Since I’m done with law school and the bar exam I actually
have time to do things that I enjoy.
Each week I’m going to update this page with my predictions for the
Barclays Premier League and Champions League games. This week I’ll also do my full preview of the
Premier League season, including my picks for champion, Champions League spots,
and relegations. When the group stage
draw is done I’ll also do something similar for the Champions League.
Team by team prediction for the new season:
Arsenal: Arsene Wenger supposedly has a 70 million pound
transfer kitty to spend this summer, but so far he’s only brought in Yaya
Sanogo from Auxerre on a free transfer.
Arsenal’s problem last year was replacing Robin Van Persie. Olivier Giroud and Lucas Podolski put
together were not enough to replace what they lost when Van Persie went to
Manchester United. While Santi Cazorla
had moments of brilliance in midfield, he didn’t consistently provide the
needed spark. Jack Wilshire always looks
to provide a spark but he’s bound to be injured for part of the season
again. The Gunners main rivals for
fourth once again look to be Spurs, who have been very active in the transfer
market, signing Paulinho from Brazilian side Corinthians and Roberto Soldado from
Valencia. Arsenal were linked with
Gonzalo Higuain but he’s already joined Napoli and Arsenal don’t look prepared
to meet the 50 million pound asking price for Luis Suarez (who has apparently
kissed and made up with Liverpool).
Unless Arsenal make a couple of big signings before the close of the
window, there is a very realistic chance that they will be overtaken by Spurs
for Fourth.
Final Prediction: 5th.
Aston Villa: Villa were a very young, inexperienced squad
last year when Paul Lambert took over.
They hit their lowpoint of the season in the Christmas fixture list but
responded with great improvement in the second half of the season to beat the
drop. Villa haven’t made any major
signings but now that his squad have a season of premier league experience
under their belt I think they’ll be much better prepared for the rigors of the
Premier League this season. They were
also able to keep star man Christian Benteke who looked to be forming a
promising partnership with Andi Weimann.
If Villa play the way they did in the second half of last season, they
should continue to improve but if they have a sputtering start to the season,
Paul Lambert could be in trouble.
Final Prediction: Mid Table
Cardiff City: In Wales they’re rejoicing at having two Welsh
teams in the Premier League. Sadly, I’m
afraid their joy will be short lived. It
is a massive step up from the Championship to the Premier League, and over 50%
of newly promoted teams go straight back down.
Cardiff have made three big additions to their squad since being
promoted, singing Gary Medel from Sevilla, Steven Caulker from Spurs, and
Andreas Cornelius from Copenhagen. Gary
Medel is nicknamed the Pitbull after Italy’s Gennaro Gattuso, if he plays like
Gattuso, no matter how good he is he’s bound to pick up a red card or two and
miss games. Steven Caulker does look a
valuable addition to the squad as a solid defender. Cornelius scored 18 goals in 34 appearances
in one season for Copenhagen. An
impressive tally but Copenhagen are the best team in a fairly weak Danish
league. Besides these three players, the
only top flight quality player on this team is Craig Bellamy, who’s far past
his best. I just don’t see them having
the quality to stay up.
Final Prediction: Relegated
Chelsea: Jose Mourinho’s trying to prove that you can go
home again. Chelsea have signed Andre
Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen and Marco van Ginkel from Vitesse Arnhem. Schurrle always looks an exciting player when
playing for Leverkusen and he just adds to the quality provided by Mata,
Hazard, and Oscar. If I were a Chelsea
fan I’d feel a little better if Chelsea would sign another striker. Demba Ba should be productive but Fernando
Torres has already proven that he’s in the twilight of his career and can’t be
relied on. If it weren’t for Manchester
City’s signings I would predict Chelsea to win the league. Mourinho has a proven track record of winning
wherever he goes and I think he’ll pull this Chelsea team together and bring
them very, very close.
Final Prediction: Second
Crystal Palace: Everyone rejoice: Ian Holloway is back in
the Premier League. We’re going to see a
hell of a lot of high scoring games that are track meets. He likes to attack and try to outscore his
opponents so it should be a fun season.
Unfortunately, I see Palace as having a struggle similar to Cardiff this
season. There just isn’t enough quality
in the side. Their best player last
season was Wilfred Zaha who had already been signed by Man Utd, he’s finally
gone there and looks to be fitting in well.
