Who will win the Prem title this year?

As its January, its the time of the Premiership season when the final stretch is in sight and every game starts to have seemingly more significance.  The results around this time will determine who is in the race for the title and who is likely to be relegated/ qualify for the Champions League etc.  With this in mind I felt it was only fitting to have a couple of predictions on who will ultimately win the title.

The Title:

Chelsea:  Most peoples favourite for the title this year and understandably so.  They have a fantastic squad with unrivalled strength in depth.  Add to this Ancellotti being their seemingly ideal manager and the stability he has brought to the team and its difficult to see them not winning.  Some people (myself included) suspected that they might slip up with the loss of their African players during January, but this doesn’t seem to of effected them at all.  Of course they were helped by goals during this time being postponed, but still they havent looked like faltering.  The only question is whether they will have another dodgy spell like the one they had in December.  If this happens, then they could well see the title slip out of their hands. 

My prediction: Most probably first, but they could end up losing out right at the end and finishing 2nd or 3rd.  It could be that tight.

  Manchester United:  For me one of the mysteries of the universe is how United are where they are in the league considering how badly they have played at times this season.  They have consistently looked fragile at Old Trafford and have looked a shadow of the team that played last season.  It should be noted that they have had their key defenders out for a long time but still they have managed to scrape results thanks to  a bit of brilliance from the likes of Rooney or Giggs.  If United get a bit of form in the last few months as they usually do then they could well win it.  In all likelihood though, the key factor for Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal will be the results they have against each other.  I predict that United will do well in both of these games putting them in a strong position.

My prediction: Part of me wants to stick with my United winning prediction.  However more realistically I’ll say third place although I think it will be very tight between Chelsea, United and Arsenal.

 Arsenal: After Arsenal lost Van Persie a few months ago I wrote them off for staying in the title chase.  Thankfully for me this hasn’t been the case.  Although they don’t look as good as they did at the start of the season, Arsenal are still playing some very good football and getting the results they need.  The midfield players have increasingly been the difference grabbing key goals when needed.  If this continues, particularly if Fabregas keeps playing so well they will stay in the title race.  How they fare in their next run of games; an incredibly tough Villa, Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool will be decisive.  If they get good results in these games they could well go on to win.  The only problems will surely be Arsenal’s insistence to play a certain way that doesn’t get results and if key players don’t get injured.

My prediction: Second place, but again it will be really close

Some people may well argue that Man City should be considered for the title as well.  Although this is possible I havent included them as realistically I think the other three teams have the experience and teams needed for the run up to May.  I don’t think City have had enough time together as a team for this, although it looks very likely that they will be favourites for fourth place, even with the very good position of Spurs and a fighting Liverpool starting to win again.

So there we have it.  Although I keep changing my mind I’ve gone for: Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United.  Saying that I still have a horrible feeling United will win it. 

James

Hockey Match Sparks Civil War In Russia

OK, so this is the wrong sport for this blog, but it is worth putting up anyway. Everyone knows there are fights in Ice Hockey matches, but this one almost devolved into a full breakdown of society. It’s a slow burner BUT WATCH IT FOR THE FULL SIX MINUTES... it’s totally worth it!!

Look’s like that decision has back fired Rafa!!

It seemed like last week that Liverpool were very keen to see their Premier League game called off with Spurs.  Now when this happened I really did think that Liverpool were doing it not because of the weather, but because it gave them a few more days to build some confidence and it allowed Mascherano to serve his ban in the FA Cup and not in the league.  But as the day has unfolded today,  I think all at Liverpool will be wishing that they had done everything to get that game on last week.  Last night they suffered as dismal defeat at the hands of Reading, who were well worth the win even if Liverpool probably feel a bit ripped off in the manner that it happened.  Surely a defeat like that does not help build confidence going into an away game with Stoke followed by a home game with Spurs 4 days later.  On top of that,  within the last few hours it has been revealed that Torres is going to be out for 6 weeks with his knee injury, Gerrard is out for 2 weeks with a hamstring injury and Benayoun is out for 3-4 weeks with a broken rib.  This is not a picture that any Liverpool fan thought they would be looking at 24 hours ago.  It also goes to show, that what could have been an excellent managerial decision to get the game delayed to get players and confidence back has well and truly been blown up in Liverpool faces.  Surely 4th place is beyond Liverpool now, unless something drastic happens within the next week or so.

