Options
Who'll win the league?
May be an old thread on this but as we are now entering March, thought I'd start a new one to get people's opinions on who they think will win the Premier League right now
Four genuine title contenders, we could well be in for the most tight and exciting finish in quite a while. Hoping so anyway.
Paddy Power
Chelsea 13/10
Man City 7/5
Liverpool 8/1
Arsenal 8/1
Man City- Seem to have hit a bit of a dip recently since they were outclassed by Chelsea. Until then it was looking like they could walk away with the league. I think they'll hit a purple patch again, and with Aguero to come back they're favourites IMO
Chelsea- Have been quite up and down. Immense wins v Man U and Man City along with dropped points v West Ham and West Brom, consistency seems to be an issue. With Mourinho at the helm I wouldn't rule out anything, but progression from the last 16 in CL (likely) could prove a slight hindrance in what'll be a jam packed few months in a tight league where any dropped points could be crucial. I'd never write them off though but think it's a season too early myself and the lack of a proven goal scorer could be pivotal
Liverpool- Definite contenders IMO despite what some think, and City and Chelsea at home to come. Saying that they've a propensity to drop silly points away and their defence has been leaky. With Suarez and Sturridge banging them in though, they'll pick up plenty of wins and no cup distractions- with no midweek games to come bar Sunderland possibly. Crucial few matches ahead. If they can beat the likes of So'ton and United away it'll be massive. Ultimately a season or two too soon I think
Arsenal- Gonna write them off myself, just not good enough against the big teams and that Man United match now likes like two serious points dropped. While they've been super consistent putting away the lesser teams, these matches become a bit trickier now with teams' premier league futures on the line. Top 4 should be well and truly sewn up but I think we'll see a steady collapse in the coming few weeks with a resurgence of sorts from April but ultimately not enough. Should really target FA Cup IMO
My own prediction
City
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arsenal
Four genuine title contenders, we could well be in for the most tight and exciting finish in quite a while. Hoping so anyway.
Paddy Power
Chelsea 13/10
Man City 7/5
Liverpool 8/1
Arsenal 8/1
Man City- Seem to have hit a bit of a dip recently since they were outclassed by Chelsea. Until then it was looking like they could walk away with the league. I think they'll hit a purple patch again, and with Aguero to come back they're favourites IMO
Chelsea- Have been quite up and down. Immense wins v Man U and Man City along with dropped points v West Ham and West Brom, consistency seems to be an issue. With Mourinho at the helm I wouldn't rule out anything, but progression from the last 16 in CL (likely) could prove a slight hindrance in what'll be a jam packed few months in a tight league where any dropped points could be crucial. I'd never write them off though but think it's a season too early myself and the lack of a proven goal scorer could be pivotal
Liverpool- Definite contenders IMO despite what some think, and City and Chelsea at home to come. Saying that they've a propensity to drop silly points away and their defence has been leaky. With Suarez and Sturridge banging them in though, they'll pick up plenty of wins and no cup distractions- with no midweek games to come bar Sunderland possibly. Crucial few matches ahead. If they can beat the likes of So'ton and United away it'll be massive. Ultimately a season or two too soon I think
Arsenal- Gonna write them off myself, just not good enough against the big teams and that Man United match now likes like two serious points dropped. While they've been super consistent putting away the lesser teams, these matches become a bit trickier now with teams' premier league futures on the line. Top 4 should be well and truly sewn up but I think we'll see a steady collapse in the coming few weeks with a resurgence of sorts from April but ultimately not enough. Should really target FA Cup IMO
My own prediction
City
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arsenal
Who will win the Premier League? 121 votes
Chelsea
38%
47 votes
Man City
27%
33 votes
Liverpool
28%
34 votes
Arsenal
5%
7 votes
0
Comments
Arsenal
Chelsea
Liverpool
Same as my prediction at the start except I had United in third so just bumped Chelsea and Liverpool up one place.
