Guest Appearance -- "Theo Walcott will prove again to be very fast, he runs very swiftly, he is a gazelle. Man U will again finish second, unless Tottenham does. I love Tater Tots. Man City will once more hoist the trophy in victory. And Arsenal will round it out with that four spot. Thus spake he who knows all. The Bermudian." -- E Diggity AKA E Money Bags AKA Arts and Crafts AKA Erk
This season in the EPL kicks off with a bit of extra hype as Robin van Persie left Arsenal to move to Manchester United. There were plenty of other moves this transfer window and I will undoubtedly cover some of them. Basically my job here went from being a season preview to being a preview of a handful of teams then giving my standings for the end of the year. On with the PANDAmonium (oh henny)...
MANCHESTER UNITED: Got to start here. The addition of van Persie can only help. One of two things seem to be destined. Everyone up front feeds off each other, enjoys playing together, and United not only don't lose on goal differential but end up taking the treble. Or it could be that Chicharito (or less likely Welbeck) gets sold and extra cash comes in to not be used on the team but on the debt that the owners have saddled the team with. Another surplus the team has is at winger. With Nani, Valencia, and Young all vying for two and maybe even one spot. I can see Nani being the most likely to be moved as he has clashed with Sir Alex before and genuinely doesn't seem to care where he plays. While Valencia was used at right back last season he is far more effective pushing up the right touchline and forcing the attack. The center of the pitch looks to be an issue for United unless the oft-injured Cleverly and Anderson can stay healthy. Scholes is another year older and while I think new addition Shinji Kagawa can play in the center of the pitch he is certainly more useful pushed up behind the striker or out on the left. A little extra help at the full back positions could go a long way in what I can only hope will be an extremely long season.
ARSENAL: This team quickly became one of my dark horses even after ditching the unhappy RVP. Arsenal doesn't look to have lost much from last year's team with the transfer window additions of Podolski, Giroud, and Santi Cazorla. While they had an undoubtedly rough start today I think this team should be fine in the long run. Jack Wilshere looks to come back in October (we'll see) and will only strengthen the team whenever he does return to the pitch. Santi Cazorla really shined today and during his preseason appearances. While both Podolski and Giroud looked out of step today, both are high class strikers and should be just fine. My favorite thing about this team though may be watching Gervinho send shot after shot off of the nearest defender.
MANCHESTER CITY: Oddly quiet in the transfer window, as best I can remember their only addition is Jack Rodwell, who may not even feature much with this still stacked team. They have world class footballers all around upfront and the ever up and down Mario Ballotelli looks to add consistency to his game in order to cement his role. This team as always is carried by Yaya Toure who I still haven't forgiven for his absolute demolition of Ji-Sung Park last season.
CHELSEA: They have had an impressive transfer window and may actually improve upon it soon. So far their additions include Oscar, Eden Hazard, and Marko Marin while they've sent Lukaku and De Bruyne out on loan to get experience. Their two main losses are Drogba and Kalou who while they won't be easily replaced, look to be covered with this window's acquisitions.
LIVERPOOL: SUCK ASS.
QPR: I'm just impressed with their acquisitions this window. Not sitting here trying to feed you a line that they will be this year's Newcastle, but I like the moves. Ji-Sung Park, Jose Bosingwa, Andrew Johnson, Robert Green, and Samba Diakite all came over on permanent moves. They also picked up Manchester United's Fabio on loan.
Onto the standings:
1) Manchester United
2) Manchester City
3) Chelsea
4) Arsenal
5) Newcastle United
6) Tottenham
7) Swansea City
8)Stoke City
9) Everton
10) QPR
11) West Bromwich Albion
12) Sunderland
13) Liverpool
14) Wigan Athletic
15) Fulham
16) Aston Villa
17) West Ham United
18) Norwich City
19) Southampton
20) Reading
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