Its obvious that us and the mancs have the two strongest squads in the league (hence the two most likely title contenders). Its easy to say this as we have so much quality throughout, in our team we can replace malouda or ashley cole with zhirkov, terry with carvahlo, bosingwa with branislave, essien with mikel and the list goes on. But do we have the strongest starting 11 in the league? In my opinion here are how all the teams would line up;

Man u:

-----------------------Rooney--------------Owen/berbatov----------------

--nani----------------carrick-------------fletcher------------valencia---

---evra(the prick)---Ferdinand--------------vidic--------------------neville/oshea---

-----------------------------------van der sar----------------------------------

Liverpool:

----------------------------Torres--------------------------------------

----riera--------------------gerrard------------------------kuyt----

-----------------aquilani---------------mascherano---------------

---aurelio----------agger/skrtel-----------carragher------------Johnson

-----------------------------Reina----------------------------------

and then our glorious lineup:

----------------------Drogba-----------------Anelka-------------------------

--------------------------------Lamps---------------------------------------

-----------malouda/yuri-----------------------------essien/jcole---------------------

-------------------------------mikel/essien---------------------------------------

--Acole------------Terry-------------Riccy/alex--------------------Jose-------

---------------------------Cech---------------------------------------------

I will attempt a citeh one:

---------------------adebayor------------RSC-----------------------------------

---robinho---------------------------------------------------tevez-------------------

---------------------Barry-----------------ireland-------------------------------------

--bridge-------------toure-------------lescott???------------richards/zabaleta-------

-------------------------given-------------------------------------------

Was tempted to stick 6 forwards in the citeh one but thats how i would imagine they will lineup, bluemoon feel free to correct me.

and lastly and leastly (in my opinion) arsenal, not sure what formation they going to play so will just go 4-4-2:

--------------------RVP------------------Eduardo/bendtner---------------------

---arshavin---------fabregas-------------denilson----------------walcott----

---sagna---------vermeelen--------------gallas-----------------clichy-------

---------------------------almunia-------------------------------------------

Now these seem clearcut the 5 strongest starting 11's out of the teams in the prem but it was my opinion as to the particular players that were put in so feel free to correct me, or share your opinions on those.

In my opinion we do stand ahead here but i will also admit that liverpools starting team does rival ours. Manu have been seriously weakened by the departure of CR9 and their midfield is rather weak but also a good team. I do not rate Arsenals on the other hand and citehs will be the interesting one to see whether they can play together.

Anyway who does everyone else feel has the strongest 11?

Based on just the starting 11, I think you are underrating arsenal. I'm not sure about their defense, but their attack is certainly very strong. The trouble with them is they have no depth.

I didnt know Sagna was left back and Clichy right. On a serious note, I agree with ivorycoast here. If you just consider the starting 11 Arsenal's is as good if not better than Chelsea or United. They do have a shaky defense but that is balanced out by a pretty damn good attack. If their first teamers can remain injury free for the majority of the season, they are a force.

Bit of a pointless exercise really as football is played with a ball on a pitch and not with a keyboard on a desk. There are too many other variables involved.

What I would say is we have the oldest squad, which in theory should equate to the most experienced, whether that can be converted into 3 points or not is hard to say as attitude and effort then come into the equation. Of course we then have skill levels to consider, but that could be affected by the weather, length of grass, soil consistency, ball inflation, boot comfort.... I'll shut up.

Of course we believe we have the best squad.

Sorry to seem negative to your post Sals and please don't take it personal it's not meant that way.

my bad about clichy and sagna. Im not sure their team dosent convince me, clichy a good player but was beyond average last season and this vermeelen guy is very unproven. Their attack force is obviously good but the strength in it is their attacking midfielders. RVP is a exceptional player, occasionally brilliant but also inconsistent. Eduardo i havent seen much of him but i hear his strengths are being a very clinical finisher and not a lot else. I think the loss of adebayor is going to hinder them a lot more than most people realise. He added a lot of height and strength to their team and whilst being a prick he is a very good player. In my opinion they are going to have to buy someone else that will be a permanent first teamer before they are able to compete.

Yes its a good starting 11 and on their day they will turn on the arsenal magic but i think the strength of their starting 11 falls short of ours as well as short of liverpools

At Ladbrokes we are favourite, with ManU close 2, then liverpuddle a length back and further away arse and 14:1 citeh.

Our depth seems greater than any except manu, but its the injuries that age will bring that will be the issue as well as the bottle of the team under ancelotti.

Its a long season, hopefully going to be a good one, and for me in Sydney a very convenient 10:45 pm kick off on Saturday evening. I don't rate the arse forward line to score enough goals even leaving aside defence. Citeh attack will be very powerful but again defence is a real question mark.

