On the eve of the new Premier League football season, everybody no matter who you support has reason to be cheerful, we all feel like our team can achieve something this year, regardless of what happened last season. That is the beauty of the football calendar, everything gets left behind at the end of a season and we all start afresh with new hopes and dreams for the coming season.
The more cynical of us might not buy that, and in truth the Premiership title is only going to be won by one of 3 teams (as it is every year they might argue) those teams being Manchester City, Chelsea and for my money Arsenal will be in that mix. Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur will make up the rest of the top places as they normally do. My bold prediction here, Liverpool will not qualify for the Champions League.
For other teams and their supporters, the goals for the season are set a little lower, like a cup run, or survival in the Premiership itself. If a team can survive in the Premier League for a few seasons, the revenue this earns the club will enable that team to solidify and climb the table in coming years, assuming of course that they have not done a Leeds and gone bust chasing the dream.
3 teams who will automatically be targeting survival as a major goal are the 3 newly promoted teams, Leicester City, Burnley and Queens Park Rangers (QPR). History tells us that these teams will struggle, but of these 3 I take QPR to be the ones that survive; here’s why QPR will avoid the drop.
Given that it took a last minute Bobby Zamora goal in the Play-Off final to be promoted, this may seem a little unlikely, but there are several reasons why I believe this will be the case.
Harry Redknapp, is a big part of it, Football’s ultimate wheeler dealer, Harry knows the division, he knows how to thrive in it and he knows how to pull off a deal. Transfer deadline day wouldn’t be the same without Harry sitting in his car saying no more deals, only to sign someone a few hours later. Harry has recruited Glenn Hoddle to work as First Team coach, this may be a stepping stone for Glenn as it proved for Steve McClaren last year, but Glenn knows good football.
If he can not spend too much time giving interviews about Faith healers and the consequence of certain actions in line with religious beliefs then there is no doubt on a pure Football ability, Hoddle knows his stuff. His punditry at the recent World Cup showed that, a World Cup which featured a lot of teams playing 3 at the back, a system that Harry has made known he is interested in, and a system used successfully by Glenn in his former club and international jobs.
The signings of Steven Caulker, Jordan Mutch and of course Rio Ferdinand show an intent to play a certain way, and no doubt we will see Rio used in the twilight of his playing days in the sweeper role occupied by Hoddle at the similar stage of his playing career.
Scoring goals will be the big issue and although Charlie Austin has scored at every other level so far, he is, as they say, unproven in the Premier League for now at least. QPR fans believe this will not be a problem and expect Austin to lead the line again this year. There is always Loic Remy, back at the club after his move to Liverpool fell apart. He is a proven goal scorer in the division, but a clause in the contract that would let him move to a Champions League team for around £8million may well see him on the way out of Loftus Road yet. A new striker is probably therefore on the shopping list, and there we are back into Harry’s world once again.
If QPR can score enough goals and it is my belief they will, then to be quite honest there are 3 worse teams than them in the Premiership. Burnley will start brightly but ultimately will struggle. Leicester haven’t strengthend that much and could be found out at this level. Outside of the new boys, Hull have the Europa League to contend with and history again shows us teams in their position having to cope with the travel and extra games end up struggling. Aston Villa have skirted with relegation for 2 years now and with no significant improvements and an owner looking to sell, it doesn’t look great for Villa.
Southampton have, it appears, relocated to Liverpool or at least that is where you will find last year’s team, with a new manager and most of a new team to find, they need a good start or they could struggle. West Bromwich Albion seem to be on the cusp of this as well. Then there is always a team who seem to be cruising and get sucked into a relegation battle. It might be Crystal Palace after the news regarding Tony Pulis broke earlier.
So there you have it, with their We R together mentality, some quality signings already and the management skills of Harry Redknapp and enough teams around them likely to struggle, come April / May time I don’t think QPR will be appearing in the bottom 3.
The average QPR would bite your hand off for that, mind you they would also want to beat Chelsea Home and Away and I am not going to believe they can have that one.
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