Hey Mark-
I spoke to my British friend yesterday about the EPL... (even though I called him to make fun of Norwich's start in the lower division) He says that despite the fact that everyone thinks that Arsenal is done that they're still gonna be 3rd best this year, and that Chelsea is once again going to walk away from Man U (really going out on a limb here). He thinks the other CL team is going to be Liverpool outside of the big 3 (again going out on a limb)... but what interested me most was the squads he thought were making it and dropping. He says Sunderland has no chance of survival and says that West Ham will comfortably stay up. But the one that gets to me is Wigan... he says they're gonna make it. This means that 2 of the goodstanding Premiership teams are leaving this year... He said he thinks it's going to be Portsmouth, WBA, and Blackburn fighting to stay up, much like WBA did last year. I can definitely see Portsmouth having problems scoring goals after the departure of Yakabu. He thinks Fulham's in big trouble without Van Der Sar as well.
That being said he thinks this opening weekend is full of mild upsets. He thinks that Birmingham is beating Fulham, West Ham is beating Blackburn (not really an upset, but worth note that a brand new team can win on day 1), and best of all, that Wigan is going to get a point from Chelsea! I don't see it... but he says that weird things happen in the early weeks of the Premiership, particularly with the teams that are supposed to be huge favorites (like Chelsea and Man U, though he thinks Man U is rolling Everton). Says that Wigan is one of the great stories in the last 10 years of English soccer coming up from the depth of conference now to Premiership... and he not only thinks they're gonna survive, but that they're gonna take a point from Chelsea to start the season... Seems like quite a bold statement to me... but he sees this one at 1-1. We'll see... your thoughts?
I spoke to my British friend yesterday about the EPL... (even though I called him to make fun of Norwich's start in the lower division) He says that despite the fact that everyone thinks that Arsenal is done that they're still gonna be 3rd best this year, and that Chelsea is once again going to walk away from Man U (really going out on a limb here). He thinks the other CL team is going to be Liverpool outside of the big 3 (again going out on a limb)... but what interested me most was the squads he thought were making it and dropping. He says Sunderland has no chance of survival and says that West Ham will comfortably stay up. But the one that gets to me is Wigan... he says they're gonna make it. This means that 2 of the goodstanding Premiership teams are leaving this year... He said he thinks it's going to be Portsmouth, WBA, and Blackburn fighting to stay up, much like WBA did last year. I can definitely see Portsmouth having problems scoring goals after the departure of Yakabu. He thinks Fulham's in big trouble without Van Der Sar as well.
That being said he thinks this opening weekend is full of mild upsets. He thinks that Birmingham is beating Fulham, West Ham is beating Blackburn (not really an upset, but worth note that a brand new team can win on day 1), and best of all, that Wigan is going to get a point from Chelsea! I don't see it... but he says that weird things happen in the early weeks of the Premiership, particularly with the teams that are supposed to be huge favorites (like Chelsea and Man U, though he thinks Man U is rolling Everton). Says that Wigan is one of the great stories in the last 10 years of English soccer coming up from the depth of conference now to Premiership... and he not only thinks they're gonna survive, but that they're gonna take a point from Chelsea to start the season... Seems like quite a bold statement to me... but he sees this one at 1-1. We'll see... your thoughts?
