Upcoming English Premier League season

[Spuds]

Anyone care to make some predictions?

Arsenal have an interesting team, I know it's so cliché however I can't help but feel that they're missing a midfield unit, someone who can easily break up play and make his presence known. Is it time for Diaby to overcome his injuries and step-up? We'll see. I can see Arsenal finishing 3rd behind Manchester City + Chelsea.

Chelsea look good and I can really see them challenging, unfortunately for Chelsea fans I can see the sale of Lukaku costing them the title. If Costa picks up any injuries they're left with Torres and Drogba; if we're talking 2008 Torres and Drogba, then what an attack, unfortunately it's 2014. Chelsea to finish top two with Manchester City.

Manchester City haven't made a marquee signing, instead they've made some astute signings. Sagna on a free is a superb deal. If they tie up Mangala then I can see them winning the title again, injuries permitting. Jovetic looks on fire this pre-season and he'll be an exciting player to watch if he can hold off the injuries.

Manchester United are being hyped up a lot by the media, I'm not buying into it. They're defence is weak and the midfield lacks presence. What's happened to Rooney? At the World Cup the questions were all asking whether or not he should be dropped from the international stage, now he's Captain Marvel again? Not for me thanks, a bright start but they won't touch the top three.

Liverpool have regressed somewhat, it'll be interesting to see if Sterling steps up again this season. Fourth spot is possible.

Honourable mentions go to Everton, Sunderland and Swansea who are building nice squads. Spurs to look good this season too. Also interested to see how Bojan at Stoke works out, Hughes still looking to transform their style; as much as I dislike the man, credit to him.

Should be a cracker, bring on tomorrows clash at Wembley.

[Adam]

I predict Mourinho and van Gaal will both be ******s.

[Spuds]

van Gaal gives off a weird vibe, won't be shocked if we hear any Tony Pulis-esque shower stories.

I see that a couple of hours after I posted, it was announced that Diaby has picked up an injury. I really shouldn't laugh however that's so predictable. It's quite sad, imagine a midfield pairing of Diaby and Rodwell - one where they both had injury free careers and met their potential.

[mrwoooooooo]

stoke to qualify for europe

[Matthew]

I might be biased but Chelsea have to be the favourites for me.

Last season we were unbeaten against the other teams making up the top 4 (and in fact won every game bar Arsenal away which we drew). Our record against the top teams outside the top 4 was immense too. We lost the title by dropping "easy" points against the weaker teams who we struggled to break down because we missed a creative spark (which Fabregas will now provide) and a deadly striker (Costa). I think back to the home game against West Ham which finished 0-0 - we had something like 40 shots in that game but never looked like scoring. We've finally got a striker in who is in his prime, and whilst I do regret Lukaku leaving, Costa + Torres + Drogba is MILES better than Torres + Eto'o + Ba.

It's between Chelsea and City but imo it's Chelsea's to lose!

[Spuds]

I might be biased but Chelsea have to be the favourites for me.

Last season we were unbeaten against the other teams making up the top 4 (and in fact won every game bar Arsenal away which we drew). Our record against the top teams outside the top 4 was immense too. We lost the title by dropping "easy" points against the weaker teams who we struggled to break down because we missed a creative spark (which Fabregas will now provide) and a deadly striker (Costa). I think back to the home game against West Ham which finished 0-0 - we had something like 40 shots in that game but never looked like scoring. We've finally got a striker in who is in his prime, and whilst I do regret Lukaku leaving, Costa + Torres + Drogba is MILES better than Torres + Eto'o + Ba.

It's between Chelsea and City but imo it's Chelsea's to lose!
Okay, so Costa picks up an injury over the Winter period because he's not used to that run of games. What happens then?

[Matthew]

Okay, so Costa picks up an injury over the Winter period because he's not used to that run of games. What happens then?

Then we are in the same position as we were in last year (which got us third place). Having Costa for the whole season bar a few games is better than not having Costa.. It was far from ideal to lose Lukaku and I don't doubt for one second that Costa will miss games through either injury or suspension but were are a million times better off in the striking department this year than last!

[IceNineKills]

1st - Arsenal
2nd - Liverpool
3rd - Man City
4th - Chelsea
-------------------


Arsenal are obviously going to win, we are the best team in the league right now.

[Matthew]

1st - Arsenal
2nd - Liverpool
3rd - Man City
4th - Chelsea
-------------------


Arsenal are obviously going to win, we are the best team in the league right now.

http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/jorlol.gif

Not sure how you can say that Arsenal are "the best team in the league right now" given the league hasn't even started yet

and putting City 3rd and Chelsea 4th.. :P

[IceNineKills]

http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/jorlol.gif

Not sure how you can say that Arsenal are "the best team in the league right now" given the league hasn't even started yet

and putting City 3rd and Chelsea 4th.. :P

We're Arsenal, it's what we do every season.

[j0rd]

We're Arsenal, it's what we do every season.

finish 4th?

[IceNineKills]

finish 4th?
better than 5th i guess

[Matthew]

We're Arsenal, it's what we do every season.

http://www.sincearsenallastwonatrophy.co.uk/

2 days mate, 2 days.

urgh its gonna be a long 8 years waiting for that site to be useful again

[RyRy]

We're Arsenal, it's what we do every season.

What, get 1st place and then completely bottle it?

[David]

http://www.sincearsenallastwonatrophy.co.uk/

2 days mate, 2 days.

urgh its gonna be a long 8 years waiting for that site to be useful again

in the mean time, http://www.sincespurslastwonatrophy.co.uk/

[IceNineKills]

What, get 1st place and then completely bottle it?
yeah and that :(

[Spuds]

finish 4th?
I think they'll finish third this year.


