The Barclays Premier League is back this weekend for a new season, and although a big part of its charm is its unpredictability, there are always a few events which are less surprising than others. Instead of the usual preview, with who I think will win the league, who will get relegated and that sort of thing, I thought I would look into some of those easy-to-predict events. I have looked deep into my crystal ball to offer you just a few stories which I think will happen in the upcoming campaign.
Steve Kean will be sacked as Blackburn Rovers manager.
Blackburn's owners, the Venky's group, sacked Sam Allardyce early last season with the club reasonably well placed in the league table, or at least as well as was to be expected. For the Indians to declare their top-six ambitions and then to replace a top, experienced boss in Big Sam with Kean was a very strange move, and since then, Rovers have dropped like a stone. An Allardyce-led Blackburn would never have needed a final day win at Wolves to stay up, and I can't see it getting any better before the owners decide that enough is enough. With or without Kean, I see a very tough year for the Ewood Park outfit, and that's before the possible loss of Chris Samba.
Fernando Torres will score 15 league goals.
Everyone knows the ability that Torres has, and at times in his career, especially in the early years at Liverpool, he has looked every bit the best striker in the world. It is easy to write strikers off during barren spells in front of goal, yet also easy to forget how difficult it must be for a January signing to adapt to a new club and its style of play. Edin Dzeko didn't seem to get the stick Torres got despite an equally disappointing start for Manchester City last season. I also expect him to be a lot better this year. I think Torres can continue to form partnerships with Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba and possibly Romelu Lukaku and become the dangerman that his £50m price tag suggests he must be.
Arsenal will again flatter to deceive at the back.
Despite calls to do so, Arsene Wenger has again (at the time of writing) failed to sign a top-class defender or goalkeeper. Although Wojciech Szczesny looks the part in goal, there are still question marks about him experience-wise. Thomas Vermaelen was a huge miss last season, and while he looks like one of the league's great defenders, it became far too apparent that his colleagues just aren't up to it at times. I'm still not convinced by Sebastien Squillaci. Carl Jenkinson has come in from Charlton, but with the greatest respect, I don't think he was the defensive acquisition the Gunners fans had in mind this pre-season. Their defensive ineptitude was highlighted at Wembley in the Carling Cup final, but more so at Newcastle in the 4-4 draw. Can you really expect Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City to have not won there? No, yet I still wouldn't be surprised if Arsenal had a similar result this year.
Mario Balotelli will find himself in trouble.
Balotelli is no stranger to finding himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons rather than the right, and I can't see that changing in a hurry. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he ended the season away from the Etihad Stadium if Roberto Mancini loses patience with him. He is obviously a very good player, but he needs to show it far more often. What best summed him up last season was his display at The Hawthorns against West Bromwich Albion, where he scored twice yet was sent off in a 2-0 win. He isn't showing signs of maturity quite yet though, and he was described as 'an embarrassment' by Sky Sports' Gary Neville during the Community Shield coverage. Something has to change, but will it? Not likely.
Twitter will get a player into trouble.
We have seen it before (Ryan Babel), we are currently seeing it (Joey Barton), and I am certain we will see Twitter get some other player into trouble this season. Twitter is brilliant; it gives fans access to players that had been lost in recent years, and a lot of them tell us things that perhaps they couldn't in official interviews. Perhaps that is the problem. Its quick nature means that players often tweet without thought and it is very easy to publish information they may regret. Babel's doctored photo of Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt, and Barton's war of words with Newcastle United are two examples of that. A few managers have talked about banning it. I hope that doesn't happen, but players need to be aware that we are all watching them.
We will have 'a breath of fresh air'.
In the last few years, we have seen promoted sides take the Premier League by storm in the early months with no-nonsense, all-out-attack football. It's great to see, but ultimately it doesn't get you anywhere. 38 games is a long time for the league to work you out, just ask Blackpool last year, Hull a couple of years ago, and West Brom under Tony Mowbray. All of those sides went down, despite playing some great football at times. Some may even call it 'a breath of fresh air'. I hate that phrase. The bad thing about it last season was that all of the pundits seemed so unaware of its overuse. I must have heard it hundreds of times. It's meant as a compliment, yet all they mean is 'they can't defend for toffee, but aren't they brave'. It's patronising to say the least, and I would be astonished if Swansea or Norwich didn't get the treatment. They would rather not though. Give me a 1-0 any day of the week.
Liverpool will get back into the top four.
I'm not sure at who's expense, although right now Arsenal look the most likely, but this is the year that Liverpool will finally get back into the Champions League. Kenny Dalglish has arrived and completely changed the club. Their second half of last season couldn't have gone better, in contrast to a first half which couldn't have been worse. Liverpool is now a club that feels they're going places again, and a full season of Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez's partnership, plus the new midfield signings to come in and support them is an exciting prospect. In addition, the emergence of the likes of Jay Spearing, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson means that they have genuine strength in depth that has not been there in the last few years. Although the fans wish they did have it, they have no Europa League football as a potential distraction to league form.
Let me know what you think, as well as offer your own predictions via this blog, or at twitter.com/adamgray50
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