Predictions for the Premiership finishing places

[loz]

These are mine

So exceeding expectations for Sunderland, Bolton slumping, Wigan Derby and FUlham to go down, and Chelsea to romp home with the title!

1 Chelsea

2 Man Utd

3 Liverpool

4 Arsenal

5 Tottenham

6 Newcastle

7 Everton

8 West Ham

9 Portsmouth

10 Sunderland

11 Aston Villa

12 Man City

13 Middlesbro'

14 Blackburn

15 Bolton

16 Reading

17 Birmingham

18 Fulham

19 Wigan

20 Derby

[The Moos]

So you really think A*se can take 4th place? I wouldn't place them higher than 6th or 7th.

[Guest Brian M]

1 Chelsea

2 Man Utd

3 Tottenham

4 Arsenal

5 Liverpool

6 Everton

7 Newcastle

8 West Ham

9 Portsmouth

10 Man City

11 Blackburn

12 Sunderland

13 Middlesbro'

14 Aston Villa

15 Bolton

16 Reading

17 Birmingham

18 Wigan

19 Fulham

20 Derby

[loz]

I think the demise of Arsenal is massively exaggerated. They managed a top four finish last season depsite Henry missing a lot of the season through injury so I am pretty confident they gt fourth spot this year.

[Guest Brian M]

I think the demise of Arsenal is massively exaggerated. They managed a top four finish last season depsite Henry missing a lot of the season through injury so I am pretty confident they gt fourth spot this year.

I agree. It's Liverpool who are going to fall from grace this season.

Of course, that could just be wishful thinking!

[TT]

1. Chelsea

2. anybody but Chelsea

3. Couldn't care less

4. don't give a

5. etc....

[The Moos]

I think the demise of Arsenal is massively exaggerated. They managed a top four finish last season depsite Henry missing a lot of the season through injury so I am pretty confident they gt fourth spot this year.

I'm not so sure. It might just be me but I feel that their squad is far from complete. Sure, Henry missed some of last season and they still managed but I think that having Henry injured and having Henry at a completely different team is two different things. The loss of Henry (and perhaps of Ljungberg too) has been a huge blow to Arsenal and Wengers lack of big signings hasn't done the club any good either.

Perhaps some young players can perform beyond anyones believes this season and therefore make Arsenal a top 5-team but I seriously doubt it.

And let's not forget that Arsenal has a very, very thin troup. They really can't afford injuries. Imagine if players like Fabregas and RVP gets injured at the same time? That's a nightmare for most Arsenal supporters.

I can see the team perhaps putting up a real good fight in big games but they will lose a lot of points to other teams as well.

We'll see how it goes. Perhaps I'm completely wrong and they end up winning the title

[loz]

The loss of Freddie is negligible as he has barely played for two seasons. I acknowledge that there might be a psychological blow not having Henry however I wouldn't be all that surprised if they end up scoring more goals without henry then they did with Henry.My reaosning for this being that Henry tended to wander a lot and Arsenal were always accused (with a lot of justificiiton) of trying to walk the ball into the net. Admittedly I don't know a huge amount about Eduardo but if he proves to be a more orthodox centre forward than henry then Arsenal may just reap the benefits of having someone who sticks to the his role as a goal getter rather than assuming too much responsibility as a goal maker.

[Jack]

Laughed my ass off yesterday when Freddie said he left cos all the big players have gone. All I could think of was poor Willy on the phone to his agent, begging him to get him out of there!

As far as the finishing places are concerned, I'm the eternal pessimist. I think we've got a tough start and recent history shows that if you fluff the start, playing catch-up is very difficult. I'm also not too sure about Jose's compromise position, to play 4-4-2, to open the game out. The tried and trusted methodology he's used in the past has been spot-on, only disrupted by last seasons injuries. I think we'll have a conflict during the season involving a return to the old 4-3-3, the Sheva question, and Roman's desire for more attacking football. The new system will pose more questions than answers, the main one being can we afford to be more open and risk conceding more goals when we rely so heavily on Drogba? The fact that Lamps would have to sit a little more means that his goal-quota will inevitably drop.

My final table would read:

1 Manyoo

2 Chelsea

3 Liverfool (but much closer than recent years)

4 Spuds

5 Arse

6 Blackburn

7 Villa

8 Newcastle

9 Everton

10 Man City

11 West ham

12 Sunderland

13 Pompey

14 Bolton

15 Boro

16 Fulham

17 Reading

18 Birmingham

19 Wigan

20 Derby

It'll be a 3 way chase at the top right up until the end, but at the bottom Derby and Wigan are dead certs and the relegation fight will involve Brum and the 4 clubs above them.

[BLUENUT]

1 Chelsea

2 Manu

3 Liverpool

4 Spurs

bottom

Derby

Fulham or Birmingham

Wigan (1st manager sacked aswell)

Cant be bothered wth the Villa's, City's and Portsmouths.....who really cares where about in the middle they finish?

[Scott]

1. Chelsea

2. the rest..................

[sergeyMS]

1. Chelsea

2. anybody but Chelsea

3. Couldn't care less

4. don't give a

5. etc....

Mine is the same, but a one little change:

1) Chelsea

2) MU or Liverpool

..........

...........

............

[Tim W]

1 Chelsea

.

.

.

.

18 Arsenal

19 Tottenham

20 West Ham

[Alan]

If only

I'm going to go for:

1. Chelsea

2. Man Utd

3. Liverpool

4. Arsenal

5. Tottenham

6. Everton

7. Blackburn

8. Man City

9. Portsmouth

10. Villa

11. West Ham

12. Bolton

13. Newcastle

14. Fulham

15. Reading

16. Sunderland

17. Boro

18. Wigan

19. Birmingham

20. Derby

[Guest AJ]

1 chelsea

2 Man Utd

3 Arsenal

4 Liverpool

5 Spuds

6 Villa

7 Notlob (Bolton)

8 Newcastle

9 Man City

10 West Ham

11 Portsmouth

12 Everton

13 Blackburn

14 Middlesbro

15 Reading

16 Wigan

17 Birmingham

18 Sunderland

19 Fulham

20 Derby

[Lofty]

From the bottom ...

18 Arsenal

19 Man U

20 Liverpool

... oh come on, it could happen!!