Team most likely to exceed expectations this season?

flahavaj

Which Premiership team is going to cause a surprise this season and exceed all expectations a la Spurs and Birmingham last year?

I'm gonna go with Everton myself, if they can keep the likes of Arteta and Jagielka fit this year I think they'll finish top 6.

secman

Blackpool........ reckon they will get 13 points !

Secman

evil_seed

Wigan

Kiwi_knock

Fulham

Wolves: I have a feeling that they will stay in the league a lot more comfortably than last year and might even finish in the top 10.

mike65

Man City

Liverpool if the sale goes through quickly. :pac:

SlickRic

Man City

Liverpool.

hopefully!

with fans of the club being labelled as delusional for thinking they can get even top 4 at times during this pre-season; with last season being quickly labelled as the beginning of a downward slope towards perennial mediocrity in mid-table, and with City strengthening like crazy, and Spurs with a seemingly better squad than us still, i'm hoping against sense maybe that we can get into the top 3/4.

that would be far exceeding every football 'expert', and non-Liverpool fan's expectations.

flahavaj

Blackburn

Poll added - its bloody hard to name the 20 teams in the Prem from memory! It says a lot about Wigan and Sunderland that they were the ones I forgoot!:pac:

Frisbee

Man City

Liverpool, people are writing them off far too quickly imo.

Handsome Bob

Man City

Liverpool just have to be a bit fortunate when it comes to injuries, if that happens then I don't see any reason why we shouldn't do well.

EI111

Fulham

evil_seed wrote: »

Wigan

Would be interested to hear why you think that because I have them backed for relegation.

RasTa

Bolton

Blackburn if they get the Diouf.

DB10

Man City

I think Liverpool could quite easily finish between 2nd and 4th.

Important factor that most forget is they don't have the CL to worry about. They won't be too fussed about the Europa League.

Expections by whom though?

I'm expecting Liverpool to finish 5 or 6th but hoping for top 4.

That could all change in the next month of course.

Of the promoted teams Newcastle I think will have a decent season.

They pulled off a major coup by signing Dan Gosling,one of Evertons hottest properties on a free (He's injured Dec I think though).

matrim

Birmingham

I went for Villa. Looking at the race for forth thread most people seem to be writing them off even for a top 8 finish but I'd expect a similar showing to last season and a finish around 5th or 6th.

The Rooster

"exceeding expectations" depends on how you define expectations. Everton coming 6th for example, would not be greatly exceeding expectations in my book.

Here is how one leading bookmaker sees it, which probably isnt a bad way to set the parameters.

1. Chelsea
2. Man Utd +2
3. Man City +8
4. Arsenal +9

5. Liverpool +13
6. Tottenham +17
7. Everton +22
8. Aston Villa +25
9. Sunderland +35
10. Fulham +38

11. Birmingham +39
12. West Ham +40
12. Blackburn +40
12. Stoke +40
12. Newcastle +40
16. Bolton +41
17. Wigan Athletic +44

18. Wolves +45
19. West Brom +49
20. Blackpool +54

Melion

Man City

Everyone is expecting Liverpool to finish outside the Top 4 again. I think we will be in it comfortably, Arsenal and United will be in more danger of slipping out of it this season than we are.

Handsome Bob

Man City

Melion wrote: »

Everyone is expecting Liverpool to finish outside the Top 4 again. I think we will be in it comfortably, Arsenal and United will be in more danger of slipping out of it this season than we are.

What is your reasoning behind that?

Xavi6

Wolves

Melion wrote: »

Everyone is expecting Liverpool to finish outside the Top 4 again. I think we will be in it comfortably, Arsenal and United will be in more danger of slipping out of it this season than we are.

:eek: You have to be kidding me.

Why?


In response to the OP, I think West Ham will do quite well under Grant.

DB10

Man City

LZ5by5 wrote: »

What is your reasoning behind that?