Lpuddle look as good as last year, maybe better considering they don't have to relive the keane sanction and united are clearly weaker.

talk talk talk where's da action.

mmm squad depth wise it is us or man u this is about the strongest starting 11s of the side. Over here in nz its a very pleasant 11.45pm kickoff, far better than we normally get. Liverpools 11 is interesting because even glen johnson is better than arbeloa so they have improved there but whether or not aquilani wil be a success in the prem will play a big factor in the strength of their team.

Not very helpful comment, but I just wanted to say that I really hate it when Ronaldo is referred to as 'CR9.'

He's not a car, or a brand, he's a poncy little twat who doesn't need his ego fed any further by giving him a 'cool' nickname.

Thanks :)

Its CR7 in fact...not that I'm trying to correct his cool nickname, I'm just trying to correct his jersey number.

actually it is CR9 now. I kind of mean it in a patronising tone more so than actually being serious with the name. I find it hilarious how big his ego os to actually make a brand like cr7 and cr9

Surely for another team to have a stronger starting 11 than us, they would have to theoretically have 6 players that would clearly dislodge ours.

Utd have 2 (Rooney Ferdinand)

Liverpool have 2 (Torres Gerrard)

Arsenal have 1 (Fabregas)

City have 1 (Tevez)

Apart from these players, the rest of these teams are dogsh*t. No really. You try and replace one of our starting 11 with any of what is left...

arshavin would definitely make our left wing, saying that we dont know how good zhirkov will be. Robinho would also start for us considering how hard we were trying to sign him last summer.

Do we? Someone certainly think so:

Chelsea have lost nothing from last season, they have kept all the big, talented players - like Didier Drogba - but what they have gained is a very talented, experienced and respected coach in Carlo Ancelotti. I think Luis Felipe Scolari failed because he hadn't managed a big club side, but you only have to glance at Ancelotti's record in Milan to see that won't be a problem.

Full article here

Worth reading because the author of the article isn't exactly renowned for being sympathetic towards Chelsea FC. The comments (three at time of writing) are also worth reading, which is unusual in itself.

arshavin would definitely make our left wing, saying that we dont know how good zhirkov will be. Robinho would also start for us considering how hard we were trying to sign him last summer.

Maybe Arseshaving. But Im really not sure that I would start Robinho ahead of Malouda after last season. Either way, The maximum number of players that would get into our starting team from any of the other 4 squads is a rather pathetic 2.

Maybe Arseshaving. But Im really not sure that I would start Robinho ahead of Malouda after last season. Either way, The maximum number of players that would get into our starting team from any of the other 4 squads is a rather pathetic 2.

Am I living in a different planet here? However big mouthed c**t Robinho is, he's a hell of a footballer, certainly on a different level to Malouda.

Am I living in a different planet here? However big mouthed c**t Robinho is, he's a hell of a footballer, certainly on a different level to Malouda.

yes. you are living on a different planet in a parallel universe where there are no away games.

Who would get in our starting XI out of the other top four sides?

Man Utd:

Ferdinand/Vidic (maybe)

Fletcher (again, maybe)

Valencia

Rooney

Berbatov (maybe)

Liverpool:

Mascherano

Gerrard (although exactly where, I have no idea. I'm not entirely sure about this, seeing as you'd never pick him over Lampard)

Torres

Arsenal:

Sagna

Arshavin

Rosicky (on form and fit)

Van Persie/Eduardo (maybe)

Man City:

Ireland (maybe)

Tevez

Robinho

We have to remember that we're looking at this through blue-tinted spectacles, however. People we might see as dislodgable, i.e. Terry might not get into another side over players who are less good but who are an integral part of the team, e.g. Ferdinand or Carragher. There's no doubt that Terry is better than both of them, but I doubt either Man Utd or Liverpool would want to drop their vice-captains.

Maybe its just looking at it with blue-tinted glasses, but if you look at the teams in sals original post, then here are the number of truely world class players (i.e. players that are arguably the best in the world in their position):

Man U - 3 (Rooney, Ferdinand, Vidic)

Liverpool - 2 (Torres, Gerrard)

Arsenal - 2 (Fabregas, Arshavin)

Man City - 0

Chelsea - 5 (Drogba, Lampard, Essien, Terry, Cech)

For that reason, I think our first team IS the best in the league at the moment.

The problem will be:

1. Keeping our 5 world class players fit and on form for most of the season

2. Having enough squad depth to cope when we are missing key players

i disagree completely that fletcher would even have a look into our starting lineup, not a chance. Sagna is an interesting one and i actually rate him quite highly im not sure how good he is defensively compared to bossy

i disagree completely that fletcher would even have a look into our starting lineup, not a chance. Sagna is an interesting one and i actually rate him quite highly im not sure how good he is defensively compared to bossy

Sagna is stronger defensively than Bosingwa, but he's not as good going forward. He's bloody quick though.

yes. you are living on a different planet in a parallel universe where there are no away games.

:D well put. he was garbage away from home last season, in fact he was embarassing at times. he just wasnt interested and had completely the wrong attitude.