The new season is fast approaching, so here is my prediction for how the Premier League will finish at the end of next season. Please note all predictions are based on squads as of August 17th 2012.
1st Man City
2nd Man United
3rd Chelsea
4th Arsenal
5th Liverpool
6th Newcastle
7th Tottenham
8th Everton
9th Stoke
10th QPR
11th Fulham
12th Sunderland
13th Norwich
14th Swansea
15th Aston Villa
16th Southampton
17th West Ham
18th West Brom
19th Reading
20th Wigan
I think Man City will win the league again but Man United wont be too far behind. Even though Man City havent delved into the transfer market like United have they are both very similar. They both have two world class strikers in Aguero and Tevez and Rooney and Van Persie. They both have a high quality creative midfielder in Silva and Kagawa, however we dont know how the latter will adapt to english football. Both defences are pretty solid too and I see the title being won in midfield. In Yaya Toure, City have a midfielder who can easily score 10 goals a season, I dont see Man United with this type of player. I also think that Giggs and Scholes will only be able to play around 20 games each, leaving the United midfield rather short of quality and creativity.
Chelsea have made some high quality attacking signings which means they should defininately get back into the top four, but I dont feel they have enough to mount a title challenge. Their defence is still a bit suspect and looks a bit bare as they dont have a natural right back. Ivanovic will play here for the time being but that only leaves them with three first team centrebacks. Arsenal have also made some astute signings but losing Robin Van Persie will be a major blow. The signing of Cazorla means they could have potentially replaced Fabregas, it just depends how well he gels into the team. However I dont see enough quality for them to mount a title challenge and if Van Persie isnt replaced by they will be nervously looking over their shoulder.
With Brendan Rodgers at the helm, Liverpool will immediately be a better team. They have also got rid of the dead wood in the likes of Kuyt, Bellamy, Max Rodriguez and bought in younger and hungrier recruits. Liverpools main problem this year will be on the wings as they only have one natural first team winger in Stewart Downing, who didnt exactly set the world alight last season. This could lead them to play very narrow and become one-dimensional. I think they will improve on previous seasons but wont have enough to break into the top-four.
Newcastle's season will be an interesting one. There first team squad is among the best in the league as it is solid defensively and is full of goals. The problem will come with the demands of the Europa League. Their success this season will depend on how they balance the demands of playing theThursday and Sunday fixtures and how they recover from the large amounts of travelling they will have to do. Injuries, fitness and the AFCON will also play a part, but they managed to overcome these last season.
In my opinion, Tottenham's summer couldnt have got much worse. They lost Harry Redknapp as manager, it looks like Moddric is on his way out, Ledley King was forced to retire and they only have one striker following the end of Adebayors loan. I dont see a lot of goals in the side and the centre of their defence looks tired and not very solid. I think they have gone from fighting for champions league to fighting for europe whoch is disappointing.
The middle of the league looks very tight and his hard to predict which means that one or two of the teams that I have predicted to finish towards the bottom could end up breaking into the top half. The sale of Rodwell, who didnt feature a lot last season, has freed up some funds and if this money is spent wisely they could mount a serious european push. These chances will also be improved if they make a solid start to the season, something which they dont normally do.
QPR have spent big over the summer which I think will reap rewards and they could just sneak into the top half. As for both Norwich and Swansea, both have retained the majority of their squads during the summer so it comes down to their managers as to how well they will do. It depends if Chris Hughton can do what he did at Newcastle for a whole season and if Michael Laudrup can adapt his tactics and philosophy to the English game.
I think West Brom will struggle this season and could end up the wrong side of the drop line. I dont think the appointment of Steve Clarke was a good one due to his lack of experience, however I could be proved wrong. Also when you look at their squad, nobody shouts out as providing the quality to keep them in the league and just looks pretty average. This season will also be a tough one for Reading. They have recruited reasonably well in the summer but again there isnt one stand out performer. Pogrebnyak will get his fair share of goals, but I can just see games catching up with them, leaving them languishing at the bottom of the table. The same can be said of West Ham and Southampton, but I think they will both just survive. As for Wigan, well it's Wigan so you dont know what to expect. At christmas during last season I thought they were already down, but somehow they managed to stage a mighty fight back beating the likes of Man United meaning they live fight another day. This has become a regular feature in Wigan's season over their time in the Prem, but surely the law of averages mean they wont be able to do it again!
No comments:
Post a Comment