The game's afoot
Slightly belatedly, here's my forecast of how the league will look by May 2005, and a bit of justification for my rationale.

1 Chelsea
Mourinho seems to be much more in control of his player acquisitions, and I think he's bought wisely, he also seems more astute and I think that should be enough to see Chelsea win only their second ever league title.

2 Arsenal
They can't go unbeaten again, and I just think Chelsea will go one better - any injury to Henry will seriously harm their chances.

3 Man Utd
Erring on the side of caution, I think Fergie is shrewd enough to get them to third, although I think they'll struggle to bridge the gap to the top two, and will be embroiled in a three-way fight for third.

4 Newcastle Utd
For once we've bought players with a view to the present, we've got a strong team and if one of two of the younger players perform close to their potential we could have a great year. (Selling Kieron "the king of bling" Dyer wouldn't hurt either.)

5 Liverpool
Owen will be a huge loss, and good though Cisse and Benitez are I think they'll need to have a blinder to undo some of the damage caused by Houllier's later years. Baros still hasn't done it in the Premiership either.

6 Bolton Wanderers
Jay Jay and Big Sam should continue to inspire them to overachieve. That said, an injury to Okocha would cost them dearly.

7 Middlesborough
McClaren's a good coach and as old and fat as Hasselbaink and Viduka are respectively one of them should get the 20 goals a season that Boro need to progress.

8 Charlton
Curbishly seems to have spent his money well, and provided they can learn to win in the last three months of the season they should do well. If Jeffers stays fit he could be a bargain.

9 Aston Villa
Overacheived a bit last season, but Solano is a class player and if they manage to sign Beattie he should score plenty for them.

10 Birmingham City
Heskey and Forsell could either prove a masterstroke or a disaster (I'm hoping it's the latter) but think the well organised if dour brummies will be in the top half again.

11. Tottenham Hotspur
It remains to be seen whether Santini is really that good a manager, but they should have the firepower to cause most teams problems. The question will be whether Robinson will be given too many opportunities to prove his goalkeeping credentials or will they finally master the art of the clean sheet?

12. Fulham
Coleman needs to continue to inspire his charges as much as he obviously did last time out, but the addition of Cole and Radzinski should do enough to keep them safely in the middle of the pack.

13. Southampton
Rat-boy Phillips will need to be back to his best if Beattie leaves, but if he stays the two of them should score plenty of goals. Doubts about the manager aside, I think they'll finish in the bottom half, but only just.

14. Manchester City
Shaun-Wright Phillips aside, the blue half of Manchester lacks quality players, but if Keegan can inspire them they should do better than last time. Yet another shaky England (soon to be ex) keeper may prove their downfall.

15. Blackburn
Souness strikes me as a manager who struggles with the fact that he was a better player than everyone under his stewardship. As such he asks too much of them, and they inevitably struggle under his shadow. If they start poorly and he falls out with too many of the playing staff it might just be P45 time.

16. Portsmouth
Keeping hold of Yakubu and Redknapp's wheeler dealer approach should be enough to keep Pompey up. They may be a premiership team, but their ground is an absolute shit-hole, they need to move if they are to have any long term future in the top flight.

17. West Bromwich Albion
Megson and his team have all been here before. They should now have enough experience to ensure that Russell Hoult gets to push his England claims for more than one season this time around.

18. Everton
If Rooney stays and regularly produces the goods, Everton will stay up comfortably. If he appears as disinterested as he was last season, or Everton's financial problems cause them to sell him, then they can kiss goodbye to their 100+ years of continuous top-flight football.

19. Norwich
Huckerby may be a great first division striker, but he is a mediocre premiership one. Norwich will struggle to score goals, and talented though Green is in goal, he won't be able to keep them up on his own.

20. Crystal Palace
Lucky to even scrape in to the play-offs theirs will be a short-lived stay in the top flight. If they lose morale early they could challenge Sunderland's record number of consecutive defeats.

- posted by Paul @ 2:35 pm