The new football season is once again upon us and with it comes the hopes and anticipations of football fans everywhere! One of the best things about football is that everyone has an opinion and the start of a new campaign is no different. Some fans will be optimistic, some fans over confident and some fans may be fearing the worst but the fact remains that the new season provides a great opportunity to put your predicting skills to the test and here are my predictions on what will happen in the Premier League come May.
What better place to start than the Premier League? The division that everyone seems to have an opinion about, whether you support one of the 20 top flight clubs, one of the other 72 league clubs or your local side in the depths of amateur football. Even if you’ve never got out of your armchair to watch a game, people seem to know who’s going to win the title and the Premier League title race in 2010/11 looks set to be one of the most open for years. Entering its 19th season, the Premier League has been dominated by an elite trio of teams, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea; Blackburn Rovers is the only other team to have been crowned champions back in 1995.
Last season saw Chelsea win their third title in six years, ending a sequence of three consecutive titles for Manchester United and in failing to win a record fourth successive championship, the question is whether this is where United’s dominance ends. Having accounted for eleven of the 18 Premier League titles, United are always going to amongst the favourites to win the title, however, the gap left by the loss of Tevez and Ronaldo prior to the start of last season become evident in United’s reliance on Wayne Rooney to score the goals needed to win games. Luckily for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, Rooney scored 26 goals during the season (a 1/3 of United’s total league goals) but it was still not enough with the Red Devils coming up short in all competitions bar the Carling Cup. Much will depend once again on Rooney’s goals (and fitness) as to whether United will be challenging on all fronts in 2010/11 but it’s a big ask following the striker’s sudden loss of form for his club towards the end of last season before continuing for England at the World Cup.
Another major disadvantage for United is the continued reliance on aging stars such Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Edwin Van der Sar, who between them boast an average age of 37! You’d think that Fergie would have factored for some of the younger stars to be playing a more important role in the first team by now but the fact remains that the ‘old guard’ remain an important fixture and unless some of the youngsters begin to realise their potential soon, the impending end to Fergie’s reign at Old Trafford could finish ‘trohpy-less’.
Add off the field woes in to the equation at Old Trafford, which continues to a see a feud between fans versus owners over the running of the club and reports of ever increasing debts and a case can be made for United enduring a miserable season. It may be a bold prediction but it would come as no surprise to see Man Utd finish outside of the top four for the first since 1991!
It is not just the fact that United have several problems of their own to overcome that leads to the prediction that they’ll miss out on a Champions League place but the fact that we should expect teams open to further improvement to be challenging amongst those that have made a Premier League top four finish a ‘closed shop’ in recent years. By finishing fourth last season, Spurs broke the strangle hold of the traditional ‘top four’ of Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool and the process provided a model for other clubs to follow. Harry Redknapp will certainly have his work cut out if Tottenham are to repeat last season’s efforts, especially if they progress in the Champions League, but a clear ability within the squad together with growing experience and confidence will only act to help the team improve further. To be in the title race may be a big ask but it should be safe to expect Spurs to once again be an ever present in the top four.
Tottenham finished fourth last term at the expense of big spending Manchester City, who, with the benefit of a full pre-season under Roberto Mancini and a few new signings will be looking to improve on that. City are currently third favourites in the latest football odds to win the Premier League in 2011 behind Chelsea and Man Utd and whilst it is a tall order to break into the top four and win the title at the same time, it would come as no real surprise given the talent they boast and the money spent. However, at this stage, City fans are probably happy to finish above rivals, Man Utd.
If Man Utd, Spurs or City aren’t going to win the title, it only leave three realistic alternatives; Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. Of those three, it’s pretty safe to say Liverpool aren’t going to end their 21 year wait for the championship. Finishing a lowly seventh last season was enough to see Rafa Benitez given the boot from the Anfield hot seat being replaced by Roy Hodgson who had previously worked miracles with Fulham to guide them to the Europa League final. The emphasis and respect Hodgson will bring to league campaign will make a welcome change for Liverpool fans and they should be back in the hunt for a top four finish. Any team with Gerrard and Torres cannot be discounted and keeping them fit may be the key to Liverpool being lively dark horses for the title and the addition of Joe Cole is sure to prove an important one.
This leaves on Chelsea and Arsenal to battle it out for the title and given the trend of one of these two winning the title along with United in recent years, it is no surprise to see that one of the London duo will win the title in 2011. Arsenal will be six years without a major piece of silverware come next May and every year, their style of football and progressive squad of talented personnel lends them to being the team tipped to win the title before injuries and inconsistencies lead them to coming up short. Whilst Arsene Wenger has created a legacy at Arsenal, time may be running out on the Frenchman and this season will be crucial. He has added Marounane Chamakh to add some much needed fire power up front and retaining Cesc Fabregas in spite of Barcelona’s advances is a huge bonus. An injury free season to Robin van Persie could be the difference between finishing first and second for the Gunners but assuming all is well in the Emirates medical room, it is Arsenal who will win the title with Chelsea finishing second.
Chelsea leave nothing to the imagination, everyone knows what the are capable of. We know that Lampard’s 20+ goal haul from midfield together with Drogba’s assured Golden Boot tilt will see the Blues challenging for the title once again but with Yossi Benayoun the only major summer recruit, Chelsea could be vulnerable to an Arsenal side who undoubtedly have yet to reach its potential.
Premier League Predictions
Champions – Arsenal
2nd – Chelsea
3rd – Liverpool
4th – Man City
5th – Man Utd
6th – Spurs
Written By Richard Smith
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