I don’t blame the snow, I blame litigious idiots!!!!!

Carrying on from the two posts below, which comment on the cancellation of this week’s football matches due to the snow, I wanted to share the following post by comedian Dara O’Briain, and have a little moan:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/jan/09/arsenal-bolton-postponed-dara-o-briain

Dara quite rightly points out the absurdity of cancelling Wednesday night’s Arsenal-Bolton game, not because the pitch was unplayable, but because ‘fans own safety’. The fact is, if fans want to brave the icy weather to try and get to a football match, then surely that is their choice. The Emirates stadium was perfectly safe, the pitch playable, it was merely the area around the ground deemed dangerous. Now, Dara makes one particularly good point, which is that with thousands of fans descended on the area around the stadium, the ‘treacherous snow’ would have been turned to slush within about 10 minutes. Danger avoided…? well, perhaps not, what about people driving to the ground?? Surely the roads were dangerous? Yes, probably, but roads can be gritted, as they have been across the country all week! This not to mention that the Emirates stadium has not one but TWO underground rail links servicing it, which would have been completely untouched by the above-ground snow.

So what was the real reasons for cancelling the game? Well, Health and Safety gone mad. While, as Dara says, it is an individuals choice to come to a game in snowy conditions, there is no doubt whatsoever that some complete idiot would probably have slipped outside the ground and hurt himself, and subsequently filed a lawsuit with “Claims Direct” or some other stupid, parasitic organisation (“Have you suffered an injury in the last three years that wasn’t your fault, here, lets sue someone for it”). By cancelling the game, Arsenal were extinguishing the danger of multiple lawsuits of this kind, and perhaps a government fine. This is a symptom of our Health and Safety obsessed litigious culture.

By cancelling games, clubs are only protecting themselves, then. Fair enough, but this is another symptom of British culture descending into legal idiocy.

(Though I do note re. the Liverpool game, that the club applied to cancel their game over 48 hours in advance, which as Dave notes in the post below, may suggest a darker and more dubious motive).

A Bad Week for Football

The majority of the Premiership games are cancelled due to the bad weather conditions:  Rubbish

Both Carling Cup games are called off, also due to the weather:  Pants

The Chelsea team go sledging on Parliament Hill and no one is injured: a Wasted opportunity

Patrick Viera returns to the Premiership but with Man City:  Upsetting (for Arsenal fans)

Owen Coyle bizarrely leaves Burnley for Bolton Wanderers: Strange and Disappointing

Just before the African Nations Cup the Togo team bus is attacked resulting in the death of the driver and the injury of two players: Awful

So all in all not the best week for football.  One of those stories is a lie, and sadly its not the last one.  Rubbish.

James

Is calling the game off the first bit of good managing from Liverpool this season??

Well, it seems that the widely anticipated games between Liverpool and Spurs has fallen foul of the weather today.  On the surface this may just seem completely normal as there are already 3 other Premier League games off this weekend.  But I wonder, have Liverpool taken advantage of the weather conditions to get the game moved to later on in the season for their benefit??  I smiled as I watched the sports news reels unfold through the day as many of them were commenting on how Liverpool had requested for the game to be called off.  The pitch is fine, but the surrounding area is “unsafe” for supporters to travel to the game.  Now knowing the area the ground is in, I can quite easily believe that it is a total nightmare around the ground and as Anfield is on top of a hill then I agree that traveling to the game would be difficult.  But something deep down inside me makes me feel that Liverpool have seen an oppertuinty here and have taken it with both hands.

