So what does the 21st season of the 'world's greatest league' have in store? I can see a three-way title race between the Manchester Two and Chelsea, with the North London rivals battling for Champions League football and Liverpool, Newcastle and Everton bidding for European places. After that it's a real lottery trying to predict what will happen, with no obvious candidate for relegation and the remainder of the teams all within a similar level. I'm going to stick my neck out and predict that, for the second year in a row, all three newly-promoted sides will stay up. If I haven't given away too much already, read on for a team-by-team analysis!
ARSENAL
After recovering to finish third and guarantee a 15th consecutive season of Champions League football, as well as recruting Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud before Euro 2012, Arsenal fans were a content bunch at the start of the summer. Then, once again, their talisman has flown the coop and Arsene Wenger must now plan for life after Robin van Persie. At least by breaking tradition and getting his shopping done early, the Frenchman knows he has attacking options in place, and with Jack Wilshere due to return in the next few weeks the Gunners will be strong in midfield too. However they remain suspect at the back and this is what, time and again, prevents them from posing a real title challenge. They have fallen behind some of their rivals and there could be some uneasy moments again, but the van Persie situation being put to bed might not be such a bad thing. Arsenal should have enough about them to finish in the top four yet again.
Prediction: 4th
ASTON VILLA
Aston Villa's status as one of just seven ever-presents in the Premier League looked under real threat last season but they did just enough to stave off accompanying neighbours Wolves into the Championship. Alex McLeish never had the backing of the fans and it was no surprise when he was sacked in May. In his places comes Paul Lambert, who in three years turned Norwich from League 1 basement boys to Premier League mid-table. Villa have some good young talent at the club such as Marc Albrighton, Barry Bannan and Andreas Weimann, but a lack of firepower is a real problem. If Darren Bent doesn't find form, they will struggle for goals, but he and Gabriel Agbonlahor haven't yet had the chance to really form a partnership. If they do, and they could, Villa will improve on last season, although their threadbare squad still needs adding to.
Prediction: 10th
CHELSEA
Victory in the Champions League final could have been a defining moment for this football club. If they had gone down to Bayern Munich, Chelsea would be looking at the Europa League this year and their top players may have found it hard to stay on board. Alas the Blues will be in the main continental tournament for the 10th year in a row and the feel-good factor around Stamford Bridge has given the fans real hope that they can improve domestically this season. Eden Hazard and his younger brother Thorgan, Marko Marin and Oscar have all arrived in west London and these signings provide a much-needed injection of youth into the side. Roberto di Matteo will still look to stalwarts Petr Cech, John Terry and Frank Lampard, as well as a rejuvenated Fernando Torres. The material is there for a proper title challenge this time around and, even if they fall narrowly short, it's unlikely that they'll need another penalty shoot-out win to qualify them for the Champions League.
Prediction: 3rd
EVERTON
How Everton fans wish the season would always start in November. They have made a habit of stumbling out of the starting blocks before gathering pace over the winter and surging into contention for a European place. Last year they had the huge satisfaction of finishing above rivals Liverpool, a testament to David Moyes' sunshine on a shoestring management. Bringing back Steven Pienaar from an abortive spell at Tottenham worked a treat and the capture of Nikica Jelavic was a masterstroke. Tim Cahill has gone to MLS but his time at Goodison Park looked to be up; it's Jack Rodwell who could be the bigger loss. Still, Moyes is well used to his crown jewels departing (Wayne Rooney, Thomas Gravesen, Pienaar, Mikel Arteta) and he has always found a way to cope comfortably. The likeable Scotsman will probably have the Toffees nicely in the top half again.
Prediction: 8th
FULHAM
Ever since their miracle escape from the drop in 2007-08, Fulham have been the archetypal mid-table club - not troubling the higher reaches while keeping well away from relegation waters. They appear set to do likewise again under the wily stewardship of Martin Jol in their 12th Premier League campaign . They have lost some very useful players over the summer like Pavel Pogrebnyak, Danny Murphy and Andy Johnson, but for the time being they retain the services of the prolific Clint Dempsey and they have made a clever purchase in Croatia striker Mladen Petric, who arrives from Hamburg. Also they won't have European football to interrupt their domestic duties, so another year of nice and comfortable dwelling in the middle reaches of the Premeir League awaits.