What, get 1st place and then completely bottle it?
Nice to see you're still knocking around. You must be pleased with your clubs development over the past season or two? Building something nice over there, I think the club has more guts to fend off a Southampton scenario.

Got my tickets for Sunday sorted, can't wait for the boys to kick off against Newcastle.

[RyRy]

I think they'll finish third this year.


Nice to see you're still knocking around. You must be pleased with your clubs development over the past season or two? Building something nice over there, I think the club has more guts to fend off a Southampton scenario.

Got my tickets for Sunday sorted, can't wait for the boys to kick off against Newcastle.

Pretty pleased yeah, we've Moyes to thank for it all. If it wasn't for him being conservative with money and at the same time, finding bargain players, we wouldn't be where we are now where we can buy players like Lukaku. I was in Liverpool over the weekend but had to go for a meal, listened to the Arsenal game though... Tears ensued in the last 10 minutes, a mix of sadness and laughter :P

On the topic of City though, think it's between you & Chelsea this year. Arsenal and Liverpool are in a weird state, and United are in the state Chelsea were in last year.

[Spuds]

Pretty pleased yeah, we've Moyes to thank for it all. If it wasn't for him being conservative with money and at the same time, finding bargain players, we wouldn't be where we are now where we can buy players like Lukaku. I was in Liverpool over the weekend but had to go for a meal, listened to the Arsenal game though... Tears ensued in the last 10 minutes, a mix of sadness and laughter :P

On the topic of City though, think it's between you & Chelsea this year. Arsenal and Liverpool are in a weird state, and United are in the state Chelsea were in last year.
You spent money under Moyes though? Miralles (£6M), Piennar (£4.5M), Jelavic (£5.5M), Heitinga (£6.1M), Fellaini (£12.9M), Yakubu (£11.25M), etc. Sure, a part of it is down to Moyes however don't look over the fact that Martinez has (rightly or wrongly) used up his budget for the season on Lukaku, also let's not forget that you've had a huge injection of cash with the new media deal compared to previous years.

I thought it was between ourselves and Chelsea however having watched us both at Newcastle and Liverpool, we're looking like a machine. I can't see how Chelsea can compete if the Costa injury is true. If he's injured already, he's bound to pick up another injury around Christmas. He's looking very injury prone. As I said a few weeks ago, remove Costa and you have Torres and Drogba.

If it wasn't for our awful CL draw I was very confident of beating both Arsenal and Chelsea after the international break. Sandwiching Munich (A) between these games has made it a tougher ask. We'll see how we go. We'll beat Stoke and if we don't pick up any injuries over the international break, we'll beat Arsenal.

Arsenal are still lacking that presence in the middle. I thought they would make a move for Song when it was apparent he was available however they haven't done so. Manchester City can now rock up and play a team which looks like -

---Zabaleta---Kompany--Mangala---Kolarov---
---------------------Fernando------------------------
--------Toure-------------------Fernandinho-------
---Jovetic------------------------------Silva---------
-------------------Aguero-----------------------------

That midfield is enough to handle Wilshere and Ramsey, the chances are they'll be down to ten men once Wilshere gets annoyed they're losing. Previous seasons I would play Kolarov however a mixture of Kolarov's recent form and the pace of Mangala means we can now opt for the attitude and attacking threat of Kolarov.

The pace of Managala and Kompany, as well as their ability to read the game, should be enough to close out Sanchez. I'm not impressed with Ozil, he's an invisible man. Of course that now means he'll go on and win man of the match however he's not lived up to his price tag.

Without a focal point in attack (Giroud showing how much damage an injury to your leading attacker is when you're not blessed with squad depth), I can see a comfortable MCFC win.

As I said, the Bayern trip makes the Chelsea game tougher. If Costa is injured then they'll play how they did at ours last season. It's difficult to say how we'll fair against that considering we were missing Fernandinho (arguably a key player by this point) and MDM was in awful point.

So yes, us and Chelsea. Maybe.

Can't read over as I'm packing up my room ready to go back to uni on Monday (although Circus 12th birthday tickets have sold out which has pissed me off). Ignore spelling errors/grammar.

[mrwoooooooo]

cant even beat stoke though

[Spuds]

cant even beat stoke though
Ha, we couldn't beat Cardiff last season mate. Your lads executed their plan down to a tee, deserved the points. For whatever reason, our lads didn't seem to turn-up until we were a goal down. Against Stoke, that's always going to mean trouble.

I was pretty sore until this Falcao drama. Even if it doesn't happen, it'll be a laugh until the window shuts.

[FlyingJesus]

1st - Arsenal
2nd - Liverpool
3rd - Man City
4th - Chelsea
-------------------


Arsenal are obviously going to win, we are the best team in the league right now.

Any time I'm feeling down I'm gonna look at this post and it will instantly have me in stitches :P


United are in the state Chelsea were in last year.

That's a bit harsh on Chelsea, don't think we've been in the state Man U are in since the 70s haha


Definitely City and Chelsea top 2, unless something really evil happens to one of them there's no-one else challenging really. Liverpool have dragged themselves back after the 12/13 season and nearly got it last year but more through luck and not having to play Europe than anything I think, now they're a good team but not a champion team as far as I'm concerned. Been great to see van Gaal failing hard and watching the Man U fans continue to panic because they don't know how to be crap gracefully

[Richie]

@GarethBale;


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-enjcgV1o

:'(:'(:'(:'(


3-0 Liverpool