Think I had it like this myself at start
Chelsea
City
Man U
Arsenal
Liverpool's goals will get them 2nd.
Chelsea's defence will get them 1st.
I'm always wrong though.
2 Man City
It's a toss up for 3rd & 4th between Liverpool & Arsenal.
City will be close because of their quality, but I just think the Mourinho factor will edge it.
I'm certainly not prepared to rule out the prospect myself to be honest, despite my prediction
While there's no doubt they play lovely football when in full flow, they really have been limited at times away from home and one or two injuries to key men and they seem to really be affected. To be honest Chelsea really showed them up at the Etihad
Any of Aguero (again), Kompany, Fern, Yaya, Silva get injured and there could be trouble
I'm not overly convinced they're capable of grinding out results like Chelsea and even Arsenal so far this season
It really is difficult to call
I think Liverpool are very long at 8's tempted to throw a few quid on them but might wait till So'ton game which I think they'll draw (odds will lengthen if so). I think they'll do a number on Man U at OT and odds will shorten again
Their goalscoring has been insane and they won't drop many points at home till the end of the season that's for sure
Agree on Arsenal
However, whoever wins it, Billingham Synthonia hereby challenges the winner to a friendly match at the Glamal Engineering Stadium
City still have to go to Arsenal, Liverpool, United and Everton.
...though if the Liverpool bandwagon keeps rolling?
...arsenal & liverpool to battle it out for 3rd.
The last time they won the title, I was wearing velcro trainers and watching DJ Kat.
Hmm this is where it can get tricky though
A lot of these teams will be fighting for survival and if last season and this one so far is anything to go by there'll be a lot of teams in the mix between now and May.
They'd be nearly better off playing teams in the top half with nothing really to play for but who knows
I tend to stay away from studying run-ins myself when predicting as (excuse the cliche) anything can happen on a given day. You can guarantee there'll be an odd bizarre result and teams can gain and lose form in a heartbeat.
Also, playing a relegation threatened team in May can generally be much worse than playing a team halfway to the beach but 8th/9th in the table
I'd go :
Chelsea
Manchester City
Liverpool
Arsenal
They will be the worst premier league champions for a long time
I Think Liverpool will be runners up and if Chelsea do win it they might as well
send Howard Webb a medal, because when Liverpool played Chelsea
At stamford bridge over Christmas he denied Liverpool a clear cut penalty
When eto fouled saurez Chelsea ended up getting all three points
Them points might decide first and second place
Liverpool
City
Arsenal
Man City have to play united away arsenal away Liverpool away and everton away
Howard Webb already has a few Premier League winners medals.
Wouldnt be surprised if they sign him back up
Man City
Hull 0-2 Man City
Man City 3-0 Fulham
Man Utd 1-1 Man City
Arsenal 2-1 Man City
Man City 3-1 Villa
Man City 3-0 Sunderland
Man City 2-0 Soton
Liverpool 1-1 Man City
Man City 4-1 WBA
Palace 0-2 Man City
Everton 1-1 Man City
Man City 2-0 West Ham
57 pts (current points) + 27 pts = 84 pts
Chelsea
Fulham 1-3 Chelsea
Chelsea 2-0 Spurs
Villa 1-1 Chelsea
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal
Palace 1-2 Chelsea
Chelsea 2-0 Stoke
Swansea 2-2 Chelsea
Chelsea 3-1 Sunderland
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea
Chelsea 3-0 Norwich
Cardiff 0-2 Chelsea
60 pts (current points) + 26 pts = 86 pts
6 away games and 5 at home.
Away to 3 teams - Fulham. Palace. Cardiff - desperate for points to stay up.
Villa away has been a tough game in recent years. Liverpool away is scary!!!
At home we have Spurs and Arsenal. Anything could happen in those games.
The only games i'd class as 'easier ones' are the home games against Stoke, Sunderland and Norwich, but all three are fighting for survival as well.
I think Chelsea's run-in is very difficult!