English Premier League 2008/09 Season Preview

The English Premier League season has rolled around very quickly and I couldn’t be happier. The League looks set for a race in two yet again as Arsenal ($5.50) and Liverpool ($7.50) haven’t made any significant moves in the transfer market to catch Manchester United ($2.70) and Chelsea ($2.70).

Chelsea looks good to me. The Blues have recruited Deco and Bosingwa, and have importantly held onto Lampard and Drogba. Their roster is now deeper than the Water Cube pool and that’s where they have an advantage over Man U. United may have the best first eleven in world football but if they suffer a few injuries then they are in trouble. Christiano especially needs to stay healthy.

Sportingbet Australia also offer a market on the best placed team without any of the big four. There’s only three teams in this market that I think can win. They are Tottenham ($3), Aston Villa ($6) and Portsmouth ($7.50). Man City ($7) may be in all sorts of financial trouble, whilst Everton ($6) hasn’t made any big transfer moves and have got some injury concerns already.

Tottenham have chucked plenty of cash around and looked impressive in the preseason. Darren Bent is scoring more than Colin Farrell at a Hollywood party and new signings Bentley, Modric and Giovani are fitting in very well. Ledley King will also be influential as he returns from injury. The Hotspurs are perennial underachievers but have looked much better under Juande Ramos.

I like the look of Villa too. If they can hang onto Barry then they have a good squad with Sidwell, Shorey, Cuellar and Young bringing in class and toughness. Plus they have brought in Friedel who I rate as one of the best keepers in the world. Ashley Young and Agbonlahor are rapidly improving too.

Pompey should improve on last season as well. The Crouch/Defoe combo will be potent upfront and their defence will be as stingy as ever. I really like the offensive flair of Kranjcar and Utaka on the wings too.

The relegation battle will be interesting as always. I always doubt the ability of the third best promoted team to stay in the league for longer than a season so by that theory Hull City ($1.35) is in big strife. Stoke City look in just as much trouble too as they weren’t able to secure some of the signings they wanted. The other promoted team, West Bromwich ($2.15), should be more competitive in the Premiership but I’m not sure who will finish below them.
Fulham and Bolton look much healthier at the start of this season and Sunderland look vastly better. The two value teams for relegation are Middlesbrough ($8 ) and Manchester City ($12). I doubt either of these two proud clubs will actually play in the Championship next year but you never know. Middlesbrough has lost a host of experienced players, including our boy Schwarzer, so they could be in trouble if their home-grown youth talent don’t deliver immediately. And Manchester City may or may not be in significant financial trouble. City’s owner has had a majority of his assets frozen because of legal problems in his native Thailand which makes you wonder if the club has enough coin to pay the players’ salaries. A fire sale could be on the cards. However, Man City keeps pursing Santa Cruz so surely they have some cashflow. The Man City saga is something to keep an eye on anyway.

The top goalscorer market is always pretty popular but it’s very difficult to pick a winner with so many good strikers. Fernando Torres will be hard to beat at $5 because he is a superstar and continues to improve every week. Plus he is his team’s number one option.

Christiano Ronaldo was the best scorer in the world last year but he is $7.00 to win the golden boot because of injury. He is expected to be out until late September so hold off on your investing until you know when he’ll be back.

Didier Drogba should go back to his goal scoring best now that he re-signed with Chelsea. The big man wasn’t playing committed last year and missed plenty of games because of the African’s Cup but he should be back to form this season.

Emmanuel Adebayor had a great season last year but I don’t see too much improvement in him. Hleb set up his teammates like no one else last year so his departure may cost Adebayor a few goals; plus Van Persie will be taking a few of his opportunities as well. Speaking of RVP; I think he is great value, especially if he takes most of the penalties. Injury is always the main concern but the Dutchmen is value at $17.

The only other two dangers are Anelka ($17) and Bent ($17). These two roughies aren’t even the best strikers in their team but their form in preseason was exceptional. Anelka dobbed four in one game while Bent was averaging around a brace per game.
The rest of the field will not be winning.