Top 6 Bottom 3 - 2015/16 Season Predictions.

thespus said:

Chelsea
Arsenal
Manchester United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Tottenham
Crystal Palace
Swansea
Stoke
Southampton
West Ham
Aston Villa
Everton
West Brom
Newcastle
Leicester City
Watford
Sunderland
Norwich City
Bournemouth

I hope Norwich and Bournemouth escape, but they'll have to purchase well. I'm still bemused by the firing of Pearson; I think Leicester would have done better with a summer of continuity as a Premiership side, but I still fancy them to be better than the three promoted sides and Sunderland. With the financial strength of established Premier League sides, it's only going to be more difficult for promoted sides to stay up.

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Skinner said:

Palace 7th? Wat

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Skinner said:

Palace 7th? Wat

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thespus said:

Sure it's optimistic, but they finished 10th last season and Selhurst Park has become as difficult a fixture as the Britannia for visiting sides.. I don't care for Pardew's personality, but he gets results. I know they are linked with Cabaye and Austin; Zaha - Austin - Bolasie would be dangerous and a Cabaye - Jedinak midfield is brilliant; the latter is one of the most underrated midfielders in the league. Granted he seems less in favour with Pardew than with previous regimes. Macarthur and Ledley are both very capable players. I think I saw them listed as one of the sides in for Ogbonna from Juventus. If they can concede 5-10 fewer goals and add 5-10 to their attack, they'll be near a Europa League spot. Cabaye, Austin, and Ogbonna with continued improvement from Zaha and I think they're capable of doing what Pardew's Newcastle side did a few years back.

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mistermagic said:

Quite surprised at the amount of people predicting Chelsea to win the league with no particular difficulty given their lack of activity in the transfer market and the fact that they won the league last term thanks to a superb start and that no other contender was good enough to challenge. If not the former, I don't think the latter will occur. Arsenal and Man Utd have strengthened while a lot is dependant on Mancini tactical intelligence for Man City after the signing of Sterling. All 3 will be hungy for a big season while it has already happened for Chelsea who have looked a bit devoid of ideas in the second half of the season.

I think Liverpool and Spurs will finish in and around the top 6 but can also see a side like Palace, Swansea or West Ham (if life under Bilic gets off to a good start) finishing very close to the European places. All 3 sides had good squads last season and have strengthened wisely.

Agree that Leicester may well go down given their current state. Sacking Pearson looks like an incredibly stupid move while the promoted 3 look up for a fight. Watford will be especially tough to beat I reckon. They never seem to survive though so I guess they'll fnish 18th or something. I fully expect Norwich to stay up despite Munkers saying otherwise from the moment a ball is kicked. I have no idea how Bournemouth will fare but I wish them well. Apart from these 4 you do wonder who will enter the race for the drop. Newcastle have McLaren, WBA have Pulis so it is quite valid to see Sherwood struggle at Villa but I think they'll do just enough. Sunderland will be down there again.

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mistermagic said:

I fully expect Norwich to stay up despite Munkers saying otherwise from the moment a ball is kicked.

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Munkiki said:

But anyway, sod all this relegation talk. We've got Alex Neil, we're going to win the fucking league!!

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Munkiki said:

Same. Although really it doesn't matter - no Suarez, no Fulham... we're going to win the league.

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JaseTheVillain said:

He's gone back to City already? Fucking hell...

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Munkiki said:

Not sure where you've got this idea from.

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AFCB_Mark said:

Norwich have the strongest squad, on paper at least, and the experience of knowing where they stand.
Watford, a) if they can actually complete the deals, and b) knit it all together with a new manager, are recruiting quite well in theory.

To date I've only seen one single PL game in the flesh with my own eyes (QPR v West Ham a few years ago randomly enough, think West Ham won). Point is I have naff all evidence to make any judgements or comparisons with. Watching MOTD and a handful of live Sky games over a season isn't anywhere near as useful as watching a game with my own eyes. However I currently feel like our squad as it stands needs more in the spine if we're to have a fighting chance.

We have a couple of things in the pipeline but things are on hold for now whilst half the club is away in the USA. But I definitly get the impression we'd have liked to have done more business by now. Trying to recruit from existing PL clubs has proven to be some way out of our price range, presumably due to the finances they enjoy. Palace quoting us £10m for someone on their bench every week for example. We've recruited some interesting freebies who improve the squad depth but aren't anything that's going to worry anyone. And the one big deal for Mings, is the type of player we've been crying out for, but he's young raw and unproven up here. Trying to go abroad for players has been hard work as well, because those clubs see us in the Prem and assume we're happy to pay tons of cash.

If it comes down to a choice of remaining restrained and going with what we have, or panicking around deadline day and paying well over the odds, I hope we go for the former.

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Ghost#8 said:

1. Chelsea
2. Man Utd
3. Man City
4. Arsenal
5. Tottenham
6. Liverpool
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18. Bournemouth
19. Sunderland
20. Watford

Unsurprisingly I'd like to see us finishing above Arsenal, but sadly I cannot see that happening just yet. I reckon there'll be quite a gap between 4th and 5th again.

At the bottom I just don't rate Bournemouth and Watford. Sunderland have flirted too many times with relegation, and sooner or later it'll catch up with them.

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mistermagic said:

Quite surprised at the amount of people predicting Chelsea to win the league with no particular difficulty given their lack of activity in the transfer market and the fact that they won the league last term thanks to a superb start and that no other contender was good enough to challenge. If not the former, I don't think the latter will occur. Arsenal and Man Utd have strengthened while a lot is dependant on Mancini tactical intelligence for Man City after the signing of Sterling. All 3 will be hungy for a big season while it has already happened for Chelsea who have looked a bit devoid of ideas in the second half of the season.

I think Liverpool and Spurs will finish in and around the top 6 but can also see a side like Palace, Swansea or West Ham (if life under Bilic gets off to a good start) finishing very close to the European places. All 3 sides had good squads last season and have strengthened wisely.

Agree that Leicester may well go down given their current state. Sacking Pearson looks like an incredibly stupid move while the promoted 3 look up for a fight. Watford will be especially tough to beat I reckon. They never seem to survive though so I guess they'll fnish 18th or something. I fully expect Norwich to stay up despite Munkers saying otherwise from the moment a ball is kicked. I have no idea how Bournemouth will fare but I wish them well. Apart from these 4 you do wonder who will enter the race for the drop. Newcastle have McLaren, WBA have Pulis so it is quite valid to see Sherwood struggle at Villa but I think they'll do just enough. Sunderland will be down there again.

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JimJams said:

Elaborate.

I'm assuming the lack of Everton around the European places.

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