Official Premiership 2008/09 thread

[Lineker]

It's almost that time of year again!

This time last year I predicted that Derby would stay up. Oh dear. So he goes some better guesses:

Chelsea will win the league

A different team will be in the top 4

Stoke will survive

The British transfer record will be broken; but not necessarily by Cristiano Ronaldo.

What do you hope from your team?

Edited November 10, 2008 by ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster

[ONO]

Chelsea to win the league.

Villa to finish 5th.

Paul Ince to be sacked before Christmas.

Hull to stay up.

[Baddar]

- Man Utd will win the league, with Chelsea in 2nd, Liverpool 3rd, Arsenal 4th.

- Newcastle will finish 6th.

- 2 out of the 3 promoted sides will stay up.

[JSV]

Man Utd will win the title.

Man City and/or Spurs will finish in top 4.

Liverpool will finish 6th.

None of the promoted teams will survive and 1 will break Derby's points record.

Sunderland will finish in top 10.

[Gazz]

- Man Utd will win the league, with Chelsea in 2nd, Liverpool 3rd, Arsenal 4th.

- Newcastle will finish 6th.

- 2 out of the 3 promoted sides will stay up.

Even as a Newcastle fan, I can't see that happening, we still need more firepower up front, Owen is injury prone, Martins is inconsistent, Smith is unprofilic to say the least and Viduka's legs are going. We don't really have a central midfield either (I refuse to recognise the existence of Joey Barton), Emre is meant to be on his way out, but the deal has stalled either due to a hamstring injury / military call up depending on who you believe. We've got wingers coming out of our asses though!

Defence is okayish, but I'd like to see some backup for Faye and Taylor, and a backup each for Enrique and Beye.

All in all, we need 4 new defenders, 2 midfielders and another striker.

Apparently were signing Aimar soon for £7m, can't say I'm majorly excited, as every South American we've ever signed has proved to be useless, without exception.

[Baddar]

Heh, funnily enough, I meant to have Newcastle down as 5th.

I don't think they'll come anywhere near to challenging the Top 4 for their places, but places 5 to 9/10 are wide open for most of the season a lot of the time. I could actually see them stealing 5th.

EDIT: Just checked with Betfred...

Ok, it's by no means a certainty, but 10/1 on Newcastle finishing 5th isn't too bad I don't think.

Edited July 16, 2008 by Baddji

[TheRossWalker]

- Man Utd will win the league, with Chelsea in 2nd, Liverpool 3rd, Arsenal 4th.

- Newcastle will finish 6th.

- 2 out of the 3 promoted sides will stay up.

Even as a Newcastle fan, I can't see that happening, we still need more firepower up front, Owen is injury prone, Martins is inconsistent, Smith is unprofilic to say the least and Viduka's legs are going. We don't really have a central midfield either (I refuse to recognise the existence of Joey Barton), Emre is meant to be on his way out, but the deal has stalled either due to a hamstring injury / military call up depending on who you believe. We've got wingers coming out of our asses though!

Defence is okayish, but I'd like to see some backup for Faye and Taylor, and a backup each for Enrique and Beye.

All in all, we need 4 new defenders, 2 midfielders and another striker.

Apparently were signing Aimar soon for £7m, can't say I'm majorly excited, as every South American we've ever signed has proved to be useless, without exception.

How dare you besmirch this man's good name.

Edited July 16, 2008 by TheRossWalker

[Dan]

SOLANO WAS GOOD :@

[stevev10]

Man Utd will win the league [Not just cus i'm a fan but i can feel the momentum in our corner]

2nd: Arsenal

3rd: Liverpool

4th Chelsea

Relegation: Hull, Stoke and possibly Sunderland

Lets see how my picks hold out

[Gazz]

Tino was the very definition of inconsistency, godly one minute (vs Barca comes to mind), non-existant the rest.

I should hang my head in shame for missing Nobby though, I can only surmise it's due to the fact as I class him as an honorary Geordie

Edited July 16, 2008 by {Gazz}

[Pesci]

I've got no idea who will win the league out of Man United and Chelsea but I expect them to be about 10-15 points ahead of third place, which is gonna be Liverpool obviously. Arsenal will finish 4th, quite a way clear from 5th, which will be Villa, if Barry goes and they spend the 18m wisely that is. Everton and Portsmouth 6th and 7th, not sure which way round because I think it'll be fairly tight between them. Blackburn will be fairly low by their standards, about 12th/13th and I can see Fullham finishing around there too. Spurs' and Man City's spending to do fuck all and Newcastle will be lucky to break the top 10. That is all happening

[Dynamite]

Top 6 will go like:

1. Man Utd

2. Chelsea

3. Arsenal

4. Liverpool

5. Spurs

6. Portsmouth

I imagine 6th-11th place to be pretty close.

