EPL 2014-15 Season

Gatehawk

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Saturday begins the journey for the teams of the English Premier League.

Lets start with predictions. Who's finishing where, who's gonna win the league, who's winning a trophy, who's going down, etc.

At the very least lets try
Top 4(and those who have a chance to contend for those spots, along with why in that position, key player(s), strengths, weaknesses if you so choose)
Relegation

FA Cup
Capital One Cup

Top Scorer
Player of the Year

Biggest Improvement
Biggest Dropoff
First Manager To Get Sacked

and anything else you feel like adding.
 

Uncle Si

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1. Chelsea
2. Arsenal
3. City
4. Liverpool (i'm with peaches here. they are top 4 fringe now. bring in the attacker and winger, plus Moreno, and i'd say title challenger)

Cap One: who cares? Arsenal
FA Cup: Liverpool. I think Rodgers wants to invest the team's energy into a cup final this year

CL:
Final 16: Chelsea, Liverpool, City, Arsenal
Final 8: Arsenal, City, Chelsea
Last 4: Chelsea

Biggest drop: Southampton (I feel like City may find itself in a tumble as well. Liverpool's hold here is fragile as well)
Biggest gain: United (not convinced by Spurs, Arsenal could climb to legit title contender)

Top scorer: Sturridge

POY: Hazard
 

Hawkspur

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I'm really excited about this season. In part it's because I think Spurs will be playing more attractive football, and also partly because I think that there are 7 strong good teams who will be vying for the 4 Champions League spots. Of the 7, the 4 who finished top 4 last season should be strong enough to do so again. I agree with you guys that Chelsea look the strongest; they've made good additions and haven't lost a lot. Arsenal are similar, although not quite as talented, I think. And what is up with their captains wanting to bail as soon as they get the armband? City, who knows, but they should be pretty good again. Liverpool have an exciting core but massive Freddie Mercury-looking hole to fill and a hope that they hoards of new signings settle in quickly. Of the 4 they are the hardest to predict for me. Could be great, could just as easily drop off a tad. But even if they do, they should be better than the chasing pack of Spurs, United and Everton.

I'm excited by Spurs. I like the cut of Pochettino's jib and think his pressing, attack minded style is what this squad needed. The squad still needs strengthening though; another CM, winger and reserve right back would be nice. I keep hearing that we've signed Musachio, although if not, another CB would be good too. Dier looks like he'll be a beast before too long, if not immediately. I think there'll be at least 3 more signings with at least one being a starter before the deadline. As far as transfers go, though, I'm most amazed that Lloris, in particular, and Vetonghen are still here. That squad gave up about half way through the season and I thought for sure that they would be gone. Vertonghen needs to raise his game, but he has shown the talent to be able to do so. If Pochettino can get similar results out of the players like Vertonghen and Lamela that he did out of his Southampton squad then they can't help but improve. I don't think they'll be good enough for top 4, but they should be better than Everton and could well be better than United.

I'm fascinated to see how van Gaal works out. He needs to add a lot, although Rooney, van Persie and Mata is a good trio to build from. Based on the Netherlands at the World Cup, though, I'm expecting them to be pretty hit and miss.

Everton added Gareth Barry, but will need Barkley, Lukaku and Baines to bring it like last year to stay in touch. After all, they only finished 3 points above a lifeless, often calamitous, Spurs team. I can't see them getting a lot stronger but think that Spurs and United will.

Finally, I think that it will be a good year for the Premier League, not only the competition itself, but also in the Champions League. I wouldn't be surprised if Chelsea won that too (Yuck). And at last the Europa League is worth playing for. Spurs desperately need to win a cup trophy. With CL qualification attached, let's hope it's this one.
 

InSuarezWeTrust

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Top 4

1. Chelsea
2. City
3. Liverpool
4. Arsenal
5. United


FA Cup - Chelsea Mourinho has to win either the league or a cup of some significance or else his seat becomes very hot

Capital one cup - United or maybe a middle of the table team putting all their eggs into the cup run basket

Top scorer - Aguero
POY - Coutinho or maybe Rooney

Improvement - I think United close the gap between them on the top 4, but need another season to break through into the VIP club.

Dropoff - Can it be anyone besides Southampton? They have a strong academy, but it will be put to the test. I think Everton could be underwhelming this year as well.

First manager to get sacked? No idea whoever is in 20th place after the first 6 weeks.

I honestly think that the top 4 from last year have legitimate title shots this year and should make for some exciting matches all year round.
 

Uncle Si

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peachesenregalia":2ebf0ecy said:
Gatehawk":2ebf0ecy said:
Tony Pulis has left Crystal Palace as manager by mutual consent.

