Not entirely the English Premier league this year don't forget :P lol

Can't say I follow the football, but I am interested to see how the Swans do. If they stay up then happy days :)

I'm expecting nothing but mid table mediocrity for the Villa this time around. We seem to have lowered our targets along with our spending. A shame, but it's a good chance for some of our much talked of youth to actually make a serious claim. It should be a nice, unpredictable season for us.

Every year, I have a soft spot for the newly promoted teams. So, I wouldn't mind seeing the Swans (along with Norwich and QPR) doing well.

Watching Man City tonight makes me think they could win the league or come very close..

Yes it was swansea but no other team came out the blocks as fast....

As a Liverpool fan this season all I hope for is they we can scrape 4th place... that and beat man u home and away would more than make my season.....

This is the year I see arsenal slipping out of the top 4 unless they make some quality signings.. Spurs will be there abouts and providing Everton can actually win some games in the first dozen they can provide strong competition for 4th...

Did anyone else laugh when they saw terry venables prediction that Bolton would finish 19th...?

Bolton,Stoke and WBA I believe will round off the top 10...

I believe Fulham, Sunderland Newcastle will be safe with about 6-7 games to go...

My candidates for underachiever of the season will be aston villa, Theyve lost key players in friedel,young,downing and I believe they will struggle and scrape 14th in the final few games....

Bottom 6 im going to call it
Wolves 45
Wigan 42
Norwich 40
Blackburn 37
QPR 33
Swansea 31

I think wolves have made some good signings in the areas they needed and I think Fletcher will have a good season this year and get about 10-12 vital goals....

Wigan have a good young squad and providing the likes of macarthy,macarthur,moses etc can come of age should have enough to stay up, Though if they lose Rodellega they may lose their place in the premier league

Norwich have some good players in Holt,Crofts Jackson, I live outside brighton and have seen Bennett play and hes a very good signing for them.... Deila Smith will do one of her drunken speechs and make my season :D

Blackburn - They havent picked anyone up good for quite a while now and aging players and just a general lack of talent bar samba,pedersen, Dont rate robinson and does anyone actually like diouf? Only Think Steve Kean is winning is the sack race, his drink drive ban doesnt make him look good either....

QPR - Havent signed anyone good, I had to laugh at poor dyer why they went for him is beyond me, Tarrabt was a standout in the championship but with the lack of time and space he will get this year he wont be half the player....

Swansea - Same applies to Sinclair, Yes dont get me wrong hes a great young player but I feel he doesnt have the talent around him to prosper, I cant see him being a talisman like adam was to blackpool or Johnson for palace, phillps for sunderland etc.... in the premier league though he will be their top scorer with about 12 prob earn himself a move to a mid table team when they go down.....


Getting Promoted I have money on Leicester and will be shocked if they dont get promoted
I think blackpool have a good chance of promoton, and maybe West Ham in the playoffs.

Just how good did David Silva look tonight? Yes, as Violator X said, it was against Swansea City. But he was commanding tonight. If City have finally left behind the individual dramas and are committed on the field, I have to think they can at least make the race interesting.

He looked the player he was at Valencia when him and Villa were running the show.. I agree if Tevez sorts himself out and plays this season with him aguero and silva in attack its going to be hard to keep them out....

My jaw dropped at Agueros performance the play to set up silva was fantastic....

I felt really bad for Michel Vorm he played well in the swansea goal yet had the misfortune of letting in 4 in his debut, But saying that I dont think any keeper could have saved the 4th goal and without him could have been 5 or 6

Indeed so. When that guy is in town it is a good idea to lock up your daughters and put all valuables in a safe.

Mansfield Town for promotion this season - you saw it here first.....

...oh - that's the other Premier league - Blue Square Prem is where its at don't you know, support your home town team!!!


But - I'm A Liverpool fan in the EPL - I think this year we should be very wary of expecting too much - a few new players, but I still think suspect in defence. Very good options up front though, and Saurez is of course a real star.

Can't see past Man ure lucking their way to the title again - deflected winner already, and we're only one game in!! Man City might run em close though, but I can actually see a big fail at Chelsea. I think with the new boss and players getting older, along with scoring woes, they might finish way off the pace this season.

so
1) Man Ure
2) Man City
3) Chelsea
4) Any one of Arsenal / Spurs / Liverpool

So...am I the only one who finds it the least bit humorous that it took Cesc all of seventy hours to win silverware with Barca? Yes, it's the Spanish Super Cup, but....oi!....life's hard for a Gunner fan these days.

For what it's worth (nothing!) here are my (sure to be comlpetely wrong!) round two predictions:

Sunderland 1 Newcastle 1

Arsenal 1 Liverpool 2 (this one kills me to say; I think Arsenal get their first league goal of the season, but I don't see how they beat 'Pool with a thoroughly depleted squad)

Aston Villa 2 Blackburn 0

Everton 1 QPR 0

Swansea City 0 Wigan 1

Chelsea 2 West Brom 1

Norwich City 1 Stoke 0 (No particular reason other than a gut feeling)

Wolves 1 Fulham 1

Bolton 1 Man City 3

Man U 2 Tottenham 0

Interesting prediction! The only ones I would say anything different about would be the Wolves and Swansea games. I'm sure both grounds will be buzzing and anything can happen when it's like that. Plus Wolves have a never-say-die-ness about them, at least I think.

And of course, I sincerely hope you're right about the Villa!

I'm up in the air on the Swansea pick. Yes, their ground will be buzzing, but I think Wigan plays the sort of methodical (my nice way of saying boring) game that can sap the crowd of its energy.

My mistake on Wolves. For some reason, I reverted to the American style of thinking that the visiting team was listed first (don't know why it happened for that particular game). I've amened the prediction. I think playng at Molineux gives Wolves equal chances.

Sunderland 0 - 1 Newcastle, that result will do me just fine

I don't follow football, but i'm hoping some underdogs can stay up like the 3 newly promoted teams.