Their biggest signing has been Dwight Gayle from Peterborough. He has no top flight experience, having scored
six goals in twenty appearances. His
best season was in 2011-2012, where he scored 29 in 42, an impressive total,
but in non-league football. Their other
signings have been Stephen Dobbie, who scored nine goals in 55 appearances for
Swansea. Kevin Phillips, the ageless
striker who scored 18 in 56 appearances over three years for Blackpool also signed
but I don’t see him getting a lot of time or goals. Even with the additional goals, the quality
just isn’t there.
Final Prediction: Relegated.
Everton: I’m worried for the Everton supporters. Everton may not have won anything under David
Moyes but they were a solid team. In his
time at Wigan, Martinez had them playing some attractive football but they were
very weak defensively. Everton have
brought in Arouna Kone, who played some damn good football while at Wigan. If Jelavic can recapture his form after
singing from Rangers Everton could have a good season but I see them going
backward after their sixth place finish.
I hope Roberto Martinez proves me wrong and fields a good defense, but I’ll
believe it when I see it.
Final Prediction: Mid Table
Fulham: The Cottagers have been buoyed by their recent
purchase by Shahid Kahn and have made a couple of shrewd signings by bringing
in Adel Taarabt and Darren Bent in who should be able to provide some goals
between them. Fulham’s problem last
season was goals against. They scored 50
and conceded 60. Their goals scored was
higher than every team around them up to West Brom in eighth. There have been no real improvements to their
defense so while I can see Fulham staying where they are, I don’t see them
really improving.
Final Prediction: Mid Table
Hull City: Of the newly promoted teams I think Hull have the
best chance to stay up. Steve Bruce has
been there before and he knows how to guide a team through a relegation battle,
I think the experience is invaluable. Curtis
Davies, Ahmed Elmohamady, Steven Harper, and Danny Graham all have Premier League
experience which will prove invaluable in a relegation fight. Yannick Sagbo from Evian looks to be a bit of
a gamble. He’s scored 22 in 90 games but
the French League, with the exceptions of Monaco and PSG is not very
strong. I think with the experienced
Premier League players brought in, Hull will do just enough to stay up.
Final Prediction: Lower Mid Table.
Liverpool: As Liverpool are my favorite club I could go on
for a few paragraphs but won’t. The
good/bad news depending on your perspective is that Luis Suarez is staying, he
appears to have kissed and made up and Arsene Wenger apparently isn’t going to
come get him. Personally, I think Suarez is a liability who is bound to act out
again and get a half season ban this time, Liverpool should cash in while they
can. This Summer, Liverpool have brought
in the likes of Kolo Toure, Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Simon Mingolet, and Aly
Cissokho. Luis Alberto scored 11 with 17
assists in 38 appearances for Barcelona B last year. Brendan Rodgers’ short passing style can be
likened to Barcelona’s so I think he could be a shrewd pickup for the
Reds. Iago Aspas scored 46 in 136 games
for Celta Vigo. This is about one goal
every three games. It’s not the best
tally but he could be used off the bench to supplement contributions from
Sturridge and Suarez. Mingolet and Toure
are both good signings with tons of top flight experience. I was not convinced by Pepe Reina last season
and think Mingolet brings in a much steadier hand between the sticks. If Suarez keeps out of trouble, I think
Liverpool can make a move up the table.
It’s all dependent on how Liverpool get through their games without
Suarez. If they can get off to a good
start then it could be a very good season for them. With games against Man United and Swansea
among the games he will miss, Liverpool will need to get at least seven points
from games against Stoke, Villa, and Southampton.
Final Prediction: Fifth
Manchester City: I thought Manuel Pellegrini did a hell of a
job at Malaga last year considering what he was left to work with. I think he’ll do an excellent job at
Manchester City. I thought Mancini
lucked into his title win and never thought much of his tactics or need to
tinker. I think Pellegrini will get them
off to a hot start and have them in top form all season. I also expect them to have success in
Europe. City already had a strong squad
and what will make the difference at the top of the table is their signings. Fernandinho looks a fantastic addition to an
already deadly midfield with David Silva and Samir Nasri. Jesus Navas has Theo Walcott type speed and
he will be a constant threat down the right flank, with Scott Sinclair on the
left. One of the biggest problems I had
with Mancini was the fact that he never used wingers properly and never used the
flanks, so Navas and Sinclair used properly make City more dangerous by
default. Carlos Tevez finally left,
moving to Juventus and was replaced by Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. This is just a ridiculous pool of talent at
striker, with Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko already there. These additions make them far and away the
best squad in the league and I think Pellegrini will make them play like a
team.
