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PREDICTIONS TIME! Get Yours in for the 2015-2016 EPL Season

Cali Ed

Cali Ed

New member
(Yeah, I know transfers can still happen, but I don't see any one team's fortunes changing that much with one or two signings.)

Unlike last year, I really don't want to do a 1-20 countdown, so let's choose the following: your Top 4 for the Champions League spots, the fifth and sixth place sides (potential Europa spots) and the three most likely to be relegated. You can choose to list the European and relegated teams alphabetically, or in the actual league position standing you think they'll finish.

Since I'm starting this thread again, here's my prediction

Champions - Chelsea: no reason to believe this won't happen, despite the lack of significant improvement in their squad.
Runners-up - Arsenal: adding Cech, and the maturation of the Gunners squad late last season has me believing they'll be the team to pressure the Blues the most.
3rd place - Manchester City: adding Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph not nearly enough. This squad looks shaky all over the place. When they're on, they are championship material. Far too often, though, they aren't on.
4th place - Liverpool: maybe a stretch, but I like Benteke alot, and I think the team's strengthened enough to pip ManU to the last CL qualifying spot.
5th place - Manchester United: their only significant additions were Depay and Matteo (Schweinsteiger/van Persie swap is even, and Schneiderlin isn't di Maria, though Darmian is an upgrade over Rafael). I just don't see, though, the needed improvements in the back to make me think "oh yeah, they'll be better". And now there's more pressure than before on an aging Wayne Rooney to score 20 goals.
6th place - Spurs: I picked (surprisingly) Everton last season, but I'm going back to the "tried and true" choice of Spurs to pip Southampton for 7th, largely on the legs of Harry Kane and that Eriksen/Lamela midfield. But it will be very close.

For last year's bottom three, I got Burnley and Hull right, and predicted Leicester instead of QPR, though I predicted QPR would just shade Hull to 17th, so I was right that QPR would struggle. Based on that, this year's bottom three?

#20 Bournemouth (the "greenest" team in the league)
#19 Leicester City (second year slump for recently-promoted team)
#18 Sunderland (based on a hunch, to be edged out by Watford, Norwich City and Newcastle in the final days)


Who ya got?!
 
I'm going to switch your champions and runners-up. Arsenal had a great and relatively injury free pre-season and that was without Alexis Sanchez. Wenger finally got the Mourinho monkey off his back. Cech is a huge upgrade to a squad that was pretty much best in the leage over the last 3 months of the season last year. Chelsea sleep-walked through most of 2015 and didn't add anyone of significance. Without Costa last Saturday, they looked lost. If Falcao bounces back to what he was pre-injury, they'll be better. But, as my daughter said during the Community Shield match, it's appropriate that Chelsea's new kit sponsor (Yokahama Tires) would want to advertise on a bus.

I think 3-5 are going to be a dogfight between City, Liverpool, Man U and Spurs in that order. Man U only makes this list if De Gea stays. Without him I think they'll struggle to qualify for the Europa League. I saw them against PSG and, while it was only 1 game, and they were coming off a dismantling of Barca, they looked bad with a first choice team in the first half. Phil Jones looked old, Daley Blind is out of position at center half and they had a hard time linking through midfield unless Schweinsteiger had the ball. L'Equipe in France is reporting that Hugo Lloris will join Man U if De Gea leaves. If that happens, Man U should be a solid 5th, move Everton up and Spurs down.

I think Southampton will struggle with the addition of the Europa League matches and a relatively thin squad. It's good to see Jay Rodriguez back though. I think they're this year's Everton, for the same reasons. Everton should have a bounce back year and move back into the mix for the Europa League spots.

At the bottom? Throw a blanket over the 3 newbies, Leicester, Sunderland, Villa and West Ham.
 
I think the additions of Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin are going to make a bigger difference to United than some think. I can see them struggling early then really getting into the race. I also have a sneaky suspicion that Mourinho is going to focus just a touch more on taking a run in the CL. And I agree that City, while talented, just doesn't come across as a cohesive team. So in the end I am going to go with Arsenal to win it.

Liverpool could nick 4th if City crashes and burns, but I'm just not so sure. If Spurs do indeed land Berahino, and can get good progress from their youth movement in the midfield, and Lloris doesn't get shipped out in the winter window, then they can get 5th again. Otherwise they slip to 6th.

Relegation: Leicester won't repeat their end of season miracle of last year, and Sunderland have played with fire the last two. And I don't know how anyone can see Watford staying up.
 
1) Man City - some year Aguero is going to stay fairly injury free, if its this year then I think it will be Citys title.

