Can Manchester City, Blackburn, Portsmouth or Newcastle United pip Liverpool to join Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United at the top?
We’re through the first two months of the Premier League season, and things are beginning to shake out at the top.
Arsenal has put last season’s underachieving, injury-ravaged campaign behind them, and despite the departure of Thierry Henry to Barcelona, have hit the ground running, with eight wins and two draws in ten matches thus far.
Manchester United got off to a slow start, and even after overcoming it, had trouble scoring goals. But, that problem appears to be fixed, as United has poured in 16 goals in their last four matches. Their only real hiccup is a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City, which came when they were stumbling along.
Chelsea got off to a slow start as well, which led to the departure of Jose Mourinho, but it’s back to business as usual, judging by their last few results, including a 6-0 thrashing of Manchester City over the weekend.
It seems pretty clear that those three will be battling it out until season’s end.
But, that fourth spot appears to be very much up for grabs. Judging by recent history, it’s Liverpool’s to lose, but there are several teams who are going to be pushing for that final Champions League spot, and maybe, just maybe, challenge the top three for a while.
Liverpool has (surprisingly) scraped out points in all ten of their league matches thus far, but five of those results have been draws. Nine of their league goals have come past the 70th minute, which has delivered four of their five league wins, and earned them a draw in another. But, on the flip side, they’ve returned the favor to their opponents as well. It’s a 90+ minute game, guys.
Manchester City has gotten off to a great start under Sven-Goran Eriksson, but that demolition at the hands of Chelsea shows that they still have quite a ways to go. But, there’s a lot of potential. Manchester City is getting immediate contributions from summer transfers like Martin Petrov (three goals) and Brazilian international Elano Blumer (four goals), and have a solid mix of young, developing talent (Micah Richards, Michael Johnson) and experience (Richard Dunne and Didi Hamann), which will make them intriguing to watch as the season progresses. With the success that Eriksson has had on club level, it won’t be a surprise to see Manchester City at a lofty position at season’s end.
One club to watch out for is Blackburn, who has dropped only one match (1-0 to Portsmouth). Mark Hughes’ Blackburn Rovers are unbeaten away from home, and along with winning their last four league matches (and six overall), they have draws against Arsenal and Chelsea.
Those three seem the most likely to join the Big Three, though Portsmouth and Newcastle could also make a run. Harry Redknapp has brought excitement back to Fratton Park, in his second stint in charge, as shown by their stunning 7-4 victory over Reading in September. Redknapp loves his African forwards, and he’s got a trio in Benjani (seven goals), Kanu (three goals), and up-and-coming summer import John Utaka (two goals), who will give Portsmouth a great chance to qualify for Europe, and annoy quite a few keepers this season. But, their chances may be affected by next January’s African Cup of Nations, as they will lose Kanu, Utaka, and Ghanian midfielder Sulley Muntari to the competition.
And, Newcastle, if they could develop some consistency, the Champions League spot that Sam Allardyce was unable to reach with his best efforts at Bolton could finally be achievable with Newcastle United.
The question for not only the top three, but for the wannabe contenders is not about the talent that each team has, but if they have both the depth and the right attitude to handle all that come with the long season, from injuries, streaks, and all of the other highs and lows that inevitably come with a long season.
It would be nice to see that fourth team challenge Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea, at least for the better part of the season, just to make the title race a little more compelling. But if that doesn‘t happen, the race for that fourth spot should turn out to be plenty worth watching.
If I was to pick the club that would be the favorite for that fourth Champions League spot, and to potentially give the Big Three some trouble, it’d be easy to go with Liverpool, because they’re usually there. And, they may well end up being there, if they can overcome themselves.
But, there’s a very good possibility that there could be two Manchester sides in the Champions League draw next summer. That defeat at the hands of Chelsea might be just a bump in the road for City, because with the history that Eriksson has of being able make a positive impact quickly (IFK Goteborg, Benfica, Lazio, England), you can only expect the same with him in Manchester.
There’s sure to be many a twist and turn before it’s all said and done, but if I turn out to be right, I like my steaks well done, and my potatoes mashed.
