Top 4 contenders + Relegation candidates

I wrote this before the season started but might aswell post it up now.

Well with the new season drawing closer and closer, what is your gut feeling about the coming season?

Personally I have the excitement of a new season looking forward to it and all that.
But when I bring the football aspect and the transfer window into the equation my view changes a little.
Ideally I would like Liverpool to gain the Cl spot back and re-establish ourself in the top 4 but at who's expense?

Looking at how other clubs have lined up in the market, Arsenal have signed Gervinho as of note and are still looking to add more but the ever present dark cloud of Fabregas leaving is still there. I fear how the loss would affect them because when RVP and CF are on the same team it is amazing to watch their link up play is amazing but if you take that dimension out of the squad who would replace that link up? Ramsey is showing good signs but imo is still looking a little inexperienced in the league so maybe a little too soon for him to take a big step up but for sure next season he will be one to watch, of course Arsenal have Jack Wilshire and that will go a long way for them as the lad is a different class compared to the English youth coming through. But I still think the lack of Cesc if he does leave could hurt Arsenal and may leave them dropping from the Top 4.

Chelski were a title challenger last season but this season could be different. Yes they have a ageing squad but they still have a season or two left in them. Torres was left lacking last season and he will be out with a point to prove for the coming season and as a Liverpool Fan I know what he can do and if he fires on all cylinders again he will take the league by storm. They need to sort out their midfield imo. They just don't seem to offer enough for them. Yossi who has had the best Pre-season of anyone in the Chelsea squad and he needs to be given more playing time as he adds so much going forward from midfield and because of the recent in take of Andre Villa Boas and his liking to the 4-3-3 formation midfield as well as attack will be a problem for them. Torres and Drogba although both world class forwards can't work together as both would need to be used in the centre of a 4-3-3 and not either on the wings. With the 4-3-3 it leaves the midfield under powered with Lampard holidng the centre with Mikel and Ramires helping him out. Which to me isn't a pretty picture. I don't think we will see Chelsea struggle to stay in the top four but a title challenge may be out of the question.

Manchester City, well where do I begin with City, Joint second last season, third on goal difference. A City squad which took its time to gel together but once they did it became a force and their final position represented that. They have spent a hell of alot on their sqaud atm and it shows. They won the FA Cup and was a great coup for them last season. City will be a team to be reckoned with this season and for sure a title challenger. They have just signed Kun Ageuro and with Tevez wanting out of the club Kun will have to hit the ground running, but people forget that Adebayor is still on their books, a striker who I believe has the talent just doesn't seem to apply himself if he focuses he could be the solution but imo his time is done at city. That brings me to Dzeko and Balotelli. Balotelli the fully grown child has been a great source of entertainment for us all since arriving but this season he needs to pull away from playing up for the media and decide to give 110% for Manchester City this season with Tevez definitely leaving, Ballotelli has the ability he has shown glimpses of that but he needs to mature or else he may find himself sitting on the bench. Dzeko is another who needs to find his scoring boots for City or else he may have to find himself a new club. City will have another good season but the main question will be, how will they handle the newly found Champions League football. Will the two matches a week bring them down and out of the title challenge, do they have depth in numbers and quality to provide cover for themselves in these matches. Only time will tell but imo they will be up their at the close of next season.

Manchester United the champions, we have seen them lose their keeper and a RB in Neville and Van der Sar but they have replacements sown up and look as strong as they did last season. David De Gea has been brought in to replace the Dutch veteran and I believe he will come good for Manchester United. but with the signing of Ashley Young United don't need to worry about wingers, infact they have a bountiful supply of great wingers, they have Valencia and Nani, Welbeck a youngster who is having a great pre-season, Ryan Giggs and Park amongst Young. Even Rooney has dabbled out to the LW on occasion last season. The Centre of Midfield is one of the most problem areas for Manchester. They have just lost Scholes who was a major player for United in the Centre the orchestrator of the plays. Who do they have to fill his shoes? Carrick, Anderson, Giggs has played central too, They have youth in cleverly too. Darren Fletcher the mystery man when it came to close season last season. He was nowhere to be found, he contracted some sort of virus which kept him out. This Season Fletcher who has come on leaps and bound in the last few campaigns will be major key in Uniteds plans. Another problem area for United is their Full Backs. They have the twins who are great little players but are fairly injury prone who do they have for cover now then? Evra who will play LB and most likely have Rafeal at RB they leave themselves with only Fabio as cover for both positions after selling John O' Shea. They have recently bought Phil Jones so maybe he may need to fill in at the RB position if the Injurt Prone young Full back get injured. My Guess for United is at least a title challenge, providing they get cover and avoid Injuries.

