2006-07 Premier League Season Preview

WorldFootballers.com pundit Richard Williams looks at the upcoming Premiership season and gives his predictions for the new campaign.

With the brand new Barclays Premiership season kicking off on August 19th there has already been much debate as to who the contenders, the dark horses and the relegation dogfight candidates will be. 

Will anybody be up to the task of stopping Chelsea winning their 3rd consecutive Premiership crown? 

Are Lucas Neill’s Blackburn Rovers good enough to improve on last seasons 6th place finish and compete for a Champions League spot?

Can promoted sides Watford, Reading and Sheffield United avoid the dreaded drop? 

The Contenders

Let’s face it; it’s very hard to look past Chelsea with the power of Roman Abramovic’s wallet when predicting the Premiership winners.  With the amazing additions of Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko to a squad already boasting the likes of New England skipper John Terry, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Claude Makelele, Arjen Robben and Joe Cole, you might as well hand them the trophy in August. However, is there some hope for the chasing pack?  It's a well documented fact that Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, has been lusting after the Champions League trophy since Day One. The chosen one, Jose Mourinho was bought in to achieve this very goal and this might be his last chance to deliver. There is no doubt that Chelsea's focus will be firmly on the Champions League. Will this distraction allow the other teams a chance to catch up?

Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal will start the season in their brand new Emirates stadium, hoping it brings them some much needed good luck. After loosing the Champions League final last time out, the Gunners will be gearing up to go one better this term. However, it has been evident for some years now that Arsenal has never been able to compete successfully both domestically and in Europe. Something always suffers. Last season, they were great in Europe but finished trophy-less and fourth in the Premiership. Unlike Chelsea, they just don't have the strength to compete at the top on two fronts. Wenger has made only one significant signing in Rosicky this season and is relying on quality young players such as Fabregas, Van Persie and Phillip Senderos combining with the magnificent Thierry Henry to bring home the bacon. At full strength, Arsenal plays beautiful football, but as the season progresses, and the grip of the English winter in the Premiership takes hold their options become limited. The Gunners will have to make a choice - challenge Chelsea at home, or risk it all for that place in European history.

From the outside looking in Manchester United seem to be in some trouble. Van Nistelrooy has gone, Ronaldo looks like he will be the victim of abuse form every terrace in the Premiership following his spat with Rooney in the World Cup and Sir Alex has failed to attract a world class signing so far this term. Van Nistelrooy’s sudden fall from grace and subsequent offloading to Real Madrid just reaffirms the fact that no one crosses swords with Ferguson and lives to tell the tale (remember David Beckham?). Sir Alex Ferguson is a great manager with a fantastic record. But of late, some of his decisions are leaving the fans in disarray.  In their defence, United were arguably the form side of the second half of last season and Van Nistelrooy never played. They also now have Paul Scholes (who missed the second half of last season) back to full fitness and with Michael Carrick added to the midfield mix United will still be a force in the Premiership race. It is my guess that Rooney and Ronaldo will be out to prove that their on field relationship is as strong as ever and when firing they are two of the best young players in the world.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez will be hoping for some much needed consistency on the domestic front this time out. Last term they broke club records for consistency in the first half of the season but as the New Year approached their fire power dried up and not one Liverpool striker scored a goal in January evaporating their title chances. Benitez has bought quality and pace in Craig Bellamy and Jermaine Pennant and the Kop faithful will be hoping they can fill the gaps that let them down last year.

The Dark Horses

The chasing pack has been pretty consistent over the last few seasons with Tottenham, Newcastle and Bolton Wanderers never too far away from the minor European spots.  However, every year throws up a dark horse.  Last year it looked like being newly promoted Wigan Athletic who began the season in great form before trailing off to finish a very respectable 9th.  Blackburn Rovers took over the mantle as the season progressed and ended up finishing 6th, equalling their highest finish since winning the league in 1995.  Their defensive consistency was their biggest asset last term with Aussie superstar Lucas Neill an ever present in the back four.  This time out I reckon West Ham and Everton along with Blackburn will prove to be the teams to watch.  All three clubs have excellent young managers in Alan Pardew, David Moyes and Mark Hughes who promote the right way to play the game and with some excellent attacking flair in all camps ( WH – Marlon Harewood, Yossi Benayoun and Carlton Cole, EVE – Tim Cahill, Andy Johnson, James Beattie,  BLA - Morten Gamst Pedersen, Steven Reid, Jason Roberts) I expect all three clubs to have good seasons.

The Dogfight Candidates

With the exception of Wigan Athletic last season it seems that not many promoted clubs have the power to cope with the Premiership consistently unless they have a chairman willing to dig deep for the cause.  This season’s promoted trio of Watford, Reading and Sheffield United will unfortunately fall into the dogfight bracket.  Although I do think that United under Neil Warnock will give it the best go simply because they will prove to be hard to beat at Bramall Lane. My other tip to struggle this year has to be Aussie skipper Mark Viduka’s Middlesbrough.  They’ve lost the best boss they’ve had in years in Steve McClaren to the England job and appointed the unqualified Gareth Southgate at the helm having had no grounding in managing at this level at all.  Franc Quedrue, who was arguably their best defender alongside Southgate and Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink have also moved on to pastures new adding to my feeling that Boro are in for a rough ride.

Predictions

Winners – Chelsea
Runners Up – Liverpool
Champions League – Arsenal, Man Utd
UEFA CUP – Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle
Relegated – Watford, Reading, Sheffield United or Middlesbrough.