English Premier League Season Preview - My Predictions
So its that time of the year again. Its 32 C outside here in Canada, so it must be time for the new English Premier League season to start. This year I feel bold enough to make predictions so here goes. My top eight this year are as follows
- Manchester City
- Manchester United
- Chelsea
- Arsenal
- Liverpool
- Tottenham
- Everton
- Newcastle United
In my opinion last year Manchester United were actually lucky to keep it close right up to the last game, and while they have been strengthened by the addition of Robin Van Persie, I can’t see them beating City this year so I am predicting that Manchester City will repeat - but it will be close again.
Chelsea have added some new talent, and I think this might be Torres year, but I don’t think they quite have it to challenge the two Manchester clubs, so I see them in a solid 3rd place, and qualifying for Europe - yet again.
The big battle is going to be for the last Champions League place. While Arsenal have signed a couple of new players in Podolski and Giroud, they have lost their best player and are likely to lose Song to Barcelona, and Wilshere is not expected to return from injury until well into October.
Liverpool have a new manager in Brendan Rodgers and some new young talent in Boroni and Allen - and they appear to be favorites to sign Clint Dempsey, and Lucas is back after missing most of last season. If Brendan Rodgers can get the team playing like he was able to get Swansea playing last year I think they will make a strong challenge for 4th.
Tottenham may have fired Redknapp because they missed out on Europe last year - albeit because Chelsea qualified as European Champions - but I am not a fan of Andres Villas-Boas (AVB), after his disastrous period at Chelsea. It looks like Modric will be off to Spain, and I think they will be the big losers this year.
Everton and Newcastle United should round out the top 8.
And what about the relegation battle. As much as I like the idea of all the newly promoted clubs surviving like last year when Swansea, Norwich and QPR survived, I don’t see this happening again. My prediction of the three to go down are:
- Southampton
- Reading
- Wigan
So that’s it - my predictions for the 2012-2013 season. Now that Sportsnet World (formerly Setanta Canada) is available in HD - Almost every game is broadcast live (or delayed by a couple of hrs.) in HD. Saturday and Sunday mornings are going to be fun.