Liverpool can't slip out of the Top 4 because they aren't in it

Carlos_Ray

Stoke

All Blackpool have to do to exceed expectations is put up a fight. If they beat one of the top four and still get relegated thats "exceeding expectations". So from that point of view they have to be considered most likely. How can Chelsea exceed expectations? They can't , they can only fail to deliver.

flahavaj

Blackburn

Carlos_Ray wrote: »

All Blackpool have to do to exceed expectations is put up a fight. If they beat one of the top four and still get relegated thats "exceeding expectations". So from that point of view they have to be considered most likely. How can Chelsea exceed expectations? They can't , they can only fail to deliver.

If Chelsea won the quadruple I'm sure they'd be exceeding even their most ardent supporters' expectations.:pac:

Melion

Melion wrote: »

Everyone is expecting Liverpool to finish outside the Top 4 again. I think we will be in it comfortably, Arsenal and United will be in more danger of slipping out of it this season than we are.

Liverpool are 7/4 5th favourites to finish in top 4 atm if you are that confident.

Melion

Man City

My reasoning behind Arsenal and United being in danger is because neither have strengthened to any serious extent. Arsenal are still going to be weak at the back and poor up front, IF they lose Fabregas they would be in serious trouble.

Same goes for United IMO, if they lose Rooney for any extended period of time i dont see anyone who could step up and do what he does. They would have been in the same situation as Liverpool if he had got injured earlier than the Bayern game last season.

Obviously its all ifs and buts though.

Xavi6

Wolves

Melion wrote: »

My reasoning behind Arsenal and United being in danger is because neither have strengthened to any serious extent. Arsenal are still going to be weak at the back and poor up front, IF they lose Fabregas they would be in serious trouble.

Same goes for United IMO, if they lose Rooney for any extended period of time i dont see anyone who could step up and do what he does. They would have been in the same situation as Liverpool if he had got injured earlier than the Bayern game last season.

Obviously its all ifs and buts though.

Neither have Liverpool really, apart from the Cole acquisition, and that's certainly not enough to close the massive gap from last year.

Melion

Man City

rarnes1 wrote: »

Liverpool are 7/4 5th favourites to finish in top 4 atm if you are that confident.

14/1 to win it. Better odds to back them e/w

Melion

Man City

Xavi6 wrote: »

Neither have Liverpool really, apart from the Cole acquisition, and that's certainly not enough to close the massive gap from last year.

I think everyone could admit that last season seemed to be a freak year. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We had no luck with injuries, some shocking performances against poor teams. Losing Torres for chunks of the season and big players off form certainly didnt help either. Even after all that we only just missed out on 4th. If even half of those things straighten themselves out(Or Nando stays fit for the full season) then i can see us being in the top 4 very comfortably.

Xavi6

Xavi6 wrote: »

Neither have Liverpool really, apart from the Cole acquisition, and that's certainly not enough to close the massive gap from last year.

massive gap? 7 points iirc was what spurs finished ahead of Liverpool in 4th.

Not a huge amount tbf.

SlickRic

Man City

Xavi6 wrote: »

Neither have Liverpool really, apart from the Cole acquisition, and that's certainly not enough to close the massive gap from last year.

his argument, though i slightly disagree with it, especially in terms of the extent to which Rooney being injured earlier would have killed United's season...is that the gap isn't as big as last season would have everyone believe.

IMO, a fit, and staying, Torres will have a huge effect on our fortunes.

The Volt

Wolves

I went with West Ham. They've had a good pre-season and Grant is a top manager. They'll be safely placed in 11th or 10th and wont be troubled by the bottom at all.

Xavi6

Wolves

Melion wrote: »

I think everyone could admit that last season seemed to be a freak year. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We had no luck with injuries, some shocking performances against poor teams. Losing Torres for chunks of the season and big players off form certainly didnt help either. Even after all that we only just missed out on 4th. If even half of those things straighten themselves out(Or Nando stays fit for the full season) then i can see us being in the top 4 very comfortably.