Tottenham Hotspur in 2009 they finished in 4th to gain themselves entry into the Champions League for last season and wether Harry and Spurs fans want to admit it or not it took its toll and has left Spurs falling out of the top 4. Spurs are now in the Europa League and that will take its toll on the squad. Harry has said that he plans to use youths in the competition but what happens if the powers above decide they want Hazza to go on and try to win the competition, it's all fine using the young lads for the start of the rounds but once you get further on your first team comes into play and that will cause havoc with the teams domestic performances. Turing back to the Premier league I think Tottenham will be disappointed with having fallen from the Top 4 and will try and re enter the CL spots but it will be fairly tough for the Londoners,Modric is the main talking point for Spurs this pre-season will he or won't he, If he leaves it will leave a huge gap in the Midfield for Spurs as he was their main man last season, everything went through him. His loss could have massive consequences not all doom and gloom for Spurs though. They still kept some of their best players, they have Lennon and Bale on the wings who have been quite good to be honest. Bale needs to become a little more consistent and not just show up for the big games and they'll be flying. Van Der Vaart is still there and after his debut PL season he will be looking to build on it. With Modric most likely leaving CM will be a little problem. The only players I can see starting there for Spurs would be Sandro and Placios which doesn't shout out creative to me. Personally with the Europa League and Modric wanting out I can see Spurs struggling as their forward line doesn't get many goals either. Spurs need to get buying or get use to finishing back in 6th and 7th.

Liverpool the one who got away in a sense. Haven't finished in the top 4 for the last two seasons. A new Era has begun at Liverpool with the return of Kenny Dalglish which saw a new Liverpool team in the close of the season. Kenny has been a busy boy in the Transfer market for Liverpool with the capture of Andy Carrol last season and the likes of Adam,Downing,Henderson and Luis Suarez. It seems that Dalglish noticed that Liverpool didn't have the same depth in quality as the other teams in the league which was evident when players like Gerrard or Meirlies got injured which left a creative gap. Now with the signings Liverpool are finally looking good and worthy of a push for the CL spots again. Defence is still a small issue for Liverpool though, they have some great quality youth coming through thanks to Rafa but these youths are Full Backs and Liverpool are in need of CBs. Kelly can play at both and was a breath of fresh air for all the fans last season. When he got injured young John Flanagan came up and proved his worth, while Jack Robinson got one game and showed he could also hack it. Liverpool seem to be covered in the right back spot with the likes of Johnson, Kelly and Flanagan but when it comes to CB and LB they struggle. At the moment Liverpool have Fabio Aurellio, Insua and Robinson who can all play LB. Insua was thrown in the deep end by Rafa and played well but died off and the pressure got to him. he spent last season on loan and has bulked up alot and has stated he would like to fight for the LB spot. Fabio the phantom LB because he is never around for more than 3 games. He picks up Injuries like Charlie Sheen picks up women and then Robinson has the potential and quality but you can see Kenny doesn't want what happened to Insua to happen to Jack. The CB issue is going to be quite hard as Daniel Agger is quite injury prone and is the best CB option Liverpool have. Soto and Carragher are getting on in age and losing their pace so they aren't the best options to have in the back although Carragher does control his defence very well. Martin Skertl is far too prone to fouling players when there is no need and to me he shouldn't be starting. With Liverpool being linked to Enrique and Cahill their Defence issues could soon be sorted and this will allow them to push on for a CL spot. Lucas Levia will again be a major force for Liverpool. He won Fans Player Of The Season last year and he will be looking to build on his wonder season in the new look Midfield. Andy Carrol has been bought so we have a target man in the box, Downing and Adam have also been bought to suit Carrol in my opinion, Downing has already shown in pre-season he can deliver a wonderful ball and Liverpool fans these two will help deliver success back to Anfield. Last but not least Luis Suarez came and turned Liverpool around in January easily one of the most influential players of the close season and Liverpool will be looking to him for next season. My opinion is Liverpool will challenge for a CL spot.

These are just my views atm things can change as there is still loads of time in the transfer window and nothing is certain yet but one thing is for sure if this season is anything like the later part of last we are all in for a treat.



What do you all think, who will be in the top 4?


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Well I've discussed the title or top4 challengers so now it's time to discuss the real battle in terms of endeavour for the coming season.