The game on Sunday would have been massive,  it won’t decide who will finish in the top 4, but if Liverpool had lost it would most certainly made their job a hell of a lot harder.  Liverpool as the world knows are not in any sort of form at the moment, and after the Villa game I thought they would kick on and start to look a bit better.  But it was clear this was not going to be the case as the Reading game unfolded.   Spurs on the other hand are looking good at the moment and probably would have fancied turning Liverpool over this weekend. Liverpool would have been without Mascherano for this game as he is out serving a ban, which he will now fulfill against Reading in the FA Cup replay.  Ok, Spurs are without Lennon, which is a big loss, but I feel the Mascherano loss would have been the bigger of the two.  Liverpool are also in the final stages of signing Maxi Rodriguez who when he arrives will improve the team vastly.  But he wouldn’t have been available on Sunday.  All this adds up to me putting out the suggestion, did the management team at Liverpool see a chance to get this game moved to a later date in the hope they will be in a richer vain of form with a few new players in the side, which will give them a better chance of beating Spurs and close the gap on 4th spot.  If so, and they do go on to clinch 4th place, is this the best managerial decision by Liverpool this season ???

Owen Coyle: Burnley or Bolton

So apparently Owen Coyle is mulling over a managerial move from Burnley to Bolton Wanderers. Other than the fact Coyle used to play for Bolton, making 78 appearances, I cannot for the life of me think of any good reason why Coyle should want to make this move. OK, Bolton will probably have a marginally bigger budget, to accompany their marginally bigger (albeit much newer) stadium, and their marginally bigger reputation having been in the Prem for quite a while now. But come on, these aren’t good reasons. The fact is, Bolton’s marginally bigger budget wouldn’t exactly give Coyle loads of money to spend – he’ll still be shopping in the bargain basement. Neither do they ever come close to filling their 28,000 capacity stadium, as they don’t have the fan base. As for their marginally bigger reputation, that has come hand-in-hand with their reputation as a pretty awful non-footballing team to watch. In contrast, Burnley have this season won the hearts of many football lovers with their continued desire to play proper football, even against the big teams, to whom they have given a very difficult time on a number of occasions, not least during the 1-0 home defeat of Man. Utd early in the season.

There is a certain romance to Burnley’s football team this season, and that is largely to do with Coyle. The fact Burnley are sat above Bolton in the table only goes to show that this ‘romance’ also has some substance. Only a few months ago, Coyle turned down the chance to manage Celtic, in order to continue the “incredible adventure” he was having at Burnley. I hope he doesn’t change his mind now by joining Bolton.

Mark Hughes receives sack for Christmas, and not the kind with presents in

Plaudits to Seven Sisters contributor Mr. David Tonks, who is in (electronic) print on this blog as having predicted that Mark Hughes would be sacked by Christmas. In response to a post of mine in which I criticised Hughes, Dave said the following:

I think Hughes will be gone by Christmas and someone of greater ability will take over.

Hughes has indeed been sacked, though only just by Christmas. Regardless of what we might think of the decision (I think it is a correct footballing decision, because I don’t rate Hughes, but I’m not sure if his actual managerial performance this season merits it, as City have only lost twice), it might be interesting to consider what this will mean for City’s season.

Interestingly, I responded to Dave’s prediction in my subsequent comment, as follows:

Dave, Man City may actually have a better season if they sack Hughes by Christmas. They do need a bigger name manager to manager their big name players.

What do we think? Can Mancini, an Italian with no Premiership experience, turn things around for City?

Why Arsenal should win the League this year

Which one is your favourite?  Personally I favour Theo Walcott’s Lion, although they all have their merits.

James

The Hand of Henry (online game)

Just found this simple but entertaining (and topical) game involving Thierry Henry and his now infamous left hand. It’s all in French, but is pretty self-explanatory, just click on the picture below…

…and then click on “jouer”.

To play, click to wave Thierry’s hand at the balls as they fly down. My best score so far is 38-1. Not bad.