Is anything going to change next season in the Premiership?

Tottenham Hotspur have improved their squad once again this summer. Everton are always a strong side.

Aston Villa, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Portsmouth, Sunderland and West Ham United have all been recently taken over. As a result of this they have new managers and money to spend.

With the improvements these clubs have already made to their squads and potentially could make before the end of the transfer window. Will we see the top 4 clubs, according to last season: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, drop even more points next season compared to the previous seasons?

In the last 4 seasons:(average points)

1st = 91 pts
2nd = 82 pts
3rd = 75 pts
4th = 64 pts
5th = 60 pts

So what will happen next season, will the Premiership Champions win the league with around 82 pts instead of 91 pts? or will the signings Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have made to their squads this summer cancel out any improvements that the mid table sides, challenging for Europe, will make?

Your thoughts on this matter?

Its so difficult to predict - after every summer I almost expect there to be massive changes but it never happens. So I'm going to be frank...

-Man Utd and Chelsea will battle it out for the title.
-Liverpool and Arsenal will battle it out for 3rd/4th
-Spurs will yet again flatter to deceive and finish about 6 points behind fourth
-West Ham, Aston Villa and Man City will have better seasons
-I think Fulham may be a bit of a surprise package, especially with Bullard back and I think they could scrape top half
-Reading will struggle and might get relegated
-Bolton won't be near the top, and IMO neither will Everton - both mid table
-Newcastle will start slowly but will end the season well and get a UEFA spot
-The rest will fluctuate in and out of form
-Two of the promoted teams will be relegated

Barring a major injury crisis Man U are the pacesetters for this season. They won last time round and have strengthened over the summer.

I'm not sure about Chelsea. They managed to grind out results until the end of the season but imo they were far from convincing and it would not take much for them to start dropping points. On top of that I don't see that they are much stronger from signings (particularly if Robben goes) although getting Essien back into midfield will help. I could see a scenario where man U cruise the league and Chelsea are back scrapping with Liverpool and Arsenal.

Liverpool - difficult to say again, with some new signings who will probably go straight into the team - will they have an instant impact, or will they take time to settle? Another slow start will undoubtedly condemn us to another 3rd/4th battle. If Torres and Kewell in particular can start the season strongly we might be challenging Chelsea.

Arsenal - first season post-Thierry - another big question mark. It will require some young players to take big steps up if they are to be in the title race - but this has happened before (Fabregas for example).

Spuds and Newcastle might give each other a fight for 5th.

It'll be called the 06/07 season

i really wish reading to do well, but they have done nothing to improve their squad

Usually I am always optimistic about Liverpool's chances before every season, however in my head I know it will always be incredibly tough for Liverpool to compete with Chelsea and with United.

This time around the doubts I have are minute, this is fundamentally because I generally believe this summer was the best summer Spending we have done under Rafa thus far, When Benitez first came he spent most of the budget Alonso and Garcia, two very good players, however he was then forced to use the limited left overs on average players, he didn't have the American's money then, he brought in players like Pellegrino, Josemi etc and was forced to try and fit Cisse into his new style Liverpool, it wasn't Benitez who has bought Cisse, it was Houllier's vision that Cisse was included in, not Rafa's.

This meant that in Benitez's first season in charge it was more or less 'try and do what I can with some distinctly average players and hope that Gerrard, Carragher and Alonso have a Brilliant season' it was always going to be tough, added to the fact that his all round Premiership knowledge wasn't great, this is why we finished a highly dissapointing 5th.

We have never really, under Rafa made a signing where you think, this guy could win us the league, until this summer IMO, Torres for me is a top buy, I think if he adapts quickly he will be a key player, Mascherano as well (although he wasn't signed this summer) is another top class player, these 2 guys could get into most teams in Europe, we've kept key players, Alonso, Sissoko and Reina, plus got rid of the dead wood, Bellamy, Zenden, Fowler, Gonzales etc and the squad as a whole looks really strong.

The only concern would be, what if they don't all gel? we could have another poor start and then we would be playing catch up, however this season I can see Liverpool challenging, can we win it? I don't know, but If I look at the likely starting 11 for the season then I can't see too many average players, Rafa's had more than enough Premiership experience, I think we can give United and Chelsea a run for their money.

Yes, something will give. Unsurprisingly, I think it'll be Arsenal. I'm not saying they won't finish in a CL spot, but I do think they will be battling with Spurs and Newcastle and possibly another team and it'll really test the mettle of their young squad. The title is a two and a half horse race depending on whether Liverpool actually start playing before November. Otherwise it's the top two once again.

Bolton will slip to mid table, allowing a space for someone like West Ham or Man City to look for a UEFA spot. Birmingham and Derby will go down, with Derby finishing bottom from day one. I agree with Twoozle that Reading may struggle. Sunderland will finish nowhere interesting but will stay up.

After 2/3 games has your opinion changed or is it still the same as before the start of the season?

Batman wrote:After 2/3 games has your opinion changed or is it still the same as before the start of the season?

I think Man Utd will struggle to qualify for the CL

Roger Hunt wrote:Barring a major injury crisis Man U are the pacesetters for this season. They won last time round and have strengthened over the summer.

Man U are showing the power of momentum I think.

I think they won the league last year because they had the momentum (and not the best squad) and now will underachieve because they've lost all momentum in the beginning...

Axeslammer wrote:

Roger Hunt wrote:Barring a major injury crisis Man U are the pacesetters for this season. They won last time round and have strengthened over the summer.

Man U are showing the power of momentum I think.

I think they won the league last year because they had the momentum (and not the best squad) and now will underachieve because they've lost all momentum in the beginning...

Fair point.

We have Spurs and Sunderland both at home. If we can win them and have Ronaldo and Saha back after those games we may go back on a run.