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Archive for August 2010

2010/11 English Premiership review

The 2010/11 English Premiership starts in a few days time with Tottenham Hotspurs taking on Manchester City in a an early kickoff match.

I think the team to watch this season will once again be Manchester City. City has brought in new talent in the likes of Yaya Toure for example and England goalkeeper Ian Hart has been brought back from loan.

I think the trick for City will be to convert the many draws against lowly sides into wins. Beating Chelsea in both matches but then drawn drawing against the likes of Burnley at home did not help their cause last season.

As always the problem I think will be how quick enough the team will gel together to form a formidable unit that can challenge the established sides.

I think Chelsea still look good and these days the team just adds in a few new players which is good for team stability. This will be manager Carlo Ancelloti's second season and so he pretty knows what to expect from the opposition.

Last season's runner-up Manchester United are not that much changed from last season but they have added Mexican striker Javier Hernandez to their ranks and that should ease the heavy dependence on goals from Wayne Rooney.

The other addition has been and Chris Smalling from Fulham.

I still think the teams to contest the top four places will be the Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Man United and Man City.

I think for Spurs the challenge is how they handle Champions League and the premier if they do manage to go past Young Boys.

Liverpool now have a new manager in Roy Hodgson but I still think their best bet will be a good run in the Europa Cup plus a top six finish.

Aston Villa finished sixth last season but with Martin O'Neill gone and without knowing the new manager I think it would be safe to say that they will finish in top half of the table at least. That will change

Turning to relegation matters, normally the first place I look at is at the promoted sides. I cannot see Newcastle going down straight because I expect to finish mid-table at least.

As for the other two, Blackpool and West Bromwich, I can see them flirting with relegation for most of the season and lets hope I am wrong.

This time the Baggies have Roberto Matteo at the helm but he has no experience managing at the top level and the quicker he adjusts his team to the top flight then he will have a good chance at survival.

Last season West Ham just survived relegation but I think that with Avram Grant in charge there will not be any of those problems this season.

Once again I hope that I will get most of tips right on TipsChallenge.

Category: Football | Comments : 0