Yeah, crazy. Tony Pulis is mental, but I can sort of see his point here. He basically performed an actual miracle getting that team up to 11th last season, you'd think the owners could repay that miracle with some proper signings for him to build a team on. Pulis is a bloody good coach and manager, he'l have no problem finding work this year. If I was Newcastle, I'd be printing out Pardew's P45 and giving Pulis a ring immediately.

All this...bummer for Palace as well. Team was top 2 or 3 behind Liverpool and maybe City in form the last three months last year
Was excited to see how they'd start. Predicted they'd nic a point from Arsenal even.
 
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Gatehawk

Gatehawk

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Uncle Si":2mumi9xs said:
peachesenregalia":2mumi9xs said:
Gatehawk":2mumi9xs said:
Tony Pulis has left Crystal Palace as manager by mutual consent.

Yeah, crazy. Tony Pulis is mental, but I can sort of see his point here. He basically performed an actual miracle getting that team up to 11th last season, you'd think the owners could repay that miracle with some proper signings for him to build a team on. Pulis is a bloody good coach and manager, he'l have no problem finding work this year. If I was Newcastle, I'd be printing out Pardew's P45 and giving Pulis a ring immediately.

All this...bummer for Palace as well. Team was top 2 or 3 behind Liverpool and maybe City in form the last three months last year
Was excited to see how they'd start. Predicted they'd nic a point from Arsenal even.

They did have a fantastic finish to the season. And they were setting up to be a major test for top teams this season. Though, even with Pulis, saying they could nic a point off Arsenal might be a little bit of a stretch.
 

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1. Liverpool
2. Arsenal
3. Chelsea
4. United
5. City
6. Spurs
7. Everton
8. Leicester


Bottom 3:
18. Aston Villa
19. Crystal Palace
20. Hull City

FA Cup: Liverpool

Capital One Cup: Arsenal

Top Scorer: Diego Costa

Player of the Year: Alexi Sanchez.
 

Smurf

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peachesenregalia":3jl9gjtt said:
Smurf":3jl9gjtt said:
1. Liverpool
2. Arsenal
3. Chelsea
4. United
5. City
6. Spurs
7. Everton
8. Leicester


Bottom 3:
18. Aston Villa
19. Crystal Palace
20. Hull City

FA Cup: Liverpool

Capital One Cup: Arsenal

Top Scorer: Diego Costa

Player of the Year: Alexi Sanchez.

lol

steady on Rob....


YNWA
 
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Gatehawk

Gatehawk

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Smurf":3a033ens said:
1. Liverpool
2. Arsenal
3. Chelsea
4. United
5. City
6. Spurs
7. Everton
8. Leicester


Bottom 3:
18. Aston Villa
19. Crystal Palace
20. Hull City

FA Cup: Liverpool

Capital One Cup: Arsenal

Top Scorer: Diego Costa

Player of the Year: Alexi Sanchez.

Leicester 8th, and Hull to drop? That'd be a big surprise. I'm just gonna guess playing in Europe is your reasoning behind picking the Tigers to go down.
 

Uncle Si

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Gatehawk":300lu7fw said:
Uncle Si":300lu7fw said:
peachesenregalia":300lu7fw said:
Gatehawk":300lu7fw said:
Tony Pulis has left Crystal Palace as manager by mutual consent.

Yeah, crazy. Tony Pulis is mental, but I can sort of see his point here. He basically performed an actual miracle getting that team up to 11th last season, you'd think the owners could repay that miracle with some proper signings for him to build a team on. Pulis is a bloody good coach and manager, he'l have no problem finding work this year. If I was Newcastle, I'd be printing out Pardew's P45 and giving Pulis a ring immediately.

All this...bummer for Palace as well. Team was top 2 or 3 behind Liverpool and maybe City in form the last three months last year
Was excited to see how they'd start. Predicted they'd nic a point from Arsenal even.

They did have a fantastic finish to the season. And they were setting up to be a major test for top teams this season. Though, even with Pulis, saying they could nic a point off Arsenal might be a little bit of a stretch.

They were better than Arsenal at the end of the year. Not for a week but three months. Took points from big teams consistently. Not a stretch at all.
 
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Gatehawk

Gatehawk

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Uncle Si":dmj710sl said:
They were better than Arsenal at the end of the year. Not for a week but three months. Took points from big teams consistently. Not a stretch at all.

That is true. But that was last season. Arsenal have improved their squad and I'm not entirely sure Crystal Palace have done that. It's just highly unlikey that they'll get a draw, hell they might be fortunate to score.

The departure of Pulis comes at the worst possible time for Palace, makes it that much more difficult for them.
 
