Time for my annual predictions, in the form of a table with added notes:
1. Chelsea
2. Man City [1]
3. Man Utd [2]
4. Spurs
5. Arsenal [3]
6. Liverpool
7. Swansea
8. West Ham
9. Aston Villa [4]
10. Everton
11. Southampton
12. Stoke
13. West Brom
14. Naarwich
15. Fulham
16. Cardiff
17. Sunderland [5]
18. Newcastle [6]
19. Hull
20. Crystal Palace [7]
[1] I’m sure these will be the top two, and I’m placing trust in Jose that Chelsea will be top. If we get Rooney I’ll be sure of it – but that’s one of the main reasons why I can’t see MU selling him to us.
[2] I like Moyes, and he is clearly a capable manager – he’s just not SAF (who is?) and there will be consequences. It’s been a shambles of a summer for them so far; they have just less than three weeks to rescue something. Even if they do, I can’t see them contending for the title with their present squad (the goalposts have moved).
[3] This is primarily a hunch – I think Spurs will improve on last year, and Arsenal are also, like Utd, having something of a ‘mare in the transfer market. This is not dependent on Bale staying at Spurs.
[4] They’ve kept Benteke (did great things for my fantasy team last year) and I really rate Lambert as a manager.
[5] All depends upon their slightly mental manager…
[6] All depends upon their slightly mental owner…
[7] I think the bottom two are pretty much write-ins; Hull have a slightly better chance simply because of Bruce’s experience at this level.
Umm I think Man City will finish top followed by Chelsea and ManU. ManU’s team is remarkably weak unless several of their young players suddenly come of age during the season and they clearly have some rebuilding to do under a new manager. But I think Moyes is in a more secure position than Jose because manu have a history of giving their managers time to perform. If Chelsea lose their first three or four games, the special one might be gone before the season is half over.
Arsenal and Liverpool are clearly teams in decline. It’s an interesting time to be a Spurs fan.