. Reckon a 14th place finish. Everton I think may struggle this year, though I'm not sure why I think that, just call it a hunch . Don't think Newcastle will do aswell as last year and Spurs are very 50/50 for me as if the players buy into AVB's philosophy's straight away they will do well. If its anything like the Chelsea situation then they will do well to finish 6th. Relegation Threatened - Think us and Reading will be down there tbh, but will reserve judgement on us especially til the window shuts and I see who we get in. Wigan always an obvious choice and think they will be down there aswell. West Brom are my tip to be the Wolves of this season, really think they will struggle with an inexperienced manager and not that much quality imo. Norwich and Swansea will be poorer this season aswell, if I had to have a guess at bottom 3 right now I would say West Brom, Norwich and Wigan. Top Scorer - Aguero for me aswell, can't see how RVP and Rooney will play together effectively (as in both of them scoring regularly) and I am also unsure as to how well RVP will do at a club where he is not the main man. I still unfortunately think that Utd will win the league though, City 2nd and Chelsea 3rd. 4th will be Arsenal unless Spurs click under AVB early, then I fancy them to get 4th, can't see Liverpool challenging this year
It is interesting to see a lot of the lower clubs have strengthened well yet the mid table ones have not - maybe a few upsets especially with the number of managerial changes.
Over achievers: Got to believe that we've got what it takes to exceed expectations this season. Add Phillips and Ramirez to the players we already have, and we have a fantastic mix of pace, power, skill, finishing, passing and movement that will get us goals. Add a CB or 2 to shore up defence and I really believe we can do well. Under achievers: Newcastle will find it difficult to match last season and playing in Europe will take its toll physicaally. Ashley might sack Pardew too if they don't fly out of the blocks, so it could be an eventful season for them. Relegation battlers: West Brom, Swansea, Norwich, West Ham, Reading, Wigan. Hodgson did very well with a fairly ordinary Baggies side and Clarke will have a tough job replicating that. Beng an unproven manager, their fans might not give him much time, so I expect them to struggle. Swanse have appointed a low profile foreign manager and have lost Joe Allen and Gylfi Sigurdsson, so they are obvious candidates. They still have some good players however and Laudrup inherits a club in good nick, so that could save them. Unless Hughton has a big tactical surprise up his sleeve, Norwich are likely to get found out. West Ham are reminding me of QPR last season, investing heavily in proven experience. They're buying very much for the here and now and don't look to have eyes on anything other than staying up. I can see them constantly looking over their shoulder. Reading relied on hard work and form to win the league last season. It's hard to predict how they'll do. they'll either do really well like Norwich or fail quite spectacularly. Wigan always struggle, but Martinez is a good manager with experience of beating the drop. Considering he didn't get sacked after a horrific run last season and looking as good as down, his position is secure. Late season, they'll be on hand to punish teams who aren't on their toes. Fashionable as it seems to be to predict that they will go down, I think they will scrape it again and Martinez will get headhunted. If a big club wields the axe mid-season and poaches Martinez then, Wigan will go down. Title: There's no seeing past a Manchester 1, 2 again. Will be close again, but I think City will edge it. United look stronger than last season, but they're still some way from turning over their old team and I can see City ironing out the creases from last season. Arsenal 3rd and Chelsea 4th is my prediction. Arsenal have bought smartly and sold Van Persie at a good time. He's not geeting any younger and they didn't want to get too dependant on him. Santi Cazorla in particular is a top signing and only isn't first choice for Spain for obvious reasons.