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Gatehawk

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1) Chelsea
Being realistic here, anything less is a failure for the Blues. They have made some good signings (and one that was both to improve the squad and to spite Arsenal fans). If the signings meld into the squad well enough, it’s gonna be tough to beat a team that is so incredibly frustrating to break down. A massive weakness for Chelsea last season was the ineptitude in their strikers. This was a problem for them last year and they’ve tried to address it in the summer. And for the most part they did. The problem now is whether or not Costa can adjust to playing in England.
2) Arsenal
For once they’ve done everything this summer correctly. They’ve gotten into the transfer market early and they’ve brought in some amazing talent. Alexis Sanchez is the biggest name Wenger’s brought in and it’ll be interesting to see where he’s played as Arsene’s hinted at playing him down the middle and he could play on the left as well. They may need one more signing, a CB or CDM, which in all likelihood will happen by the deadline. And if Arsenal can avoid an injury crisis, they could very well win the league or at the very least a trophy. Hell, if Arsenal are fortunate enough, this could be the year the Gunners finally win a European trophy.
3) Manchester City
It’s more to do with past experience than anything else. 2 seasons ago, City came into the season as defending EPL champions. Underwhelmed throughout the season and missed out on repeating by a wide margin. They haven’t really done much in the summer, though that can be forgiven because there isn’t much to improve for them. City still has a strong squad and can win the title. But this is one of those seasons where they could end up anywhere in the Top 4 if they’re not careful.
4) Liverpool
Came within a slip of the title last year and then sold their top scorer/best player in the summer and have tried to replace him with the same tactic that made people laugh at Tottenham over. Of course the Reds are better equipped to avoid a similar end result, but they haven’t quite replaced Suarez and that’s the one thing that’ll keep Liverpool from repeating, or bettering last season. When you sell the league’s top scorer and easily your best player. You’re gonna have to find the perfect guy to take his place. Liverpool hasn’t done that. Liverpool has tried to go for quantity to replace Suarez, a tactic that failed when Spurs tried it after Bale’s transfer. In fact at this point in time, Suarez’s replacement is essentially Rickie Lambert.
5) Manchester United
I don’t quite get the hype. Everyone’s suddenly expecting United to become a title contender again and it’s all because they got Louis Van Gaal as manager. Anyone with common sense can tell you that they can’t win the league with the squad they have. For the first time in lord knows how long Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s are gonna be unusually quiet and that makes getting the players they need difficult as can be. And if they can’t get the players they need, then they can’t win the league.
6) Everton
They came agonizingly close to ending Arsenal’s run in the Champions League last season and they’ve managed to snag a similar squad this season, with some slight improvements on top of that. Lukaku is their biggest signing ever and for good reason. However they more than likely miss out on the Top 4 again. They’ve got a dangerous squad and that’s good for them, but it’s just not strong enough to truly contend with the top of the food chain just yet.
7) Tottenham Hotspur
I really don’t know what to make of Spurs. Last season for this team was like watching a bunch of chickens(pun intended) running around with their head’s cut off at times. They do have some decent talent on the squad, but the issue was getting the team to gel. It didn’t and at times they got humiliated as a result. 20 goals conceded against Liverpool and Man City alone, were swept by West Ham and Arsenal(while only scoring 1 time in the 6 games against the 2). This season does look like it’ll be better. But they’re gonna get the short end of the stick yet again since every team above them made bigger moves over the summer.

16) Leicester City
The start of the season for the Foxes is gonna be like running on spikes, barefooted, while on fire and being shot at. Luckily for them, it’ll get easier over the season and despite the fact that they’ll be in the relegation fight till the end, they’ll survive, but by the skin of their teeth.
17) Southampton
Having a mass exodus is never good for a team that had so much promise a year ago. The scary thing is that there’s a slight chance that it ain’t over just yet. The Saint’s might have to pull a rabbit out their ass to avoid relegation with any sort of ease. They’ll survive, but it’ll cause a few heart attacks by the end.
18) Crystal Palace
Pulis worked another small miracle last year to not only keep the Eagles in the EPL but get them up to 11th. They made some interesting moves in the summer but it’s probably gonna require another one this year to do the same, especially with the news of Pulis’ departure coming out of thin air. If anything they’ll just miss out on survival by a point or 2.
19) Aston Villa
I’d be surprised if there is any Villa fans who weren’t scared shitless about how close they were to relegation at times last year. Problem this year is that their most notable move in the summer was bringing in Keane as an assistant to Paul Lambert. That’s not a good thing if you’re trying to improve the squad on the field.
20) Burnley
Sadly the Cinderella story of Burnley is gonna come to a catastrophic end. Easily the weakest team in the EPL and hasn’t even looked like any improvement has been made over the summer. About as easy a 3 points as the top 7 clubs should get this year.