Prediction: 11th
LIVERPOOL
Liverpool fans couldn't wait for last season to end and the Carling Cup was never going to be enough to keep Kenny Dalglish in a job. To their credit the owners moved swiftly to get Brendan Rodgers in to replace 'King Kenny' and his arrival has been well met by the fans, some of whom were far from pleased with Dalglish's dismissal. The Reds should be worth watching under the tiki-taka merchant Rodgers, but Barcelona they ain't. Steven Gerrard is still being asked to don the Superman gear when the going gets tough, Pepe Reina has looked shaky in goal and the overall quality of the team isn't a patch on the side that came so close to winning the title in 2009. One man who could make or break their season is Luis Suarez, undoubtedly a brilliant player but one who is possibly another controversial discretion away from being turfed out of English football. Liverpool could hardly be more shambolic than they were last year but progress will be gradual.
Prediction: 6th
MANCHESTER CITY
Manchester City fans who had lived for years on tales of woe and reluctant acceptance of their status as the poorer relations to a certain MUFC must have spent the summer listening to Martin Tyler roaring "AguerrrOOOOOO!!!!!" as the Argentine striker's goal against QPR finally secured them the title. In marked contrast to three previous summers of splashing the cash, the champions have been far more frugal this year, with Jack Rodwell the only new arrival. That may owe to the club looking towards UEFA's imminent Financial Fair Play rules but it could also be a statement that a side containing Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez doesn't need much more strengthening. Capturing the Premier League crown will give Roberto Mancini's team great confidence to go and do it again, but they will definitely seek to make their mark on the Champions League this term. Also they will have to contend with a wounded Man Utd, to whom they so nearly presented what ought to have been a nailed-on title a few months ago. They won't get so lucky a second time.
Prediction: 2nd
MANCHESTER UTD
You irk Alex Ferguson at your peril. That is the danger for everyone else in the Premier League, who knows that the Scot will have been itching for the new season to get underway so that he can silence the noisy neighbours who usurped their title in May. Some have dared to write about Man United being a club in decline. I think most teams will take finishing with 89 points and coming within one minute of a fifth league title in six years as being in decline. Despite the signings of Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell, there are still doubts about their midfield, especially as they lack a comabtive enforcer in the mould of Roy Keane in his prime. Ferguson, though, has shown with the capture of Robin van Persie from Arsenal that he is by no means over the hill. That could be the move which turns United from title contenders into favourites for a 20th triumph. This is a team that knows how to get results, be it with a free-flowing goal-filled rampage of football or a hard-fought slog against a tricky inferior side, and those qualities could put the smile back on Ferguson's face.
Prediction: 1st
NEWCASTLE
The Premier League's supposed 'comedy club' had the last laugh in the season just gone, taking us all by surprise by storming to a fifth-place finish, even looking down at eventual European champions Chelsea. The Geordies being a pessimistic bunch, their elation at such a marvellous campaign soon turned to fear of losing the men who made it happen, but so far all of their key players from 2011-12 are still on board. Tim Krul has emerged to be a fine successor to Shay Given, their defence is an unsung wall of consistency, their beauty and the beast midfield of Yoann Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote is still there and they have potent weapons up front in Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse. They may be hard pressed to finish in the top five again but Alan Pardew's men should consolidate their reclaimed status as one of the major players in English football.
Prediction: 7th
NORWICH
After two successive promotions the Canaries continued to fly last season, defying the sceptics to finish 12th. Although their team is pretty much the same this time around, they have lost manager Paul Lambert to Aston Villa. However they could have done far worse than replace him with Chris Hughton, a man who was unfairly shafted at Newcastle a couple of years ago and laid the foundations for their recent revival. Norwich have good options up front in Grant Holt and Steve Morison, while Anthony Pilkington and Wes Hoolahan are impressive midfielders. And yet you get the feeling that they could struggle this term. Good managers might not always be the right fit for a particular club and even Hughton will have a job on his hands to win over the Carrow Road faithful after the miracles that Lambert worked. It could be tougher this time around but Norwich ought to have enough to maintain their top-flight status.
