Official 2012/13 Premier League thread

[Sam]

I think Wigan will survive, think West Brom, Southampton and Norwich will go this year.

I think West Brom have made an error appointing Clarke and Norwich did so well because they had a great manager, Hughton is good but he's not as good as Lambert. On the flip side Villa will have a decent season because despite the fact he's a cock, Lambert is a great manager.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Sam

[Lineker]

Rumours floating around about Harry's future.

[Summers]

Yeah. Word was he resigned earlier then rebuffed the claims angrily.

[Grounded Wingman]

Daniel Levy just needs to turn up on Sky Sports News claiming he's not wanting to talk about the rumours, but that David Moyes is a terrific manager and he'd love to have him at Tottenham, but he doesn't want to be accused of tapping him up.

[Hobo]

I wouldn't be surprised if Harry will be off. Telegraph reporting he is going to hold a meeting with Daniel Levy, is considering offers from the middle east, and talks have stalled on his new contract deal.

[Pesci]

1. Manchester City

2. Manchester United

3. Arsenal

4. Chelsea

5. Spurs

6. Newcastle

7. Liverpool

Man City to win the league by 10+ points, Man Utd to continue strengthening and finish as the best of the rest, Arsenal to finish above Chelsea due to a disappointing performance from Di Matteo that sees him sacked before Christmas - but Spurs will still miss out because they'll lose Modric and Adebayor won't be as impressive after signing permanently. Big gap down to 6th but Newcastle will steal it by having the 'best of the rest' first XI. Liverpool have a shaky season trying to adjust to Rodgers' methods but the form of Suarez drags us into the Europa League places. Towards the end Rodgers finally identifies his strongest team and his 'revolution' starts to gather pace.

18. Swansea

19. Norwich

20. Stoke

Swansea struggle to maintain their form without the heightened confidence of having just won the playoffs and the loss of Rodgers. Norwich's Championship squad goes down without the leadership of Lambert. Stoke is mostly hope but they were terrible towards the end of last season. Fuck Stoke. I see Reading and Southampton staying up because they seem better than Norwich and Swansea when they stayed up and have awesome managers, and they'll have that edge in confidence for at least the first half of the season. And I'm not fucking picking Wigan to go down again, a man can only face disappointment so many times.

[Grounded Wingman]

I wouldn't be surprised if Harry will be off. Telegraph reporting he is going to hold a meeting with Daniel Levy, is considering offers from the middle east, and talks have stalled on his new contract deal.

He won't go to the Middle East. I just can't see him and Kevin Bond travelling from Sandbanks to Qatar, and back, every day.

[Hobo]

He will if they pay him enough.

[Lineker]

I'm grateful for everything Harry has done for Spurs and he will always be a legend. But do I think that he's the man to take us up to the next level? I'm personally not too sure. From what I have heard, there have been rifts between him and quite a lot of the players regarding his methods and tactical decisions.

No idea who we should replace him with, though.

[therockbox]

I'm grateful for everything Harry has done for Spurs and he will always be a legend. But do I think that he's the man to take us up to the next level? I'm personally not too sure. From what I have heard, there have been rifts between him and quite a lot of the players regarding his methods and tactical decisions.

No idea who we should replace him with, though.

[Rafael]

I see the season ending up like this:

1) Chelsea

2) Man City

3) Man Utd

4) Arsenal

5) Liverpool

6) Newcastle

7) Tottenham

8) Everton

9) Aston Villa

10) Fulham

11) Sunderland

12) Stoke City

13) West Ham

14) Southampton

15) QPR

16) Reading

17) Wigan

18) West Brom

19) Swansea

20) Norwich

Chelsea, City and United will fight for the title the whole season, and I see the blues winning the EPL . Arsenal won't change much, and they will be 4th, but with Liverpool right behind them. Newcastle will secure a nice 6th place because the team already looks good, and more good signings will come. Tottenham will struggle as I see them losing one or two key players this summer, and Everton will do the usual slow start and them finish in the Top 8. Villa and Fulham do solid campaigns to finish the Top 10, and Sunderland and Stoke shall secure safe mid-table spots. West Ham and Southampton will flert with relegation at some point, but they'll finish a bit above that. Reading this season might be what QPR was last season, several signings but results won't come and they'll struggle. Wigan will survive. West Brom is quite unspectacular, Swansea lost Rodgers and Norwich look like an average team, even though I like Hughton.

[Lineker]

That sixth placed finish depends on whether they're able to keep other clubs' paws off of noted defensive lynchpin Danny Simpson, though.

[Rafael]

That sixth placed finish depends on whether they're able to keep other clubs' paws off of defensive lynchpin Danny simpson, though.

Also depends if they hire French International right-back Mathieu Debuchy.

[Dan]

1) Arsenal<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">2) Man Utd<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">3) Man City<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">4) Aston Villa<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">5) Liverpool<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">6) Newcastle<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">7) Tottenham<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">8) Everton<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">9) Stoke City<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">10) West Ham<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">11) Sunderland<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">12) Norwich<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">13) West Ham<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">14) Southampton<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">15) QPR<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">16) Reading<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">17) Wigan<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">18) West Brom<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">19) Swansea<br style=color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252); ">20) Spurs

[Lineker]

Ban Dan in 2012!

[Crybaby Bunting]

I'm going to predict Man United to win the league just so they don't

Because if there's one thing I've learned as a football fan, it's NEVER write off Sir Alex's Manchester United. Ever!

[Hobo]

1) Liverpool

2) Man Utd

3) Man City

4) Chelsea

5) Arsenal

It's our year.

[Summers]

I like Dan's table.

[Dingle]

I ranked my predictions 1-20 but I kept changing my mind, so I'll instead just go with my gut on a couple of things. I reckon it's Chelsea's year to claim the top spot, with United and City battling it out for second and third place. 4-6 will be duked out by Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool, not sure who places where, but I think this might be the starting point for Liverpool to start improving from where we are now. Villa, Newcastle, Stoke and Everton fill in the next couple of gaps in any order. The rest is really just up in the air. Out of the new additions, I think West Ham will just barely avoid relegation, Southampton to finish comfortably in mid-table and Reading head back to the Championship next season. My gut tells me Wigan will also finally go down, but I've learned not to underestimate them.

Oh no, the Liverpool cycle has already started picking up traction!

[Nerf]

Well, really, 7th or higher is an improvement, like I said. I can't see us dropping any further and I think, depending on how Rogers performs, we may start to slowly climb the table each year. Don't see what's outrageous about a prediction like that. I can see us finishing 6th this year and then maybe breaching the top 4 again in the 2013-14 season.

Like I said, though, all depends on how Brendan Rogers performs. I'll have to re-evaluate in September or something.