2) Chelsea - They cant go another year with their first 11 playing the majority of the games.

3) Arsenal - The pressure of expectations will do what it has done to Arsenal for 10 years now and they will fold

4) Man U - You don't progress when your best player last year is benched for the first game cause he wants to move to Real Madrid

5) Liverpool - If I had more faith in Sturridge staying healthy I might have put them above United

6) Spurs
7) Everton
8) Southampton


18) West Ham - more a wish than a true prediction. Would just love to the those smug Hammers fans who so desperately wanted Big Sam gone get what they deserve.

19) Leicester City - Think they held on last year due to the force of the managers nature, with him gone and the happy go lucky Ranieri in charge they might sink.

20) Bournemouth - Think this is a money making year to rebuild for a push for EPL promotion and a real chance to stick the next time around.
 
The new TV contract in England kicks in next year and the US contract is up too. This is not the year to be relegated, as the gap between the Prem and Championship is going to widen significantly. It would be doubly worse for West Ham if they move into their shiny, new, primarily taxpayer funded, retrofitted Olympic stadium as a Championship team.
 
A little late to the party, but here we go ...

1. Man City ... I'm with Dave on this one. I don't buy the Arsenal bounce as much as some and Chelsea looks thin and distracted to me. But that offense at City ... whew. I think Aguero stays healthy and goes all Suarez in 2014 this season.

2. Arsenal ... Cech? Clearly an improvement but not the Cech of old, which is why he wasn't playing at Chelsea in the first place. Still not a fan of what they've got in the middle up front either. I like this team a lot, but don't see them taking the league.

3. Chelsea ... tempting to bump them to 4th, but there's too much class in that roster. I just see them having an off season domestically, while maybe making a big push in Europe. They look over-traveled and distracted early and that's not a great sign. Jose won't let them slip too far though.

4. Liverpool ... I guess. Not much between them and the next two IMO. Benteke can be a difference maker if they get him tucked in early on.

5. Spurs ... why not? Again, I see very little between 3rd and 6th this year. Kane looks the real deal, and the roster and staff were stable by Spurs standards. Now watch, they'll go out and do 20 stupid deals in the last week of the window just because they're Spurs and feel they have to for some genetic reason.

6. Man United ... LVG looks a bigger clown by the day and I smell more than a whiff of complete dysfunction. Good moves this summer, yeah. But I thought they made good moves last summer. Let's just see how this goes, because I can see it going pretty rough.

Best of the rest ... Southampton, Everton, Swansea

Relegationland

18. Leicester ... yeah, miracles don't always last now do they? Don't like this club any better than last year when they pulled it out late. No real improvement.
19. Norwich ... are people are picking them to stick because they did it last time? I think so and don't see much roster improvement either. Goals were the problem then and look to be again.
20. Watford ... seriously. Who's scoring for this lot and is their ownership going to roll through 4 managers before we're done? Stay tuned because this club will add drama, but probably only off the pitch.

For the record, I agree with the other hot seat teams, but I think there are goals in Bournemouth which is why I picked them to stick over their two promotion mates. Villa and West Ham will figure something out, as will Sunderland ... probably.
 
Cali Ed said:
#19 Leicester City (second year slump for recently-promoted team)
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andyt said:
At the bottom? Throw a blanket over the 3 newbies, Leicester, Sunderland, Villa and West Ham.
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HNIM said:
Relegation: Leicester won't repeat their end of season miracle of last year
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davemess said:
19) Leicester City - Think they held on last year due to the force of the managers nature, with him gone and the happy go lucky Ranieri in charge they might sink.
Click to expand...

jeffbear said:
18. Leicester ... yeah, miracles don't always last now do they? Don't like this club any better than last year when they pulled it out late. No real improvement.
Click to expand...

So guessing none of us had a few quid on Leicester then :D
 
davemess said:
So guessing none of us had a few quid on Leicester then :D
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No. And thanks for bringing up a reminder of what idiots we all were ... more for Chelsea than for Foxes, honestly.

And let's not even peek at the relegation picks. Too depressing by far.
 
Do we know what happened to Ed? Haven't seen him around here in a long while. Also, I guess I forgot to put down my predictions. I had Leicester winning the league and Villa predicted to be the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked.
 
Ed took a long break last year too. I think his work and home schedule just eventually blew away his message board time.

That or he discovered podcasts!
 
He had taken a short break from Facebook for a while too but he's back on there regularly.
 
Well, I was right that they wouldn't repeat the end of season miracle. They took care of that pretty early on.
 
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