Prediction: 16th
QPR
Their promotion to the top flight in 2011 was dramatic and their return season in the Premier League even more so. They left it to the very last day but QPR clung onto their place in the first tier, despite the self-destruct button being pressed by Joey Barton against Manchester City. The Loftus Road club picked up impressive wins over Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton last season and they turned their home ground into a bit of a fortress, but Mark Hughes knows that their away form needs to improve. The Welshman has made some astute signings over the summer, bringing in the likes of Park Ji-sung, Andy Johnson, Ryan Nelsen and Robert Green. They were woefully under-prepared for this level when they began last season but now that they have a fairly decent squad in place, the Rs shouldn't be as perilously close to the drop again.
Prediction: 14th
READING
Four years after slipping out of the top flight, Reading are back as winners of the Championship. They came within 90 minutes of going up last year, losing to Swansea in the play-off final, and after an awful start they ultimately romped home to promotion. The only worry for Brian McDermott is that he hasn't added significantly to the squad, and while his loyalty to the players who got the Royals back up is admirable, he may need to invest over the course of the season. He has, however, snapped up Pavel Pogrebnyak, who impressed on loan at Fulham last season, and left-back Nicky Shorey returns to the Madejski Stadium, where he was a real find in Reading's first Premier League season six years ago. They still need to bolster their squad but with the mild-mannered, intelligent McDermott in charge, they may just about stave off an immediate return to the Championship.
Prediction: 17th
SOUTHAMPTON
Three years ago the Saints were bottom of League 1 and in administration. Now it is fierce rivals Portsmouth who are in that situation and Southampton, after two successive promotions, are in the Premier League for the first time since 2005. Nigel Adkins is a deity at St. Mary's and should he keep the south coast club in the top flight he will nearly rival the great Matt Le Tissier for beatification in the fans' eyes. He has some excellent strikers at his disposal such as Ricky Lambert, Jay Rodriguez and Billy Sharp, while flying winger Adam Lallana could be one of the hits of the season. They aren't as secure at the back, though, and they are likely to take a few savage beatings during the season, but rarely has a promoted club had such firepower and their style of play is not unlike Norwich and Swansea, both of whom comfortably survived after promotion in 2011. Some have deemed Southampton relegation fodder but I can see them surviving with a bit to spare.
Prediction: 13th
STOKE
The phrase 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' is almost as old as mankind itself, but in Stoke's case it certainly rings true. Tony Pulis won't win any prizes for free-flowing football but the results he has achieved with limited resources over the last four years, without once looking like genuine relegation candidates, have been remarkable. Rory Delap's long throws will still be a weapon of mass destruction and Peter Crouch will put his two-metre frame to good use in the penalty area. The Brittania Stadium can be a graveyard for some of the top clubs, with Arsenal losing on three of their last four visits and Liverpool going down twice in the previous couple of seasons. 14th place last season represented their lowest Premier League finish, partly due to the added bonus/distraction of Europa League football. With no such worries this time, the Potters could move up a couple of places and have another steady season.
Prediction: 12th
SUNDERLAND
Sunderland's season looked to be going down the tubes until Martin O'Neill came in and got them going again. They tailed off at the end of the campaign but by then they were well and truly safe. The shrewd Ulsterman will now seek to push the Black Cats into the top half, a modest but achievable goal. They have good midfielders in Sebastian Larsson, James McClean, Stephane Sessegnon and Ji Dong-won, but up front they lack a reliable goalscorer in the mould of Darren Bent or Kevin Phillips. This is something O'Neill will have to address if they are not to get sucked into a survival battle, but his teams always play with passion and unity, qualities that mean a lot to Sunderland supporters. If they can pick up, or unearth, a 15-goal a season man they will easily finish in the top 10.
Prediction: 9th
SWANSEA
The Swans were one of the most graceful teams in the Premier League last season and Brendan Rodgers' devotion to passing football was justified in his team's incredible 11th-place finish. Unfortunately for Swansea he has now spread his wings towards Liverpool and he has taken Joe Allen with him. Gylfi Sigurdsson, who was a smash hit in his loan spell, has also left, so Danny Graham will need to reproduce his good scoring form. They are sturdy at the back, with Michel Vorm a dependable last line of defence, but after the euphoria of promotion and comfortable survival they will find it hard to impress. In fact, there is a danger that they could start to go in the wrong direction, just like Reading did in 07-08 after an excellent first season in the top flight. Despite backing them to go down 12 months ago and being proven very wrong, I fear that the post-Rodgers era will be a sobering one for Michael Laudrup's Swansea.