Final Prediction: Champions
Manchester United: Manchester United supporters, look
away. I think you’re in for a rough
season. Last year Sir Alex had to turn
to Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes to fill in a joke of a midfield. There has been no bolstering of the
midfield. Michael Carrick is going to be
your go to midfielder. He’s not good
enough and hasn’t been good enough for a very long time. If he gets injured, what are your
options? David Moyes has been pursuing
Cesc Fabregas all summer who would be a great signing. Except he’s not coming. I’m not convinced on David Moyes either. I’ve never seen one of his sides put together
a whole season. He hasn’t won a trophy.
I realize he hasn’t had a great squad or vast resources at his disposal but
that doesn’t matter. In order, the
biggest managerial jobs in football are: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester
United. You can’t grow into the
Manchester United job, you need to be ready. I don’t think he’s ready and I
think United will suffer.
Final Prediction: Fourth
Newcastle: Loic Remedy could be a decent signing. One signing, however, isn’t going to fix all
the problems Newcastle had last year. I
realize there were a lot of injuries but they were also looking very, very
poor. I still don’t know that Alan Pardew
has what it takes to take this team to the next level. I also don’t think Newcastle have properly
replaced Demba Ba. I don’t think the
Magpies will be battling relegation, but I don’t think they’ve done enough to
vastly improve either.
Final Prediction: Mid Table
Norwich City: I really like Chris Hughton as a manager, I
thought he was royally shafted by Mike Ashley after he brought Newcastle back
to the Premier League. I thought his
Norwich side was very impressive last year and I think he did a better job than
Paul Lambert could’ve. I think they’ve
taken a massive step forward by selling Grant Holt and bringing in Gary Hooper
and Ricky van Wolfswinkel (I defy you to find me a better name in all of
football). I think these two, especially
the latter, are very exciting players who I think can bring Norwich further up
the table.
Final Prediction: Upper-Mid Table
Southampton: In my eyes, the sacking of Nigel Adkins was a
bit unfair, but his successor did a great job and had them playing better. Their main weakness was their defense and
they’ve improved that with the signings of Dejan Lovren and Victor
Wanyama. I think they will be just as
entertaining to watch and will really vault up the table with a more solid
defense.
Final Prediction: Upper-Mid Table
Stoke City: Now that Tony Pulis has left I don’t know what
to expect from Stoke. I hope for
everyone’s sake there’s some more exciting football. The problems is, they’ve brought in Mark
Hughes, who I have absolutely no faith in as a manager. He’s had loads of money at both QPR and
Manchester City and done nothing with it.
I think Tony Pulis left a good roster of players so I don’t think they’ll
go down, but I don’t think they’re going to do much better either.
Final Prediction: Mid Table.
Sunderland: I have no faith whatsoever in Paolo Di
Canio. I’m sure we’ll get some exciting
interviews and sideline antics, but past that I don’t think we’re going to get
much. Sunderland have made a lot of
signings from outside the Premier League that don’t really improve the quality
of the team. I think bringing in that
many players from hither and yon is a dangerous plan (look at QPR from last
year, they just used a lot more money).
I think this team will implode under Paolo Di Canio and whoever comes in
to pick up the pieces will have too big of a job.
Final Prediction: Relegated.
Swansea: Michael Laudrup was very impressive in his first
season at Swansea and Michu was a revelation.
It will be interesting to see if he performs as well as he did in his
first season, I think he will. Swansea
have made a number of signings, the biggest of which is Wilfried Bony from
Vitesse. The Dutch league isn’t what it
used to be but 46 goals in 65 appearances is still very impressive. If he can make that kind of impact here I
think Swansea will have a good season, maybe even a great season. I don’t see them regressing and their primary
competition will be Liverpool, it’ll be a battle of whose signings come to
grips with the league faster (and that Suarez chap as well).
Final Prediction: Sixth.
Tottenham Hotspur: I think this will be the season for
Spurs. AVB had a good first season in
charge and he’s made some great signings in Paulinho and Roberto Soldado who
will take the pressure off Gareth Bale to provide all the goals for Spurs. I
also think Spurs have done a great job keeping Gareth Bale there. It looks as
though Real Madrid’s interest has cooled and I don’t think anyone has the money
that Spurs have been asking. I think
these new signings will push Spurs over the finish line and coupled with the
situations at Arsenal and Man United will push them into the top three.