Stoke, Hull and Wigan to go down with Albion surviving on last day.

Megson to be first manager of the season sacked.

[Dont Fear The Reaper]

I dont thnk any teams will break into the "Big 4" this season, they are just so far ahead at the moment it looks like itll be a while before a team will topple them.

My prediction for the league will be

1. Man Utd

2. Arsenal

3. Chelsea

4. Liverpool

Relegated:

18. Fulham

19. Hull

20. Bolton

[Crybaby Bunting]

For some reason I see Arsenal winning the Premiership, maybe my intense dislike towards Man Utd and prediction that Scolari will completely flop is clouding my judgement in some ways.

Newcastle will get somewhere around 10th and do well in the Carling cup before getting slaughtered in the semis or something

Fulham will stay up, Hodgeson is a really smart manager and the frees he's picked up so far will most likely deliver.

Tottenham will do well in all cups they participate in but fatigue will kick in by the end of the season leaving them just missing out on a UEFA cup placing next year.

West Brom will stay up, they've managed to take Portsmouth to a close game and i'm sure they could consistantly do that in the Premiership to get enough points for safety.

Using my telekenetic ablities i'll predict that Everton will be severely hit by injuries this season, just because it always happens to one team in the top 10.

As for managers leaving/getting sacked I see Gary Megson getting sacked by christmas and for some reason see Keane leaving in some sort of managerial switcheroo to some other team

[Baddar]

Using my telekenetic ablities i'll predict that Everton will be severely hit by injuries this season, just because it always happens to one team in the top 10.

Don't Everton normally get hit pretty bad anyway?

[Liam]

Yeah, they lack squad depth, and have struggled later on in a couple of seasons due to injuries and that.

[alldaws1]

Top four will be as usual, Man Utd & Chelsea squabbling over the title and Arsenal & Liverpool filling the next two places. Spurs, Everton & Pompey in a close fight for 5th. Top half finish for Newcastle. Villa, Blackburn & Man City to struggle and end up finishing in the bottom half. WBA & Hull to stay up. Wigan, Stoke & West Ham for the drop.

Now watch as none of that comes true. Except for the top four, everyone knows the top four will be the same.

I'm hoping we get a season full of surprises. A cup winner from the Coca-Cola leagues, one or two of the 'regular' EPL teams breaking into the top four, some big upsets by the promoted trio, that sort of thing. Spurs-wise I'm hoping for Ramos to get us back on track in the league, a Uefa Cup place is a must whether it's through league positioning or by winning a trophy. And whether it be this season or next I'd like for him to do something to prove he's a better manager for us than Martin Jol was, like getting into the Champions League. He turned us around last season but I think Jol could have done that had he been given more time and if he'd had a choice in his transfer targets.

[stokeriño]

Unless Arsenal gets some replacements (or pull some more ultra youth players out of their asses) for some of the players that have left or are leaving - Flamini, Hleb, Gilberto, possibly Adebayor (though that seems increasingly unlikely), etc. - then I really don't see them having the depth to keep strong for a whole season. They'll no doubt start brightly, as they did last year, but fizzle out. I can see Liverpool pipping them to 3rd for that reason.

I will optimstically pick Chelsea to win the league, since it was so damn close after all, although if Lampard goes it'll be interesting to see where we pick up his goals from. Man United second, of course. As much as I'd like Villa to take 5th I don't think they will. I think Everton will continue to close in on the dubious title as the league's 'fifth team', while the likes of Portsmouth end up being mediocrely mid-table as their FA success gives way to some unfortunate luck. I've not yet seen anything to suggest to me that any of the mid-table clubs like Spurs, Newcastle, Man City, West Ham etc. will rise too far above the others.

I can't be bothered with the bottom half of the table for the moment. >_>

Edited July 17, 2008 by stokeriño

[FireDoughnut]

Man Utd to win.

Chelsea a very colse second.

Liverpool are picking up third, with Arsenal in fourth.

I'm picking Spurs to finish fifth if not higher.

[Pesci]

If Spurs finish in the top five I'll actually be shocked. As in, I can't even see it happening. I'll gladly quote this and laugh at myself if I'm wrong though.