Predictions for this Season

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

1/3rd of the way in, how do people think the wider league is going to pan out?

At the top it''s harder to predict than I can remember.  Most seasons by now there were only a couple of realistic title contenders but this year it''s wide open :

Arsenal - will they continue to play well, or drop away like so often in the past?  I think they''ll wilt.

Chelsea - second in the table despite often being unconvincing, which is always the hallmark of champions.  I reckon they''ll be contenders at the end.

Man City - winning everything at home but rubbish away.  Can the manager get them to decent form away and keep their home form, in which case they''ll be real contenders?  TBH I have no idea but I can''t understand why they''re so bad away from home.

Liverpool - can Rogers bring them up into contention?  My guess is they''ll be in the running for the CL 4th place but that''s all.

Everton - I think they''ll probably slip a position or two.

Man U - 8th but now unbeaten in 8 games.  I think they''ll contend for the champions league but that''s all this year.

So in the end I think it''ll be Chelsea against Man City for the title, but it could end up being one of those years when most contenders self-destruct and one team puts together a decent run to claim it.  Which would be fun for a change.

 

Now to the other end of the table.  Ricardo looked at this recently and predicted it would be 3 from the bottom 5 (as then).  But the table now is Palace and Sunderland on 7 & 8 points, Fulham on 10, and then 8 teams tightly packed from Cardiff on 13 to Hull on 17.  My guess is that it''ll be the current bottom two, plus one from Fulham, Cardiff, Stoke and West Ham, but a point above them means City are still in the relegation dogfight, as indeed is everyone up to 10th really, it''s so tight that a couple of wins can make a huge difference.

 

I can easily see the current bottom 3 still being there at the end so I''m going to plump for Palace, Sunderland and Fulham.  I certainly hope so.  Maybe if Fulham are already down come next April, they''ll be on the beach and we can get a win at Craven Cottage....

[Buh 0]

I think we''ll definitely be clear of danger and finish respectively around the same place as last year. I think a shock struggler could be Swansea.

[ricardo 7,339]

[quote user="Its Character Forming"]

Now to the other end of the table.  Ricardo looked at this recently and predicted it would be 3 from the bottom 5 (as then).  But the table now is Palace and Sunderland on 7 & 8 points, Fulham on 10, and then 8 teams tightly packed from Cardiff on 13 to Hull on 17.  My guess is that it''ll be the current bottom two, plus one from Fulham, Cardiff, Stoke and West Ham, but a point above them means City are still in the relegation dogfight, as indeed is everyone up to 10th really, it''s so tight that a couple of wins can make a huge difference.

 

..

[/quote]Add Hull to that list because their defeat of Liverpool is no more relevant than their loss to Palace and I think your estimation is spot on.

At the top I think Arsenal and Chelsea will fight it out.

[KeelansGlove 0]

The true answer is at this stage I honestly don''t think it would be valid to theorize.

We could quite easily be relegated if we stick to the 2 winger 4-5-1 formation preferred by Hughton in almost all games.

However if we sign a decent No10 in January we could end up being very comfortable as Im sure we have the players to score the goals if given the sevice.

Alternatively if we find another formation to get the ball in to the strikers we can potentially also score some goals (like Saturday) it depends if Hughton has earned anything at all from Saturday and this is something we can never be sure of because he learned nothing from the previous 50 games.

[Indy 3,283]

A lot will depend on us picking up at least another 10 points away from home, not an easy task given our current form away from home!

 

Also we have not looked anything like Hull or Cardiff against the big boys, look how Hull pressed and beat Liverpool, superb tactics, set up and tempo! Watch us come Wednesday, we will give them room to play, defend deep and barely get out of our own half! Cardiff against Manure were exactly the same!

 

Let’s be honest Palace are the worst side by a mile in this league and we were close to being pegged back in that poor second half.

 

At this point I will take 3 points if given to us by the Ref….I just want to stay up, but I just think we are lucky at this point that Fulham, Palace and Sunderland are really poor sides.

 

I was delighted at 3 points and some of the first half on Saturday was good, but overall I’m not too confident that Hughton will improve us, even if he keeps us up, I don’t think he and his management team can improve us.

 

I agree though on current form Fulham, Sunderland and Palace could be cut adrift of the rest by the end of Feb.

 

I believe we need to pick up at least another 7 points before Boxing day to keep away from trouble going into the second half of the season.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

My only pre-season predictions were that we wouldn''t get relegated and that Hooper would score more Premier League goals than RvW. I am still pretty confident about one of those two...

[Gingerpele 0]

KeelansGlove, our only consecutive good performances came playing 4-5-1. There is nothing wrong with it. just needed ironing out. We were creating chances, against Stoke, Arsenal, Chelsea and Cardiff. We should have scored 3/4 against Cardiff with amount of decent chances we had. The formation wasn''t the problem. Wasn''t the problem against the two big teams either, held them well. Got outdone by a mix of quality and a couple individual mistakes.

And it is valid to theorise, its always valid. Its half the fun for some people. Theorising what you think may happen doesn''t mean it will, doesn''t even mean you''re that confident in your prediction. I stopped making Norwich match predictions because I just couldn''t work out how to make a sensible judgement. But then i''m quite good at picking out results in other PL games.

Anyway, this season I reckon Arsenal will actually win the title.

Rumours are they have a huge amount of money in the bank to spend, if they buy a top quality forward to play/compete with Giroud there is no reason they can''t keep it up. Got a top quality GK, decent back four with couple of options. Top, top midfield. They can for once afford a couple serious injuries. Only worry would be if Flamini was injured. Arteta can play holding midfield, but not in the same way. But when even a player like Rosicky who''s been mostly rubbish this year can come on and still keep them ticking, you know they''ve got something special.

Man.C second for me, strong starting line up. Few good players in back up now, had been lacking that last season a bit. Don''t seem to be missing Kompany as much as they did when he was injured last season.

Chelsea and Man.U to finish top four, not sure which way round. Man.U probably fourth. RVP isn''t hitting it quite the same this year, but Rooney is stepping up. Chelsea have stuttered in a few games recently. But don''t think they will have any major problems.

Liverpool just missing out on top four, will finish 5th. As far as I can tell their back up striker/s aren''t good enough to get them top four finish. Gerrard won''t stay fit all season. Moses and Sterling aren''t good enough wides for a top four side. But they have been pretty impressive and could finish very close in terms of points to 4th. Spurs 5th. Good side, couple good options. But some un-stability with AVB for some reason and it really won''t help them.

Then come Southampton and Everton. Not sure which order with these two. But I think 6th and 7th. Swansea 8th, think they will settle down a bit and move up the table. Got a lot of quality and the right idea. WBA, Villa and Newcastle fighting for last places in top 10. Us too if we can pick up some consistency soon. Villa are currently relying on away form, very very risky. They''ve got a couple tough away trips coming up this week, then play Man.U at home. Newcastle on very good run, will level out and may start to struggle again. WBA relying on a strange front line, very hit and miss for me.

Palace, Sunderland and Hull going down for me, Cardiff and Stoke very close. West Ham, us WBA, Swans, Villa and Newcastle being fairly safe by end of March.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,509]

I''m going to stick my neck out and predict 44 points for the season.

[Jonzey 0]

I still think Man City to win the league. Their strength in depth is the key.

2nd Chelski

3rd Manyoo

4th Arsenal, as it is now a tradition. They''ll fall mid season once the fixtures pile up and their lack of strikers shows.

 

Norwich to finish 16th

 

Palarse, Cardiff and Sunderland to go down.