Saturday, August 16, 2008 Chelsea to steal United's title By John Dykes Special Contributor
IT’S A new season, old story.
I have to say the hard truth – the Barclays Premier League title race will be between two clubs—Manchester United and Chelsea. Again.
I am going for Chelsea to win the title and United to come in second. Liverpool will be third while Arsenal will take fourth place. And I think Tottenham will give their local rivals a good run for fourth place.
Why Chelsea? Well, it’s because Chelsea have made their squad so much stronger. To be honest, the London side has bought well with Deco from Barcelona and Jose Bosingwa from FC Porto. And Frankie Lampard’s decision to stay at Stamford Bridge is great as well. He is like a new signing after interest from Italy. Everyone expected him to go.
United, on the other hand, has got a very, very tough start because of injuries and suspensions. It is important that United start the season well and I doubt they can do that.
Mark my words, United will miss Cristiano Ronaldo who will be out for the first two months of the season. Even when he is back in the squad, it would probably take the winger a couple of weeks or more to regain his match fitness and sharpness.
Also, I don’t think he will stay on at United. He will stay for this one season and that will be it. At least, it will give United more time to find his replacement for next season. I don’t see him staying much longer than this season. Will this affect morale at Old Trafford?
As for Liverpool, I don’t think Rafael Benitez is in any way undermined at Anfield. From where I see it, the Liverpool board has certainly backed him.
Splashing out $40 million on Robbie Keane is a lot of money and Liverpool has also brought in lots of new players. The two new full-backs, a goalkeeper and the striker will be good additions to the squad.
One can’t deny that Benitez wasn’t given any financial backing. He certainly has the money to spend on players.
As for the fight for survival, I think Stoke and Hull City will definitely finish in the bottom three. They can’t compete in the BPL and they don’t have the squad to compete. The Premier League will be a totally different ball game for them. They have no chance whatsoever.
It’s different for West Bromwich Albion. They probably have the best chance of survival out of the three promoted clubs as they have been promoted and relegated a few times in the last decade. They will have that necessary experience to be able to swim rather than sink.
I do see a number of teams struggling this season and Blackburn Rovers might not do as well this time around. A rookie manager at the helm and the loss of some key players is a recipe for disaster.
As for player transfers, the one that surprised me most was Keane’s move to Liverpool. It came out of nowhere and I was also astounded by the amount of money paid for him. Some have compared him to Peter Beardsley. Never in a million years are they alike. To me, Keane is just a different type of player.
It remains to be seen whether he can link up with Fernando Torres. Benitez has to play him in the first team – he’s cost the club $40 m! If you bought a player with that kind of money, you have got to play him. And I am sure he will play Torres and Keane most of the time. The prospect of seeing them play together is exciting. Waiting for the start of the new season is exciting.
The pre-season circus will soon be confined to memory. It’s time to get serious.
(Steve McMahon, former Liverpool midfielder and England International, is a resident football analyst on ESPN’s Football Focus and Football Forecast, providing expert comments each week to millions of football fans across Asia. Read his match predictions on www.espnstar.com)
