Premiership Preview

Well it has been a long summer for us all, but the start of the new Premiership season is nearly upon us. This season the usual rules apply and surprises will be few and far between. The league title will be won by Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool. The strong contenders to push for top four outside those clubs will be Aston Villa, Everton and Spurs. The newly promoted trio of West Brom, Stoke and Hull will face a challenge to survive. All in all there has been a few clubs who have made mass changes and it will be interesting to see how quickly they gel.

Chelsea will be under new management and big Phil Scholari has already made some smart signings. Chelsea are expecting to become more entertaining and there are still rumours Robinho and/or Kaka could join. Manchester United still lacks that big striker and has Ronaldo out for the start of the season. No need to panic though because Nani is ready to impress. Arsenal has signed Nasri, but also lost Flamini and Hleb and may struggle to keep us with the other three. Liverpool has improved again with the signing of Robbie Keane and Gareth Barry may also come in soon and will close the gap on Manchester United and Chelsea.

Aston Villa has splashed a fair bit of cash and has improved their squad, but Barry could still leave. The signing of Nicky Shorey could be crucial. Everton have lost Andy Johnson and that may cost them a place or two. Spurs have had a mixed summer with some good looking signings including Croatia star Mordic, but have also lost star striker Keane.

Stoke face the biggest challenge to stay in the league because their direct style of play will be useless against top defenders. They must change their style and must be solid as I can't see them scoring many. Hull have a big problem is replacing Frazier Campbell as he looks certain to stay at Old Trafford. The reality is Hull probably wouldn't have won promotion without him and replacing him looks a tough task. West Brom have the best chance of making a go of it after being the Championship glamour club last season. Their biggest challenge will be replacing the goals that Kevin Phillips provided. They have also lost Zoltan Gera.

Predictions

1^st Manchester United 18^th West Brom

2^nd Chelsea 19^th Hull

3^rd Liverpool 20^th Stoke

4^th Arsenal