The start of a new Premiership season always brings about a sense of excitement with teams hoping for a successful campaign. Unfortunately though, as exciting as the Premiership is, I don't see it being dramatically different from previous seasons.
The big 4 will remain the big 4 and Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd will certainly take up the top positions and probably all the silverware. I also think there will remain consistency in the positions of these clubs with Man Utd and Chelsea battling it out for the title, Arsenal falling just short and Liverpool struggling to remain consistent enough.
I wonder if any of the teams in and around the top 4 can make a serious challenge to break in. The likely candidates have to be Aston Villa, Everton and Spurs but I don't know if any of these sides will have what it takes. Its almost certain that two of these three sides will make up the fifth and sixth places but a lack of depth will restrict further success.
At the bottom, I can only see doom for the three promoted clubs. As much as I'd like to see Stoke City and Hull make a go of it, I'm not sure they have the depth or ability in their squads to compete week in, week out. West Brom probably have the best chance of survival but even they need to make some quality additions to their team in order to be competitive.
The question is, who else could get dragged into the relegation dog-fight and my instincts tell me that Fulham, Bolton and Middlesbrough could be likely candidates. The amazing thing is that these sides are good enough to play at the highest level, but the competition in the Premiership is so fierce that they will almost certainly finish closer to the bottom than the top.
My tip for success this season is Portsmouth. I can definitely see them kicking on from last season's cup success and making an impression in the Premiership. I think a top 6 finish is definitely on the cards and who knows how far they could go, if Crouch and Defoe really start to fire up front. From an English point of view, it would be great to see these two strikers form a partnership.
Whatever the outcome of this season's competition, Premiership football shirts will definitely be worn with pride as the league continues to dominate the world stage.
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