Arsenal, Tottenham, and Liverpool have consolidated their clubs and there does not seem to be much interest in getting any new players, although Dirk Kuyt is still in talks with Liverpool. The Ashley Cole saga will probably end him going to Chelsea. This leaves Arsenal still unsure of who to put in left back but Cole was injured for a good part of the last season but Arsenal did a fair job rotating the spot. Mathieu Flamini will probably take the spot with Clichy and Lauren expected to return to match fitness by October. Michael Carrick is on his way to Man U from Tottenham but I don’t think he will be missed much.
This leaves Man U, which seems to be the most unsettled club right now. This season, anyone and everyone has been linked to a move to Man U. Patrick Viera, Carlos Tevez, David Trezeguet, Zlatan Ibrahamovic. The only two players that Man U has going for them is Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. The others are barely adequate, Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson. Ferguson is expecting much out of a revamped line of Alan Smith, Paul Scholes, Gabriel Heinze, and Solskjaer, like a man who believes that if he keeps repeating the mantra it becomes reality.
The Guardian surmises that Ferguson has lost touch with his players and really does not know them at all. In part because they seem to be ‘merks’ who are more interested in smelling good rather than revel in their sweat stained jerseys and boozy breaths. He is living in the Man U testesterone filled glory days of players like Cantona, Hughes, Ince, Keane, Pallister, Robson, Schmeichel, and Pallister. All men’s men. The current lot of Ferdinand, Brown, Richardson, are pallid in comparison.
Whatever it is, it seems that Man U at the present moment looks like it would probably fade to fifth in the present EPL season.
My picks: Arsenal wins it all, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham take the next three spots.