Final Prediction: Third.
West Brom: Steve Clarke did a great job taking over from Roy
Hodgson at West Brom. I don’t think they’ll
finish as high as they did last season but they haven’t lost many players in
the window. I think a question mark
looms over the signing of Nicholas Anelka.
Anelka is nicknamed “Le Sulk” and can probably tear a locker room apart
just about as well Terrell Owens. If he
produces goals, that will be great for them, they all say he’s fitting in well
but we’ll see how long that lasts.
Final Prediction: Mid Table.
West Ham: I don’t like watching Sam Allardyce’s teams play
because they love the long ball and their football isn’t attractive but his
system works. I think Andy Carroll fits
into the system of knockdowns very well and I don’t see them falling down the
table. The second season back in the
league should be a good one and I think they’ll do relatively well again.
Final Prediction: Mid Table.
Predictions for the first week of Premier League Games:
Liverpool v. Stoke City: Liverpool need a strong start to
the season and they have a good shot at home against Stoke City. Even without Luis Suarez, I think Liverpool
have enough to come through and win this game pretty comfortably. 3-0.
Arsenal v. Aston Villa: Arsenal will be looking to win their
opening game of the season at home and I think they should do so. Olivier Giroud needs to have a good start to
the season to show Arsene Wenger he can rely on him to score more regularly
than last season. I think Aston Villa
have a chance to sneak a draw here but Arsenal are just too strong at home and
I see them eking out a narrow win over Villa. 2-1.
Norwich v. Everton: I see a win for Norwich written all over
this. I think Everton will take a while
to adjust to Roberto Martinez’s free flowing system after playing under David
Moyes for such a long time. Van
Wolfswinkel and Hooper will both be looking to make an instant impact and have
a good chance to against Everton. Last
season I would’ve said this should be a low scoring affair, but as I said
above, I don’t believe Martinez knows how to organize a defense. 3-0.
Sunderland v. Fulham: I think Fulham can go into the Stadium of Light on the opening
day and squeak out a narrow win. I don’t
think Sunderland have the quality needed and I don’t think Paulo Di Canio is a
very good manager. I think the signings
of Bent and Taarabt should make an attack featuring Dimitar Berbatov more
dangerous and they’ll take the win. 1-2.
West Brom v. Southampton: Southampton go into this game
being the better all-around team but West Brom are very good defensively and
very good at home. While the defensive
additions made by Southampton are important and will make them less vulnerable
on the break, it will be a question of breaking down the West Brom defense. I predict a 0-0 draw in this one.
West Ham v. Cardiff: I predict this one to be a pretty drab
affair. I see West Ham heaving the ball
long and trying to break down Cardiff through the air. Cardiff will be stifled by the West Ham
defense and it’ll be up to Cornelius, Cardiff’s big signing, to try to get a
goal on the break. 2-1.
Swansea v. Man United: I don’t think Man United have enough
to win away at Swansea. Swansea have a
lot of quality and proved last year that they aren’t afraid at anyone. My gut tells me that this will be a draw but
if anyone has a chance to come away with a win I think it’s Swansea, not
United. 2-2.
Crystal Palace v. Spurs: This should be a very entertaining
match and a track meet. Ian Holloway loves
to have his sides attack. Spurs already
had a lot of speed with Bale and Lennon and now they also have more quality up
front with Paulinho and Soldado. This
game should be hugely entertaining in terms of end to end stuff. 1-5.
Chelsea v. Hull City: I may think Hull City have a chance to
stay up but I don’t see much hope against Chelsea on Mourinho’s
homecoming. I think Hull will be
overpowered and am afraid this one could get ugly. 4-0.
Man City v. Newcastle: Prime time on Monday Night? Seems
like a great time to make a statement against an inconsistent Newcastle team
that spent a lot of time struggling and managed to lose 6-0 to Liverpool at
home. I think there’s going to be some
bloodletting in this one. 3-0. And I’m being kind.
Chelsea v. Aston Villa: I think Chelsea are going to make it
six points from two matches to start the season. I don’t think Villa will be able to come into
the Bridge and get a win but I think they’ll acquit themselves well to show
that they’re not pushovers. It is
unfortunate that there first two games are both away to two of the big
four. 1-0.
Well that's it for my first post, check back every Friday for my prediction on the next weekend's action. If you have any suggestions or comments I welcome them.
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