The Big 4

It's time to announce the order of the top four teams for the upcoming Premier League season. I used up all my good intro writing in the previous posts, so I'm just going to throw out the names of the teams and see what happens.

4. Arsenal - They have the best coach in the league and a roster full of young stars, but I still get the sense like this team is going to falter down the stretch again. I have a feeling the team will miss underrated holding midfielder Mathieu Flamini more than people realize. I see a lot of style here, but not enough substance and steel to muster a title challenge. In a year or two, if the team sticks together, this could be the top squad in the league. They just aren't there right now.

3. Manchester United - God I hope this happens. Ronaldo won't be back until October at the earliest. The hope is that they drop enough points between the beginning of the season to when their key player returns to ultimately derail their campaign before it really gets off the ground. With players like Rooney, Tevez, Scholes, Giggs, Ferdinand, etc, etc, filling in for the douche Ronaldo it probably won't even disrupt the defending champs. But a man can dream can't he?

2. Liverpool - Look, even I need to be realistic. Liverpool is not winning the league this year. They might never win it again. All I want is a title challenge; to not be out of it in February. It would be great to post home wins over Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea this season. My ample gut is telling me that this is the year that Liverpool gets close. Not close enough, but close enough to make it interesting. With Robbie Keane joining Nando "The Boner Machine" Torres, the goals should come. As long as the generally sturdy Liverpool back line can maintain its parsimonious conceding ways, I don't see why the Reds can't pressue the eventual winners all the way to the final whistle. Which leads me to the newly crowded kings...

1. Chelsea - Another purchased title will make its way to Stamford Bridge this year. What can you say besides "Congrats, you have the richest owner in the league and he doesn't mind throwing away millions upon millions of pounds to fund a winning team?" That's not easy to compete against. So it doesn't bother me to anoint Chelsea the Premier League champions of 08/09. It just makes me bitter and want to throw things. Damn, I was really hoping that writing this wouldn't piss me off, but I failed miserably. Oh well.

Enjoy the season, everyone. Except Man U and Chelsea fans. You can rot in hell.