We still haven’t had time to calm down from the shocks of last season, the relegation battles and of course the dramatic end to the season which saw moneybags Manchester City grab the title from right under the noses of their neighbours. It’s all coming back, in less than a month the Premier League returns to our screens and I’m sure it’ll be with a bang. In fact, I truly believe this season could be the tightest ever.
We’ve been used to shock results, but last year threw up some mind-blowing results. Every team in the league was involved in some sort of big win, or loss. Last season was goals galore, every team had their own stand out player which was capable of grabbing the goals and coming up with something amazing. No result can be guaranteed, the form book and past results are almost meaningless. It all comes down to one game, 90 minutes of football for a mere 3 points. 3 points that can destine the future of a football club, we saw that last season. Relegation, European places and the title were all narrow gaps. Every point makes a difference and every club fights as much as they can.
The big stand up point from last season for me was the end of the ‘big four’. Usually, it was between Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea for the title and they would share the champions league places amongst them. Last season this all changed, 2 of those sides finished outside of the Champions League places and a side that wasn’t considered a member of the ‘big four’ lifted the title. On top of this, Newcastle and Tottenham both fought until the end for those places, for the allure of playing in Europe’s biggest competition. They weren’t successful, but were extremely unlucky in the end. They’ve shown that the big teams can be matched, that it’s not all about money.
I’m expecting that to continue next season, for the ‘smaller’ clubs to give it a real go. The Europa league places are also almost unpredictable, the majority of teams in the league are capable of performing on the European stage and have the self belief that they can reach the competition and put up a real fight.
Fans of every single football club have a reason to be optimistic for next season, even the newly promoted sides. All 3 of the newly promoted teams escaped relegation last year and in fact it was the previous championship winners that were closet to falling to the second tier of English football. Southampton, Reading and West Ham are all decent sides that are capable of avoiding the drop next season and I’m expecting them to give it a real go.
I’m finding it ridiculously hard to predict the outcome of next season. The title race, Champions League places, Europa places and the relegation battle are all wide open. The one thing I can promise is that it will be close, extremely close. I’m predicting that 2 of the 3 promoted teams will stay up, but I can’t decide who. Nor can I predict the winners of the league, or who will get relegated. However, I’m counting down the days until the kick off and I can’t wait. This season will be epic, but isn’t every season?
Enjoy the season, and join me on Twitter @challies11
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