FA Cup: Liverpool
This season has all the makings of the Reds winning something, but the league title just isn’t gonna happen.

Capital One Cup: Arsenal
Like I said, Arsenal will certainly win a trophy, if not the league then it’ll be a cup.


Top Scorer: Sergio Aguero
Sturridge might get it, but Aguero is too much City’s main threat in attack.

Player of the Year: Aaron Ramsey
Could’ve been in the running for this last year if not for his stint on the injury list.

Biggest Improvement: QPR
Seeing as most teams in the top half haven’t improve massively, I’m going with a promoted side that seems to have it in them to challenge for the top half of the table.

Biggest Dropoff: Southampton
You pretty much lost half your team in the summer, and have been frantically trying to reel in replacements since. Not good if you want to avoid any drop off.

First Manager To Get Sacked: Nigel Pearson(Leicester City)
It’s gonna be one of the promoted team managers, and from the looks of it, Leicester City has the most treacherous starts to the season of the teams(4 of first 5 opponents are Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal and Everton), and that doesn’t bode well for Pearson.
 

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FA Cup--van Gaal and co win the FA Cup, with the Dutchman mixing in youth and experience.

Capital One Cup--Liverpool win this one, but fail to finish in the Top Four

Top Scorer-- A revitalised Wayne Rooney, playing in his favored role, and with the confidence of being named captain, manages to outscore Aguero and Diego Costa for the golden boot.

Player of the Year--Rooney .

Biggest Improvement--A very bold prediction, but I think, against all odds, Burnley will stay up. I really rate Sean Dyche and I reckon they can scrape survival.

Biggest Drop off--Crystal Palace go down, after seemingly looking safe for the season due to ex-manager Tony Pulis. I feel like Pulis, who seemed well-liked by players, did very well with what was, and is, a weak squad. He made it look good, and I'm not sure odds-on-favourite Malky will be able to do the same.

First Manager To Get Sacked--Nigel Pearson. Leicester's owners do a Vincent Tan and fail to understand how hard the Premier League is...

Champions--Chelsea. Mourinho going 3 trophyless would be ridiculous, and I feel Chelsea's defensive solidity, combined with their attacking flair in midfield, and what should be the final piece in Diego Costa, will see them to the title. The January addition of Matic should not be underestimated. He is basically Makalele MKII for Chelsea, and is absolutely crucial for them this season.

Quick note on Daniel Sturridge-- I feel like Sturridge is going to regress this season with strike partner Suarez. Suarez created space and opportunities for Sturridge, and without him Sturridge looks a different player. (Yes I know Liverpool did well with Suarez for a period, but for a whole season?!)

Top Four: Chelsea
Arsenal
Man City
Man Utd
5-8: Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Newcastle

Bottom Three: Aston Villa
West Brom
Leicester
 

Uncle Si

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United and Liverpool are the biggest wildcards. Hard to argue reasons why both succeed or fail. Very intriguing. Hours away!
 

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Okay, after watching the first half of QPR v Hull I've made a decision. Remy is no longer for sale, he's way too useful.
 

Uncle Si

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That's good luck for Ashley isn't it?

Hate say it but Sanchez is top drawer. Maybe not a worldie but a top top player for this league. Late drama and three points, even on the first day, just signals something different there. Credit to Palace but a bit of rashness sealed their fate.

I honestly may tip Arsenal as champs over Chelsea.
 
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It was tougher than I expected, but they got the 3 points and that's all that matters right now. The passing just wasn't that crisp and clean, but it should get better over the next few weeks. Pulis may be gone, but his stigma remained with all the aggressive defending Palace did. Really the only complaint I have is the fact that the ref seemed to be a bit lenient for the first hour of the match. Chamakh, for example committed 11 of the Eagles 19 fouls, but he wasn't booked until the 9th or 10th one. Palace did well enough to deserve a point, but they lost the plot at the bitter end and lost the game as a result.

Sanchez was good, and he can and will get better, I mean that assist was amazing. He put it in a place only Kos could get to, and if Laurent missed it, that could have slipped in for a goal for the Chilean as the goalkeeper was starting to go the direction Koscielny's header went. And then Ramsey's goal was just a good example of a team not giving up on a play. The corner crapped out but they kept it alive and chaos in the box resulted in Ramsey tapping in a spilled shot from Debuchy. Chambers also impressed in the CB role yet again by the way.

Also, this win was Arsenal's first opening day win since 2009 when the Gunners beat Everton 6-1.
 

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