Prediction: 19th
TOTTENHAM
Having gone from being consistently inconsistent to top five regulars under Harry Redknapp, Tottenham will hope that young manager Andre Villas-Boas can continue the Cockney's good work. AVB, I'm sure you will recall, swept all before him at FC Porto but was hounded out of Chelsea after eight months. Some believe that the Portuguese 35-year-old will crash and burn at White Hart Lane, but he is thick-skinned and will move on from his harrowing experience in the west of London last year. He has brought in Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen and Icelandic dangerman Gylfi Sigurdsson, although Luka Modric will surely leave before the end of August. Spurs are still a very good side and Villas-Boas won't have to deal with egotistical parties like the senior players at Chelsea, so he will surely keep Tottenham in the hunt for Champions League football, although they may fall narrowly short of another top four finish.
Prediction: 5th
WEST BROM
West Brom fans who had become accustomed to swapping divisions on an annual basis could barely believe it when the Baggies boing-boinged to 10th place last season, but the man who guided them there, Roy Hodgson, is now trying to inject some life into the England national team. He is replaced by Steve Clarke, one of the most respected 'number twos' in English football but embarking on his inaugural role as the main man. I like Clarke and he has a serious tactical knowledge, but in Premier League management you need to be able to manage personalities and if the Midlanders don't hit the ground running, the fans may begin to turn on the new man. There are some good players at the club, such as Peter Odemwingie, James Morrison and Zoltan Gera, but I get the feeling that Hodgson will be sorely missed around The Hawthorns and they could end up being relegated from this division for the fourth time in 11 years.
Prediction: 18th
WEST HAM
Sam Allardyce knew he had to get West Ham back into the Premier League at the first attempt and he did it, even if it took an 87th-minute winner against Blackpool in the play-off final. Not that Hammers fans care; all they wanted was to be back among the big boys. This campaign surely can't be worse than their last spell in the top flight, when a dispirited group of talented but non-committal players finished bottom. Allardyce is near the back of the queue when awards for popularity are being handed out but he is not one to take criticism to heart and he showed at Bolton and Blackburn that he can get the best out of ordinary teams. West Ham are bound to have some tricky spells this season and 'Big Sam' knows that a run of poor results will have the fans on his back, but they are a good unit and are likely to do enough to stay in the Premier League.
Prediction: 15th
WIGAN
The Turin Shroud, the locations of Weapons of Mass Destruction, how Wigan Athletic constantly survive in the Premier League - these are some of the greatest mysteries known to man, the type of mysteries that leave the experts dumbfounded. Considering some of the teams that have gone down since the Latics first came into this league seven years ago, it is miraculous that Wigan have been ever-present in the top flight in all that time. We need to give them their due - Roberto Martinez is an excellent manager and the heart they show in staying up year after year is tremendous. All the while, though, you have to wonder how much longer they can keep doing it. Hugo Rodallega is a big loss and the pressure will be on young Franco di Santo to bang in the goals this season. I know all too well that tipping Wigan for relegation can lead to major embarrassment but, with the bottom half of the league looking more evenly-matched than ever, their time to exit this great stage may finally have come.
Prediction: 20th
PREDICTED FINAL TABLE
1. Man Utd
2. Man City
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Tottenham
6. Liverpool
7. Newcastle
8. Everton
9. Sunderland
10. Aston Villa
11. Fulham
12. Stoke
13. Southampton
14. QPR
15. West Ham
16. Norwich
17. Reading
18. West Brom
19. Swansea
20. Wigan
IF I WERE A BETTING MAN
Fernando Torres for top scorer
Steve Clarke to be first manager to leave his job
All 3 promoted teams to stay up
Every single week to feature at least one calamitous cock-up from officials (hard to get odds for, but you know what I mean)
All right, Premier League 2012-13, you have a lot to live up to, now show us what you got!
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