So we will start with one of the biggest names considered for the drop this season, Blackburn Rovers didn't have the best of times last season, Big Sam got the chop after the chicken pluckers took over. Rovers finished 15th last season but only 4 points off the drop zone. Steve Kean came in to replace Sam Allardyce,Rovers fans haven't exactly warmed up to their new man or their new owners. The future isn't looking that great for Blackburn as nothing seems to have changed from last season,Infact it seems it has gotten a little worse for them. Phil Jones one of the best young players of last season has left in favour of the Premier League Champions Manchester United. This will weaken the Blackburn defence as he was a powerhouse,Chris Samba has also been linked with a move away from the chicken pen which again if he leaves the central defence of Blackburn will be lacking in strength. To be honest I think Blackburn will survive the drop but I will be a tough battle again this season and I feel that Steve Kean will get sacked and that may save Rovers.My prediction 16/17th

Wigan are another team that always seem to be in the battle to stay up in the Premiership, last season they finished in 16th just 3 points above the relegation spots. Wigan have been quiet this silly season with a lack of real activity. Roberto Martinez seems to be quite confident about his team chances with climbing up the table to mid-table security although with last season 16th was mid-table security considering anyone could have went down at one stage. There was a major lack of player activity but when it came to their Manager Wigan had to fend off the Vultures as Roberto became in high demand but he stayed with Dave Whelan the man who gave him his chance. Wigan in my opinion will be a team who struggle to survive again unless they sign a few players and manage to keep a hold of James McCarthy otherwise they may aswell brace themselves for Championship football next season.My prediction 16th

Wolverhampton Wanders, good ole Mick McCarthy will be at the helm again this season to try and help his team survive this coming season. Wolves do have players who posses quality,they have players like Kevin Doyle who has proven he can do the business and Jarvis to supply him from the wing but yet they find themselves in the relegation battles every season. In my opinion I hate to use this as a solution but they need to start buying players or else relegation will come soon. They survived last season with a goal in the last 15 minutes which gave them the extra point the needed to climb above Birmingham. They have started to strengthen their squad with the signing of Johnson but thats only one player and he can't make that much of a difference. I feel this could be the season that wolves plummet from the top tier even though McCarthy has aimed for the top half.My prediction 16/17th

Stoke City, Personally I don't believe Stoke will be going down without a stroke of bad luck,The only thing I can see going against them is the plight of European football will take its toll on the squad. They have strengthened the squad during the summer with the signing of Johnatan Woodgate, Woodgate the glass man was taken on by Stoke boss Tony Pulis , Stoke have also been linked with the likes of Palacios and Bentnder, Which would be great additions and help stoke stay well clear of the relegation battle. So really the only trouble that could get stoke into the relegation battle is if they get plauge of injuries and Europe takes it toll. A major player will be their Young Captain Ryan Shawcross and if they can hold onto him their defence will be good and strong. Stoke will survive in my opinion.My prediction Mid Table

Norwich City will be a team that in my opinion will be falling straight back down to the Championship Lambert has done an amazing job with Norwich City, for a manager to get a team to do a double jump is no easy feat be jasus I can't even do that on Football Manager but with the players that Lambert has bought I just can't see them winning enough games to stay up, don't get me wrong, they have bought some very good Championship standard players but I can't see them doing the job in the Premier league, but with the players they have bought they will come straight back up to the Premier League and try again the following year but this year I can't see it being pulled off.My prediction 20th

Queens Park Rangers and Neil Warnock where to start, firstly I can't stand Warnock and would love nothing more than QPR to plummet back down just to sicken Warnock but it would be unfair for his squad. QPR Took the Championship by storm last season and won the league with 88 points with Norwich on 84 behind them. QPR look like a team that could survive the drop this season tbh, They Adel Taarbat who was a revelation last season in the Championship and has attracted the attention of top European clubs, although there is groups of Facebook slagging Taarbat off QPR need to keep a hold of him and Faurlin who both were massive players last season for QPR. QPR also went on to make their front line stronger not that they needed to with the team scoring 71 goals last season but with the purchase of Jay Bothroyd and Dj Campbell the team should look stronger and will be looking to build on their success last season and gain security in the English Premier League. My prediction 16th.

Swansea the final of the newly promoted boyos, the Honeymoon period is well and truly over for all the new teams in the league, they are setting back into pre-season buliding up their fitness and have found the new level. Some of the players may be taken aback by the gulf of class but Swansea will need their players to hold their own. Swansea won the Play-offs last season which was no mean feat as they were the underdogs and they will definitely be underdogs for the coming season, they have a strong championship squad and Brendan Rogers has done very good with the club, again with the likes of QPR they have signed a player or three to strengthen the squad, they have signed Leory Lita (he must be 50) now from boro to come back to the premiership to do the job for Swansea.Swansea have a good creative squad with Dobbie, Sinclair and now Wayne Routledge too. Swansea have decided that they needed to improve and they have. I feel that they will be feared as the under dogs and teams will go in relaxed against them but after everyone expected Blackpool to get steam rolled last season Swansea will be on my radar as a team that will cause a few upsets. My Prediction 16th/17th.



I really can't call who will go down the same way i can't call who will get into the top 4 but again with the same way for the top4 if its anything like last season and it comes down to the last day I would not like to support a team in that battle. Lets hope for a good one.

Bottom 3 in your view?