Who's going to win the title - 2003/4?

ideally leeds come through and rub everyones noses in it (esp kewell) by romping it by christmas

hopefully neither liverpool or newcastle will win anything as there is nothing funnier than seeing the down turned face of a scouser or a geordie at their team bottling it once again.

arsenal will once again try and fail and spurs will be boring

p.s. is anyone interested in going to see AFCW play Watford this Saturday? Our biggest game ever!

Anyway, without spending, I don't think Man U can do it.

But their biggest rivals won't be Arsenal, who have a weak defence, no keeper and possibly a wantaway midfield general.

I think Newcastle and Chelsea will be the one's to watch out for.

Newcastle have some dangerous hungry young players in Jenas, Dyer, Woodgate, Bellamy, LuaLua, Chopra. Robson knows his shit I reckon and has carefully pieced together a squad capable of beating anyone on their day. They are a hard team to beat nowadays, and if the defence holds up, they could go all the way. Interested to see how Bowyer gets on up there – he was poor for the Hammers and I can’t see the fans or the manager particularly taking to him. Maybe he will be the key to how things play out up there. Of course, all of this waffle could go out the window if they sell Dyer to the Reds and Bellamy keeps picking up injuries but I think Newcastle have enough strength now to mount a coherent challenge to Dirtcheter Unitstink.

Chelsea are gonna be great to watch next season – like the Chelsea of Vialli maybe – sometimes unplayable, other times ripped to pieces. If Roman brings in a big striker or two (Vieri and Shevchenko would just about do the trick) and plays Davids or Totti behind them, they will be unstoppable (ah, what a dream it would be to see those chaps play in the Premiership). I’m not sure how far the Russian is prepared to go but if he wants to be silly, Chelsea could be in there, although it might take a season for them all to work out which language to speak on the pitch. It will be fascinating to watch it unfold though and there is always the hope of taunting the Chelsea fans when Abramovich is arrested on corruption charges and the club gets wound up with debts of £200 million.

As for the Pool, fuck them. I don’t believe Houllier has what it takes and he has far too many misfits in that squad to mount a coherent challenge. I think he lost the trust of his players with his oh so ruthless moves on the transfer market and although Kewell is the buy of the year, he isn’t enough to sort out a team misfiring in all departments.

What about my team Leeds? Who knows… I think I will be happy if we stay up. Reid is not the right man for the job – he’s just there to steady the ship, nothing more. The club is not in any position to follow up any ambition and it will be another desperate, dour season for us. And if we sell Viduka, we really are gonna end up in trouble – he’s the guy who kept us up in the first place for Chrissakes.

if chelsea get a good striker and get gudjohnsen back on worldclass form then i'll rate them

i can still see arsenal shoving all this derision down everyone's throats, esp if ljungberg is fully fit again. pennant, aliadiere? i think they are waiting for mexes in the winter

dark horse this season: Man City - tho the top 5 really is unchallengeable

here's hoping fulham stay up and villa go down oh yeah that would be nice

Liverpool will win, I'm blind to any other possibility (erm, until about October)

surely that makes him the right man for the job - at present leeds neeed stability, a firm mothering hand getting them playing football properly - the defence defending and not drifting to far up field with no pace to come back - harte im watching you.

if gray comes in (what happened to that??) and bridges comes back to form and plays up with viduka i think we could have a youthful but strong attack minded midfield with matteo holding and alan smith being alot more cooler on the pitch (reid will not stand for any shenanigans) we will be ok - damn it i think we could be in a european position by the end of the season - feel the passion flow - anyone excited yet

I AM

He's consistent and passionate and he's going nowhere.

I hope you're not a United supporter.

You have brought hope into my life when there was only darkness and the void James. Is Bridges off the crutches then?

Who's likely to break up that cosy quintet? It would be lovely to see Chelsea and Liverpool forced out of the UEFA places, and I'd like to think Everton would be doing the forcing, but matching last season (in the absence of much transfer activity, other than the very welcome securing of Yobo and Li Tie's services) requires unprecedented freedom from injury and Kevin Campbell to be 28 again.

Toffees = 8th, but maybe a Cup.

Man U and Arsenal seem to be stagnating while the other three continue to make progress. how much progress remains to be seen. i share bobs' concerns about Newcastles dodgy defence - they desperatly need a partner for Woodgate, Titus Bramble is nobodys answer. Liverpool with Kewell are a better prospect than Liverpool without Kewell, but i feel its more about changing the mentality of the players than the players themselves. If they can adopt a more expansive game then maybe ... Chelsea are a holding midfield player away from a serious title challenge. One more signing (or if Petit rediscovers his Arsenal form of a few years ago) then i for one will be dancing down the Kings Road.

6/7/8... Man City, Birmingham, Spurs

Leicester, Fulham and Wolves to go.

villa, wolves and Bolton to fall, leicester to struggle.

hasn't bridges been linked somewhere recently?

Chelsea won't win, I don't think... probably not enough time to get them all playing as a unit and they are minus Zola, the main architect of their success last season. Without him, a lot depends on Gudjohnsen and Hasselbaink and how well any newbies do. I think 2nd is a definite possibility.

Arsenal if anything look weaker at the back than they did last season but if they can carry on scoring goals like they're going out of fashion they'll be alright.

