Return of English Premier League
Predictable Barclays Premiership Football Provides Few Surprises
After months of waiting last weekend finally saw the return of top-flight football in England. Kicking off on the 16th August at 12:45 pm, Arsenal versus West Bromwich Albion was a welcome relief to real sport following the seemingly endless period of transfer speculation and season predictions. With much of modern football following a predictable pattern, were there any shocks on offer in the new season?
Premiership Title Challengers
With one of the ‘Big Four’ playing their first match at home to newly-promoted WBA there was the potential for an upset, especially considering how much pundits have raved about WBA’s ability to play winning, passing, football. The greatest surprise came about from WBA’s style of football, as they eschewed the attractive option in favour of hopeful punts to muscular front man Ishmael Miller. This proved quite effective, even if it never resulted in a goal. Arsenal failed to shock by once more proving fairly ineffective in front of goal, with only debutant Nasri breaking the deadlock.
Despite winning the Premier League title in the past two seasons, Manchester United were the only title challengers not to start their season with a win. Missing Portuguese star Ronaldo and the Argentine forward Tevez, United looked almost toothless in attack, adding credence to Ferguson’s claims of his need for a striker. Drawing 1-1 at home to Newcastle would not have filled supporters with hope for their title chances, and United will need a better performance in their second game.
Both Liverpool and Chelsea won their opening games, with the London club registering the more impressive victory. This was unlikely to shock any viewers as they are most fancied to take the Premiership away from Manchester United.
Promoted to the Premier League
Summertime for a promoted team is never easy. Even a team that triumphs in the Championship with style will be predicted to fail in the Premiership. Whilst most seasons throw up a surprise or two, the majority of Premier League newcomers know that they face a long hard season. Out of the three clubs that came up this season, Hull, Stoke and West Bromwich Albion, only WBA were given any hope of survival. Hence Hull’s fans’ joy at their late winner against Fulham, as they know how key a good start to the season is.
Within the multitude of clubs predicted to struggle, Hull City need to register points as soon as possible to separate themselves from the pack. Another club perpetually declared to struggle, Bolton Wanderers temporarily took pole position following their convincing 3-1 victory over Stoke City. Whilst this will not be enough to convince the club’s detractors of their ability to survive the Premiership, it proved sufficient to convince the bookie Paddy Power to pay out on bets for Stoke to be relegated. Power’s line of thinking is that if Stoke cannot beat Bolton then they do not have the ability to stay in the Premiership, and so must be considered relegated even with 37 more games to play.
Predictable English Top-Flight Football
Whilst the opening Premiership weekend provided a few surprises it remained mostly predictable. The majority of teams who won were predicted to, and any team found in an unexpected position in the league table will be likely to have moved in a few weeks time. Each season throws up a few surprises, but never any massive ones. The will be no unexpected champion, Stoke City will not qualify for the Champions’ League and Chelsea will not be relegated. Football is a business, and as such is far too important to leave to chance.
Start of the new Premiership Season
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Fans flocked to see their teams
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