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Saturday, 22 November, 2008 01:28 pm
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| European League Preview III – English Premier League |
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| Written by Adeleke Afolayan | ||||||
| Thursday, 14 August 2008 | ||||||
     Already, the mind games have begun and of course Sir Alex Ferguson was first to throw a tantrum by describing rivals Chelsea as a team of old players that cannot challenge his club for the league crown. While new Stamford Bridge boss Luiz Felipe Scolari stated soon after that he is only interested in winning every trophy available; the quadruple that is, and not immerse himself in mind games, his players have not taken that swipe laying down and captain John Terry only recently stated that Man. United reached its peak last season and will start too fall from the new season. However, away from all the side talk and to the real talk, the team to watch this season apart from the “Big Four” is Tottenham Hotspur. The arrival of Juande Ramos at White Hart Lane midway through last season brought about a different Spurs side that thrashed Arsenal 5-1 in the Carling Cup semi-final, beat Chelsea 2-1 in the final after being a goal down, were forced to a 1-1 draw by the Red Devils in the league when a win was what the Whites deserved. Though last season did not finish too well for Spurs just as the start was one to forget, Ramos has now settled in well and has made his intention to break Spurs into the top four clear with the signings of Luka Modric, Giovanni Dos Santos, David Bentley and goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes from PSV Eindhoven. Those players have filled the little vacuum opened by the departures of Pascal Chimbonda, Steed Malbranque, Teemu Tainio and most especially Paul Robinson but the loss of Robbie Keane to Liverpool may well prove to be Spurs’ Achilles heel in attaining its quest. As one man’s meat is another’s poison, Liverpool's acquisition of life-long fan Keane provides the necessary support for Fernando Torres upfront and perhaps an answer to a 19 year old question of when the title will be lifted in Anfield. Since gaffer Rafa arrived in 2004, he has made the Champions League virtually his league but one gets the feeling that the Kop will get bored of European glory just so they can claim some bragging rights with a league title. Arsenal meanwhile have not had to wait that long to recollect when it last won a league title, which was just before Rafa’s arrival in 2004 and ever since the Gunners have played so much enterprising football and won too many fans but what counts is the titles won, a count that so far reads zero. And if you are an Arsenal fan getting fed up with three seasons without a trophy, very sorry to let you know a fourth year is on the cards with Mathieu Flamini, Alexander Hleb and Gilberto replaced by 21 year olds Aaron Ramsey with no Premier League experience and Amaury Bischoff who in manager Arsene Wenger’s words, is a gamble…Francesc Fabregas will have it all to do in the midfield as Samir Nasri is Arsenal’s only other midfielder with some level of experience though Theo Walcott and Denilson look like they will make it big this season. Sure Arsenal will entertain as always, will probably last longer in the title race than last season but till Wenger goes out of his way to bring in a few established players, Arsenal will become the also ran boys and as Flamini’s flight to Milan shows, the young may not grow into finished products at the Emirates but elsewhere. Despite Arsenal’s failure to win anything in three seasons, it is quite puzzling how Wenger has kept his job; no doubt he is a very good coach but Mourinho won back-to-back league titles and built Chelsea into a formidable team only to get the boot out of Stamford Bridge. While Wenger will enter his 10th year as Arsenal coach in September, adversary Sir Alex will make it 22 years in November since he joined the ranks at Old Trafford. But the most successful manager in England, and probably the world, may have to come from behind again in his bid to make the Red Devils the first club to win the Premier League three times consecutive. That is because Wayne Rooney is a doubt for the opening weeks, Nani is suspended for the first two matches, Anderson is at the Olympics with Brazil and Cristiano Ronaldo; involved in a protracted and needless transfer saga with Real Madrid, will not see action till October at the earliest. However the Red Devils, with or without some players, remain a preposition that cannot be discounted from a title race simply because of the man at the helm. It would be Fergie’s job to make sure Ronaldo replicates the same spectacular form of last season. But should he succeed finally in bringing Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester, Sir Alex would rather bother himself about keeping his strike force from going out of control…that is if Berbatov joins the Red Devils. So can Chelsea wrestle the league title from Old Trafford? With Scolari the Blues have an edge judging by his success in his previous assignments; though mostly with the national teams of Brazil and Portugal, and the addition of Jose Bosingwa and Deco to complement a squad brimming with an abundance of experience, it is not far fetched to name Chelsea as favourites for the title this season. That leaves the rest of the league where they have always belonged and the only change could be Portsmouth climbing a bit higher up the table with the new partnership of Jermain Defoe and scoop from Liverpool Peter Crouch along with Nwankwo Kanu expected to flourish; and it better for the sake of Pompey’s maiden campaign in Europe in the UEFA Cup. Portsmouth begin its season away at Chelsea while newly promoted West Brom face a daunting trip to the Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal. Manchester United starts at home to Obafemi Martins’ Newcastle United while Liverpool travels to a new look Sunderland side that has added Malbranque, Tainio, Chimbonda and El-Hadji Diouf. Other fixtures follow below; Saturday, 16 August 2008 Arsenal v West Brom Bolton Wanderers v Stoke City Everton v Blackburn Rovers Hull City v Fulham Middlesbrough v Tottenham Hotspur Sunderland v Liverpool West Ham v Wigan Athletic Sunday, 17 August 2008 Aston Villa v Manchester City Chelsea v Portsmouth Manchester Utd v Newcastle United Nigerians to Watch Seyi Olofinjana - Stoke City Daniel Shittu - Bolton Wanderers Victor Anichebe - Everton Nedum Onouha - Manchester City John Utaka - Portsmouth Obafemi Martins - Newcastle United Nwankwo Kanu - Portsmouth John Obi Mikel - Chelsea Gabriel Agbonlahor - Aston Villa Yakabu Aiyegbeni - Everton Joseph Yobo - Everton Dickson Etuhu - Sunderland Players to Watch: Carlos Tevez - Manchester United David Bentley - Tottenham Hotspur Johan Elmander – Bolton Wanderers Deco – Chelsea Jo – Manchester City Luka Modric - Tottenham Hotspur Samir Nasri – Arsenal Carlos Vela – Arsenal  Quote this article on your site | Views: 386 | Print | E-mail
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