It would seem that there is very little reason for watching football this season, in the Premiership, as most of the UK's journalists seem to believe the new season will be just like the last.
Chelsea are odds-on to win their third Premier League trophy in a row and the real talk is all about who will come closest to them. Jose Mourinho seems to think that the pressure will come from Man Utd and Arsenal, after the high profile summer signings of Carrick and Rosicky. He has again decided to rile the folks at Anfield by claiming that Liverpool will not be contenders despite losing two high profile semi finals to the reds over the last few years. Liverpool have made more signing than the other contenders, in the form of Bellamy, Gonzalez, Paletta, Fabio Aurelio and Pennant, but are still expecting to be behind the main chasers unless they can up their game and improve on the inconsistency of last year.
Watford, Sheffield Utd and Reading will be joining these elite teams over the course of the new season as the Premierships 'new-boys'. What of their chances this season? In general the odds are in favour of the ex-Championship sides going straight back down again, added to the financial clout of the more established sides.
What about the mid-table sides hoping to make an impression? Spurs have been going through a rebuilding process over the last few years and would look to be the top contender to the other favourites, in particular for a Champions League qualification place.
So what do we think will be the Premier League table at the end of this year? Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs - at least a combination of these five sides. We can but hope that someone will be able to stand up to Chelsea this season, and that some of the mid-table sides (like Everton, Charlton, Villa etc) will provide more of a challenge to the bigger sides. No-one wants to see the league decided half way through March, especially those at the bottom of it!, so we'll all be looking for a more even season with a bit of competition for the big-boys.
Duncan Rice is the webmaster of the live football scores website latestfootballscores.co.uk and the website design and hosting service pagesurfer.
An amateur webmaster but expert footie fan, you can expect to see articles relating to football (hate the word soccer) and the world which revoloves around it. A great man once said 'football is not about life and death - it's more important than that'. I agree.
Written By: Duncan Rice