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yea i agree with this guy both man u and chelsea have had slow starts to the season but now r main challengers to the title and arsenal as well i would think that liverpool will be 4 this season as they will edge it and the challengers 4 euro cup will be newcastle,blackburn,portsmouth and man city that what i think
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Good year for the league this year. Seems much more competitive in spots 4-10 in the table. Should be extremely enjoyable.
Probably the usual ‘big 4′ will fill up the top 4 league spots, but hope it doesn’t pan out like that. There now seems to be this accepted/institutionalised sense that the same 4 teams must/deserve to always be the top 4 which i think is ridiculous and more than a bit arrogant and also boring. As a City fan of decades no need to guess who i’d like to gatecrash this incestuous little party, but if not us don’t care who it is, anybody - anybody else
- Newcastle has no chance. Had an easy schedule so far and they are horrific on the road. They’ll struggle to land a UEFA place
- I don’t think one 6-0 win by Chelsea means they’re back on track or Man City is exposed as some kind of fraud. Man City has had a tough schedule, they will pick up more talent in transfer window. They’ve got an excellent shot. I’m not sold on Chelsea being in the title hunt. This team can’t score without Lampard and Drogba. Drogba and Essien out for African Nation’s Cup and I could easily see Drogba leaving in that transfer window. This is a better candidate for finishing out of top 4 than Liverpool.
- Blackburn and Pompey look dangerous. Big time credit to Mark Hughes and harry Redknapp
Predictions:
1. Man Utd
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Blackburn
5. Chelsea
6. Man City
7. Portsmouth
I do not understand why you put Liverpool as worse than Chelsea, they are sitting better in the league (they have a match in hand). And no, nobody wil be able to dislodge the ‘top 4′, not this season anyways, but the mid-table teams are showing signs of massive improvement.
I cant believe this article lol its funny tho. On a serious note i dont think we can win the league i still think we need better wingers to compete i hope we hit 80 points this season though and buy a world class winger in january maybe we cud compete?
Top 3 (i wont predict the winner it might come back to haunt me)
Liverpool, Man u and Arsenal (in no particular order
dont worry mancs)
4.Man City (they play brilliant football just a bad game agaisnt Chelsea).
5.Chelsea
6.Blackburn
7.Everton
8.Pompy
9.Spurs
10.Aston Villa
There are certain facts and logic that can be applied to this if people are prepared to take the blinkers off. I agree with the assessment of the writer.
Arsenal: Outstanding and any doubts about their overall quality and strength in depth have all but been put to bed. Will be in the mix all the way and can win it.
Man Utd.: On top of an outstanding team last year have added Tevez, Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and Pique, all quality and in the cases of Nani and Anderson well ahead of schedule in terms of making an impression. Will be in the mix all the way and can win it.
Chelsea: Early points dropped but looking back to their best and the overall quality is not in question. Have a bit of work to do to bridge the early gap and need a good run of wins. Will be in the mix all the way and can win it but have an early handicap.
Liverpool: Well off the pace last year and of their new players only Torres makes a significant difference. He in fact highlights the relative mediocrity of the other strikers. Voronin brings nothing new to the party, Babel has not looked the part, while though Benayoun is a good player, central midfield was not a problem area. Not enough overall quality and weaknesses in key positions. Will not be in the mix. Expect to be 7-10 points adrift by halfway and 15 by the end of the season. Should be good enough for 4th though.
1.Man Utd
2.Arsenal
3.Chelsea
4.Liverpool
Expect only a handful of points between the top 3.
Prediction for the 2007-08 BPL:
1. Man U
2. Arsenal
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
5. Man City
6. Portsmouth
7. Blackburn
8. Everton
9. Newcastle
10. Aston Villa
11. West Ham
1. Birmingham
13. Wigan
14. Sunderland
15. Spurs
16. Bolton
17. Reading
18. Middlesbrough
19. Fulham
20. Derby - I’m sure of this spot
thank god keano is only predicting the “BPL” so this wont effect liverpool
dude its EPL not british, English who r u the queen?