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Whilst Manchester United won both the Champions League and the Premier League last season, they were not the run-away winners in either competition...

Summer Preparations: What An EPL Season to Look Forward to!

by Vincent Chow (Scribe)

1

494 reads

Preview/Prediction

July 23, 2008


Whilst Manchester United won both the Champions League and the Premier League last season, they were not the run-away winners in either competition.

Chelsea ran United so close last season, and remember, Arsenal led the league for the longest period of time last season.

United were not as consistent as they would have liked. A poor start, along with surprising defeats against Man City, West Ham and Bolton, were not signs of champions.

Despite that, it would be difficult to argue against them being the best team last season. Would things be slightly different this season?

Man United are on the verge of a brilliant signing in Berbatov, a striker who just looks destined to be a United player with his skills and swagger. He looks to be the ONLY big signing that United are going to make this summer.

But what a signing it will be. If they can keep Ronaldo, they will have to get his mentality right. At times, he plays for himself rather than plays for the team.

There is no doubt that he is a great player, but his mentality has got to change. If not, I think Fergie will chuck him away, because he won't allow that in the club.

Scholes, Giggs and Neville's contributions to the club is undoubtedly unmatchable. However, the three of them will really have to fight to get into the starting line-up. The pace in the EPL is harsh on older players like them. Don't be surprised if they are used as bit-part players.

Chelsea have signed two excellent players in Bosingwa and Deco. The two Portuguese players are both excellent technically.

Deco will give Chelsea a lot more creativity and flair, which is what they have always lacked in midfield, and Bosingwa should finally sort out the right back problems that Chelsea have had.

Robinho is a question mark; I personally do not see the point of it since he is not physically competent for the EPL, and he lacks the team ethic to play for a team like Chelsea. Well, maybe Big Phil can prove me wrong.

What I do know, however, is that Chelsea is going to be there or there-abouts, simply because they have the toughest mentality out of all four teams. They can always swim against the flow and cast doubters wrong. They will not lose games without a fight.

Despite a poor end to the season, Arsenal were (being an Arsenal fan) a revelation for the EPL last season. This is because they were so written off last season that it was unimaginable to see them do so well at the start and winning at places that fans expected the opposite, such as West Ham, Bolton, Everton away.

Last summer, I was talking to friends about predictions, and I said to them Arsenal had the best team spirit at that time, because I saw how much they wanted to win trophies in the Emirates and Amsterdam tournaments, how they fought for each other. Unfortunately, a chain of events led to the bonding and morale being disturbed, which is why the team struggled.

It is hard to predict whether Nasri and Ramsey can give Arsenal much this season. Both are young, one is foreign and in need of time to adapt. Ramsey is inexperienced and probably won't be in the first team much this season. So Wenger is yet to make a signing which is going to immediately improve the team.

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1 comments Last one added 4 months ago — Leave a Comment

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    Perfect Liverpool analysis! :D

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