Injuries hit pretty much every year though. I've said it numerous times - Liverpool's problem is strength in depth, or the lack there of.

Until that is a addressed they will always struggle to keep up come the business end of the season (imo of course).

rarnes1 wrote: »

massive gap? 7 points iirc was what spurs finished ahead of Liverpool in 4th.

Not a huge amount tbf.

Sorry, by massive gap I meant between them and United/Arsenal as his comment was about there being more danger of them slipping out of the top 4.

Melion

Man City

Xavi6 wrote: »

Injuries hit pretty much every year though. I've said it numerous times - Liverpool's problem is strength in depth, or the lack there of.

Until that is a addressed they will always struggle to keep up come the business end of the season (imo of course).

I dont think our lack of squad depth is as serious as some people would have you think. I think realistically, we have 2 competent players for every position.

Xavi6

Xavi6 wrote: »

Sorry, by massive gap I meant between them and United/Arsenal as his comment was about there being more danger of them slipping out of the top 4.

I think the gap was 11/12 points between Liverpool - Arsenal which is not massive by any means. Fabregas is key to them as is RYP's fitness.

United though will be comfortably top 2 with Chelsea. The two of them have the best squads in the country and united have the best manager.

Melion

Man City

rarnes1 wrote: »

I think the gap was 11/12 points between Liverpool - Arsenal which is not massive by any means. Fabregas is key to them as is RYP's fitness.

United though will be comfortably top 2 with Chelsea. The two of them have the best squads in the country and united have the best manager.

Id have City's squad any day of the week ahead of Uniteds.

homerjay2005

Arsenal

Melion wrote: »

Everyone is expecting Liverpool to finish outside the Top 4 again. I think we will be in it comfortably, Arsenal and United will be in more danger of slipping out of it this season than we are.

lol....

next year is your year eh?

SlickRic

Man City

Melion wrote: »

Id have City's squad any day of the week ahead of Uniteds.

but...

i, you, and the world, would have Utd's manager any day of the week ahead of City's.

damn Ferguson.

this is the problem, that guy is the ultimate variable in the whole thing. similar to Wenger for Arsenal.

Melion

Man City

homerjay2005 wrote: »

lol....

next year is your year eh?

Yup, thats exactly what i said

Melion

Man City

SlickRic wrote: »

but...

i, you, and the world, would have Utd's manager any day of the week ahead of City's.

damn Ferguson.

this is the problem, that guy is the ultimate variable in the whole thing. similar to Wenger for Arsenal.

Unfortunately, yes

Eire-Dearg

Xavi6 wrote: »

In response to the OP, I think West Ham will do quite well under Grant.

I have them doing quite well too, they need to bring in a few more players though.

Regarding teams going backwards - Fulham should drop off a bit this year after Roy, unless Sparky can wheel in some good players. he's been linked with half the City team already.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Melion wrote: »

I think everyone could admit that last season seemed to be a freak year. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We had no luck with injuries, some shocking performances against poor teams. Losing Torres for chunks of the season and big players off form certainly didnt help either. Even after all that we only just missed out on 4th. If even half of those things straighten themselves out(Or Nando stays fit for the full season) then i can see us being in the top 4 very comfortably.

United were hit terribly in defence with injuries. We had Fletcher and Carrick playing as CBs for a fair few games.

flahavaj

Blackburn

SlickRic wrote: »

his argument, though i slightly disagree with it, especially in terms of the extent to which Rooney being injured earlier would have killed United's season...is that the gap isn't as big as last season would have everyone believe.

IMO, a fit, and staying, Torres will have a huge effect on our fortunes.

To me he's getting more and more injury prone and needs the first two months of the seasopn off regardless. But looking at liverpool's early season fixtures which are very tricky, I could see him being rushed back again or asked to play half fit, which is just going to exacerbate his injury woes.

