Premiership preview

Well, it's that time again. No, not Hammer time, that was ages ago, and best left there. No, of course it's the start of the Premier League season this weekend.

It seems only a few weeks since Manchester United once again lifted the trophy for the 11th time since the league was revamped in 1992. The fact is in football in 2009, you can never get away from the game, due to the insane amount of coverage by Sky Sports during the summer, with all the amount of transfer gossip, much of which never materialises into much and leaves the club's wanting better players (yes this is Arsenal).

But anyway, here's my,unlikely to be brief, look at the 3 main groups of the league, the Top 4, the also rans and relegation candidates.

The Contenders

In my opinion, the usual runners and riders are going to be up the top end of the league. In all honesty, I don't see Manchester City being amongst them. Yes, they have spent a shed load of money this summer, but at the end of the day, these players (mostly strikers) have to gel and it won't be an overnight success. I think they'll do well, if they manage to get some away form for once, and will likely finish 5th, in which case, 'Sparky' Mark Hughes will lose his job. Oh well. Then again a cup run would be a success for City, they don't tend to do anything in the domestic cups.

Out of the top 4, I think that Chelsea, on paper, look the strongest. They have a aging team but if there is one manager to get the best out of them, it is clearly Carlo Ancelotti, who had great success at AC Milan with veterans in the side. Manchester United will of course run them close, even without Ronaldo. If United start badly, the press might write them off and claim the Ronaldo deal was a bad idea. History shows us that United often start badly and still win the league. Wayne Rooney will hopefully become the talisman of the side and bang in the goals in time for the World Cup. I expect Anderson and Frederico Macheda to figure heavily in Sir Alex's plans at some point.

I think Liverpool have bigger problems, the loss of Xabi Alonso will hurt them, even with Alberto Aquilani as his replacement, he tends to get injured a fair bit. I'm not saying Liverpool won't be near Chelsea or United but I think they might fall away towards the end of the season.

Arsenal will surprise people, I think. They may have got rid of two influential players and everyone thinks that they will become the fall guy for Manchester City. Don't bet on it. If Andrei Arshavin has anything to say about it, Arsenal will be up there. There are some great youth players coming through at Arsenal, who are English (shocker!) such as Wilshere and Ramsey. If they sort out their defence, they will be fine.


The Relegation Candidates

The team out of the promoted Championship teams I fear for most, are now Birmingham. A few days ago, I would have said Wolves, but they've got Michael Mancienne on loan for the season, who was inspirational for them last year. Birmingham City, however, haven't really added to their squad from last year. They've got some good players, no doubt but a lot of 'past it' players, who had their glory days in the Premier League a long time ago. The addition of Joe Hart is a good one, he should get some practice with a mediocre defence.

The other two teams who I think will go down are Stoke and Hull. Yes, those teams who had great success last season, well for the most part. Stoke, to me, will suffer the dreaded 'second season syndrome'. The majority of their goals will come from Rory Delap throw-ins and James Beattie (he better, he's on my bench of my fantasy league team). There's not much variety and many teams will work out how to play against them, similar to Bolton a few years ago.

Hull, who had a great start last season, followed by a Phil Brown pitch team talk, were only saved by their early form and the Newcastle debacle. They will struggle majorly if they don't find some players with experience quickly. I don't really see where the goals will come from, or how will lead the defence well. Harsh, I know.

Other teams to be around the bottom: Blackburn, Burnley, Wigan, Wolves and Portsmouth. Portsmouth will be the survival by the skin of their teeth award winners, if they sign anyone and get rid of their current manager. Expect them and Burnley to prop up the table early on.

The Best of the Rest

I'll keep this short, Spurs. There we go. This of course depends on whether they decide to play like their squad suggests. Last season, under Ramos, they couldn't kick a ball. Under Redknapp, they looked very good. Also expect Luka Modric to have a key season and in the words of Alan Partridge, "thrike" some goals in. Their success is depending on the amount of injuries they have and if Ledley King ever plays. And that's not a load of Tottenham in my book (good luck with the reference)

Conclusion

If I was forced to make a prediction of the league table, here's how it would look

1. Manchester United
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal
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5. Manchester City
6. Tottenham
7. Everton
8. Aston Villa.
9. West Ham United
10. Sunderland
11. Fulham
12. Bolton
13. Burnley
14. Blackburn (Lancashire club league round here)
15. Wolves
16. Wigan
17. Pompey
18. Stoke
19. Birmingham
20. Hull

Other Cups and Awards

FA Cup - Spurs, to break "the year ends in 1" hoodoo
League Cup - Arsenal
Champions League - Inter Milan, as Mourinho might focus on it
Manager Sack Race - Paul Hart by a country mile
Overachievers - Spurs
Underachievers - Liverpool/ Arsenal
Player of the Year - Nemanja Vidic, he was robbed last year
Player who didn't do so well of the Year - At a random guess, and hope, Steven Gerrard

Don't quote me on those predictions, I don't have the Almanac from Back to the Future

Image courtesy of Jason Bagley