The Contenders
This year sees a definite shift in the make-up of the “Big Four”, traditionally comprised of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. Without a doubt, Manchester City’s buying power under the ownership of Sheikh Mansour has seen them overtake Arsenal who look to be on the decline.
Despite losing several experienced players, like Edwin Van der Sar, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes through retirement and Wes Brown and John O’Shea through sales, Manchester United remain the favourites with the bookmakers for this season. Sir Alex Ferguson has spent wisely on plugging the holes left by those gone, bringing in David de Gea, Phil Jones and Ashley Young. Only question is, who will step up to replace Scholes as their creative playmaker? Anderson, Michael Carrick and Darren Gibson failed to inspire last season so it remains to be seen how Ryan Giggs can often perform in his advanced years on the inside having been a wing wizard for the majority of his career. Had Ferguson managed to bring in someone like Wesley Sneijder, they definitely would be a formidable foe. There still is time left in this transfer window!
Look for Liverpool and Chelsea to be in the running this year also. Liverpool have transformed under Kenny Dalglish who has looked to strengthen his squad with mainly English players with an eye on keeping in line with EPL squad rules requiring 8 out of 25 players to be home grown players. Gone are the days of Liverpool being a two-man team, heavily reliant on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. Proven performers in the EPL, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing have been brought in to take the burden off Gerrard in midfield whilst upfront, Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez are quality. Strikers usually have a harder time in their second season once the defenders are used to their style of play so it will be interesting to see how Suarez copes. Jose Enrique has just been bought to fix their problematic left-back position which will allow Glen Johnson to shift back to his more familiar right-back slot after King Kenny used him to plug that hole last season.
Chelsea have spent more money this off-season on bringing in their new manager Andre Villas-Boas, or as some say, Jose Mourinho II. Thus they will be relying pre-dominantly on their ageing squad with a spine that has an average age of 32 years – John Terry (30), Frank Lampard (33) and Didier Drogba (33). If Torres can find his form again, then that will of course help The Blues’ cause who will have to cope without key midfielder Michael Essien for six months. Promising youngster Daniel Sturridge is ready to step in after his performance on loan at Bolton last season (8 goals in 11 starts) should Torres fail to sparkle.
The new addition to the Big Four, Manchester City, have again splurged this summer, adding Sergio Aguero, Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic. Although they should finish in the top four, it is hard to see them challenging for the title this season. It remains to be seen how good their squad harmony really is when their club captain wants to leave, when there are such large disparities between wage earners and when unwanted players are still at the club because they are unable to be sold or loaned out. Roberto Mancini’s tactics are far too defensive for my liking especially with the amount of firepower he has at his disposal. It remains to be seen whether The Citizens’ mentality is as strong as United’s or Chelsea’s when coming up against the “lesser” clubs in the league.
The Notables
Arsenal have gone six years without a trophy and that drought looks set to continue as the club weakens its squad rather than strengthening it. Arsene Wenger really needed to splash the cash on some decent defenders to shore up his leaky defence that let in 43 league goals last season. A team that lets in that many goals cannot be expected to win the coveted title. Going by his pre-season performances, £10.5 million Gervinho is an excellent signing but will most likely be utilised out wide. Back-up for the likes of Robin Van Persie and Marouane Chamakh looks to have instead arrived in the shape of 19-year old Costa Rican striker Joel Campbell who has already scored 2 goals in 6 full internationals. Where Arsenal will now have weakened the most though is in their midfield with the protracted transfer of their club captain Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona near conclusion. Another key player Samir Nasri looks to be on the way out and it would be sheer folly on Wenger’s part if he did not take cash on a player who has only one year left on his contract and refuses a contract extension. Given the level of debt Arsenal have from the building of their home ground Emirates Stadium, surely they cannot afford to not accept bids on Nasri.
Tottenham have spent more time trying to retain one of their key players Luka Modric who wants to join Chelsea than strengthening their squad. Despite having some quality strikers at his disposal, Harry Redknapp seems to think that he needs to replace Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane with other options but alas, that has failed to materialise and Keane is about to join David Beckham’s LA Galaxy. Best The Spurs can hope for is another Europa League spot again at season’s end.
The Rest
Bookmakers have set the three promoted clubs, Swansea, Norwich and QPR, as the favourites for relegation this season. Wigan and Wolves are down there as well although chances are Blackburn could be involved in a relegation scrap come the end of the season. Although Newcastle have brought in some Gaelic flair to their squad and have key playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa back this season, I would expect them to be involved in the relegation battle. Mike Ashley buying Newcastle has been the worst thing ever for The Magpies. Owners like Ashley and Venky’s of Blackburn are a blight to the game. What clubs need are people like John Henry of Liverpool who know their place and support their managers.
Well, enjoy the season all and good luck to whomever you support!