I also think the probable loss of Mascherano is being glossed over a little - HUGE player for Liverpool, especially in the big games, who'll be very dificult to replace with a player of equal quality.

Unless this takeover happens and theres a big injection of cash, I can see Liverpool's overall squad being a little weaker than last season's, rather than stronger tbh.

Frisbee

Man City

rarnes1 wrote: »

I think the gap was 11/12 points between Liverpool - Arsenal which is not massive by any means. Fabregas is key to them as is RYP's fitness.

We managed to stay a fair bit ahead of you playing a 5 foot nothing winger as a lone striker for large portions of the season, we've also strengthened our forwards since last year so when the inevitable RVP injury does strike, we'll be slightly more able to deal with it.

Melion

Man City

Frisbee wrote: »

We managed to stay a fair bit ahead of you playing a 5 foot nothing winger as a lone striker for large portions of the season, we've also strengthened our forwards since last year so when the inevitable RVP injury does strike, we'll be slightly more able to deal with it.

Totally forgot about Chamakh

Frisbee

Frisbee wrote: »

We managed to stay a fair bit ahead of you playing a 5 foot nothing winger as a lone striker for large portions of the season, we've also strengthened our forwards since last year so when the inevitable RVP injury does strike, we'll be slightly more able to deal with it.

Arsenal should finish above Liverpool but there's not as much in it as many people would have you believe.

It boils down to injuries to key players at the end of the day and whether the replacements can come in and do the required job.

Frisbee

Man City

rarnes1 wrote: »

Arsenal should finish above Liverpool but there's not as much in it as many people would have you believe.

It boils down to injuries to key players at the end of the day and whether the replacements can come in and do the required job.

Agreed, however I think Arsenal are in a better position to deal with the losses of RVP and Fab than Pool are with Torres and Gerrard. Having said that you have a fully fit Aquilani this year so you finally have a quality central midfielder available for the first time since Alonso was shown the door.

EI111

Fulham

Carlos_Ray wrote: »

All Blackpool have to do to exceed expectations is put up a fight. If they beat one of the top four and still get relegated thats "exceeding expectations". So from that point of view they have to be considered most likely. How can Chelsea exceed expectations? They can't , they can only fail to deliver.

So basically what you are saying is that if blackpool exceed expectations (by beating one of the top four) they are most likely to exceed expectations.

GavRedKing

Manchester United

Chelsea - Because we will win it by 7 - 10 points

Patsy fyre

Birmingham

Heres my big tips for the upcoming season. Expect villa, sunderland, newcastle and wigan to go well spurs, bolton and possibly fulham to struggle.
There I said it!

greendom

Spurs

A few ifs involved here, but
if Arsenal get hold of a solid keeper and centre-back;
if Fab remains with the club
if we are less injury prone than we were last year
if a few players perform better than last season (Nasri, Arshavin) and
if a few youngsters come into their own, then Arsenal can exceed expectations

JP Liz V1

Aston Villa

I picked Man City I think they will break into the top 4 this season

JP Liz V1

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I picked Man City I think they will break into the top 4 this season

That's hardly exceeding expectations though in fairness.

They are expected to do that at least.

massdebater

Blackpool

greendom wrote: »

A few ifs involved here, but
if Arsenal get hold of a solid keeper and centre-back;
if Fab remains with the club
if we are less injury prone than we were last year
if a few players perform better than last season (Nasri, Arshavin) and
if a few youngsters come into their own, then Arsenal can exceed expectations

Understatement of the year!

I would've picked Wigan as the surprise team this year. They had some really good results last year, just far to many shocking results too! However, they've lost Scharner and Bramble too they have an even worst defence this season.

+1 on West Ham - Grant is a quality manager and they have a decent enough squad.

Blackpool will do a Burnley - probably start off quite well (maybe even beat one of the top sides) and then follow it up by an embarrassing second have to the season, finishing with relegation.