With Liverpool a lot depends on Owen and Kewell being on form - if they pick up injuries then having to rely on Heskey, Baros and Nadge Chuff is not a great position to be in. Just as important, I suspect, is whether they get the best out of John Arne Riise and whether they can keep the pairing of Hyppia and Henchoz together for the season - the lack of which caused them a lot of problems last season *coughDjimiTraorecough*

I still think United will win it. Every team in the top five big contenders is flawed in some way but they appear less so. Beckham wasn't THAT great in the Premiership for much of last season and if Scholes and Giggs and stay fit and on form and Djemba Djemba/whoever does well, they might not even miss him.

But if I had to pick three for the drop then: Fulham, Bolton, Wolves.

2 Manchester United

3 Chelsea

4 Newcastle United

5 Liverpool

6 Leeds United

Mark C's tip for Fulham to go looks astute to me.

I don't think I'd add City to that. Charlton possibly. Even Wolves.

Tottenham may end up about 15th.

FA Cup: Chelsea

League Cup: I was going to say Everton, but then something told me Liverpool. How about an all-Mersey League Cup Final?

Yes, it's looking worrying at the Lane of Shame at the moment - a lot depends on injuries, morale (crucial with Hoddle in charge) and whether Postiga or Zamora can effectively partner Robbie Keane upfront. But mostly morale - players just don't want to play for Hoddle. I think it'll be a decent start to the season followed by a downhill slide and a ninth or tenth place finish, like every other season.

Either that or it'll all go a bit Upton Park, which is plausible.

yes deff Hoddle first to go.

1. Man Utd
2. Chelsea
3. Newcastle
4. Arsenal (wishful thinking)
5. Liverpool
6. Villa (dunno, just got a feeling)

hoddle could def be opne of the first to go - esp if postiga turns out to be a dull squibb ala rebrov

I heart the pinefox (any chance you could predict us just above Utd now?)

i to heart the pinefox and his expert football knowledge

but the top 5 all only a few points apart

as for the title,last season there were several games where arsenal were better than any football team i've ever seen,but it just didn't come together for them
if they hold on to their key players i wouldn't be surprised if they won though

1. Manchester United
2. Arsenal
3. Newcastle
4. Liverpool
5. Chelsea
6. Tottenham - I fully expect two midfiled signings soon
7. Birmingham
8. Manchster City
9. Everton -
10. Blackburn
11. Southampton
12. Middlesborough
13. Bolton
14. Leeds United
15. Aston Villa
16. Fulham
17. Charlton
18. Portsmouth
19. Leicester City
20. Wolves

I'm not sure who will come out of the pack to surprise and compete this year. I don't see it being Leeds at all, and Tottenham would need spectacular results from Postigo, say. Blackburn lose Duff and Dunn, and will be mid-table. I am surprised how highly some are rating Birmingham. I think Southampton might have another top-half season. Man City too. Maybe Middlesborough also. But I guess if I had to bet on 6th I'd go for Everton, although I think this will be a season where Rooney's rep gets put into a bit of perspective.

All three promoted teams will struggle, and I really can't see Wolves or Leicester surviving. I wish Arry well at Portsmouth, and maybe they will edge out Fulham, who will need something special from some of their underperformers to stay up.

Wolves, Bolton, Fulham, Leicester.

I think Pompey will be alright, although I still think Leeds could have a torrid time of it, and may well be down there.

Martin talks a lot of sense but I'd disagree with his criticism of United's fullbacks. John O'Shea did superbly well there (and elsewhere) last year, and there's not that much wrong with Gary Neville's form (the odd derby game aside). Wes Brown will probably play there when he's fit too (presuming Silvestre and Ferdinand are first choice at centre back).

I do think we need to keep Veron though.

fulham to def stay up

baffled by this man city luv tho, they are terrible! keegan has simply no idea how to get the best out of his team, it all seems like a bunch of players he likes thrown together and then disbeleief when they don't know what to do. sommeil, distin, dunne are all potentially good players left stranded by lack of tactics. midfield is non-existent (joey barton saved yr asses last season!)and sinclair will do nowt much. fowler might adapt to being a good split striker but not under keegan. and i feel so sorry for john macken... £5m?

Charlton are easily good enough to stay up, and Bolton have the balls and the experience to avoid relegation once again - they're becoming a Coventry City, I reckon.

I agree whole-heartedly with Chip. Keegan is a manager just waiting to be found out (again), and it seems he's up to his eyes in murky transfer corruption too. His only defence against that is his astonishing stupidity.

so I decided to love a team pretty much at random, and picked Man City. so if they suck (which they don't so much, 9th in first year back in Premiership is NOT terrible, woulda been better had they not fallen apart in 2nd half of season) I'll like 'em and if they are great (haha) I'll be really happy.

Yeah, Charlton will be sound and safe, I think. Man City won't threaten for the title, but I think they will score enough goals to be top half. Keegan needs the right assistant to discipline the defence a bit, but going forward they will be lively.

But I have to disagree about O'Shea - he's been awesome going forward, the best attacking full back we've had in ages. In fact he convinces me more going forward than defensively, so I think he's currently better at full back than centre back.

Agreed, it's vital playing to have attacking full backs with 4-2-3-1.