Premier League Predictions

I've decided not to commit to any prediction-type things this year, but still felt I should put forward some predictions for the fun of it.

My dream team

First up, I had a go at the Telegraph Fantasy League just to see who I could come up with, and, spending the full £50m budget and plumping for a 3-5-2 formation, my team is:

-----------------------------------------Cech (C)---------------------------------------

-------------K. Toure (MC)----------Nelsen (Bl)------------Jagielka (E)-----------

--Malouda (C)-Malbranque (Su)--Arteta (E)---Cahill (E)--A. Johnson (MC)-

----------------------------Anelka (C)-----------Tevez (MC)-------------------------

Bl - Blackburn

C - Chelsea

E - Everton

MC - Manchester City

Su - Sunderland

Premier League 2010-11 final positions

I've also made some predictions for the final Premier League table:

1 Chelsea

2 Manchester United

3 Manchester City

4 Arsenal

5 Liverpool

6 Tottenham

7 Everton

8 Aston Villa

9 Sunderland

10 Blackburn

11 Birmingham

12 Fulham

13 Bolton

14 West Ham

15 Stoke

16 Wolves

17 Newcastle

18 West Brom

19 Wigan

20 Blackpool

Premier League 2011-12 - A Heads-Up

Finally, I thought I'd make some predictions for the following season.

Essentially I think this'll be the closest season in a long, long time, with anyone of about 6 teams in with a shout at the title and two or three others not far behind.

Chelsea will still be the most obvious team to win it, but with Drogba another year older and Cech and Terry potentially starting to falter, their success will depend on how their younger players progress over the next couple of years. Manchester United will be playing their first season without Giggs, Scholes and Neville, and - whilst they're not exactly the fastest and most agile of players at this age - their nous, commitment, and ability to turn games (perhaps with the exception of Neville) will be sorely missed. Manchester City will have had a year to get all their new players settled in and Mancini will have had his first full season in England under his belt, meaning they will be primed for an assault on the title. Arsenal too will have their best chance yet, as whilst people are always tipping them to finally regain their form of the mid-2000s, they will have a squad of coherence, experience and refinement to match the raw talent and hunger that has been evident yet unharnessed so far.

Liverpool, having had a season out of the Champions League and Roy Hodgson having had some time to make his mark, assuming they hold on to Gerrard, Torres and Reina, that they have Mascherano or someone else as an anchor in midfield, and Carragher is still playing well, they should be in with an outside chance. Tottenham, without the distraction of Champions League football, will be able to focus their attention on climbing the table, and with Harry Redknapp now firmly established and many of the players hitting their peak, they too will be dark horses to gatecrash the top two of United and Chelsea. Their challenge may well depend on whether they can find a settled and injury-free centre back pairing.

Beyond that, Everton are establishing themselves, but a second appearance in the top four still looks beyond them, whilst Villa look to be in a bit of turmoil currently and how they deal with that will have a big impact on their medium-term progress. As for Blackburn, Birmingham, Sunderland and Fulham, who seem to be the next set of teams, it is hard to see them pushing much further beyond where they are now, barring big investment, which isn't beyond belief, particularly if investors cotton on to the league's potential openness which will make it an opportune time to try and break further up the table.

Nearer the bottom, if Newcastle stay up it'd be good to see them pushing into the top half and getting back somewhere closer to the championship-challenging side of 15 years ago, whilst West Ham also have potential to get back to their former highs. Bolton meanwhile are looking a bit more like what they were a few years ago, having firmly established themselves as a Premier League team in spite of guru Sam Allardyce's departure. It may also be that, if Leeds can make back-to-back promotions, then yet another fallen giant could seek to re-establish themselves in the top league in the world. Sadly I think it could be a fair few years before we see the glamour boys of Hillsborough doing so.