New EPL season......Hope springs eternal!

Here we go again. The EPL, global phenomenon that it is, kicks off again tonight for the 2013-14 season. We've had the phony war for over month in the form of the accursed transfer window. This supporter hates it. Most of the fans probably also hate it because it allows cashed up (or not) big clubs to bully the rest until some time early in September. Go figure when FIFA / UEFA claim to be leveling things up with the Financial fair play rules http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfirst/protectingthegame/financialfairplay/index.html

Oh good luck with that :)

Bale or no Bale, I'm looking forward to my fine but flawed club Tottenham, making a better impression. It is a bit sad that 4th in the EPL has actually become almost an end in itself with the Champions League qualification it affords. My Gooner friends will be quick to remind me that I'm tied down on Thursday nights with UEFA Cup competition. When did a place in Europe become so undesirable?

As we have all been reminded, the top three of United, City and Chelsea have all changed their managers / coaches since last season. AVB avoided the temptation to go elsewhere but it is Wenger who must be laughing quietly to himself. At times last season he was being hung out to dry but champion survivor that he is, he got the Arsenal in to fourth spot and is still there.

Even as we kick off today, the league is poised like a line of dominoes to ignite some mega transfers, or not.

Ronaldo to United....Bale to Real....Rooney to Chelsea, it seems that money is washing around the game. That is until we realise that most transfers nowadays are funded with debt. My club Spurs are yet to receive a significant part of the Modric fee from Real Madrid from last year! Real would like to pay for Bale over six years:) 

Eventually an EPL game will be played on every day of the week. I am sure of it. The pay TV people will demand it. Many will see no problem with such a situation but old timers will feel slightly put out pining for past times when everyone kicked off at 3 O' Clock on Saturday afternoon....my team don't have a Saturday game in the first three fixtures and this will lead me to sit up at 3.00am in the early hours each Monday morning before work. Still that's been my life in oz for the past 20 years or so!

So what will happen this season? I think United may regret going for David Moyes instead of Roberto Martinez. I think he will struggle and the fans won't like it. United are traditionally about flowing, incisive football. Moyes may struggle to inspire.

What about the two 'cash on steroids' Chelsea and City? To me, the job for Manuel Pellegrini and The Special One will be keeping their squad players happy. Both clubs have a recent history of 'warehousing' players, giving them no game time but preventing them playing elsewhere. Again  Financial fair play rules should be doing something about this one.

What about the aspiring sides...Spurs Liverpool Everton? I feel that my club will have the edge here. Wengers lack of spending so far, might suggest that the Arsenal may struggle to hold off this trio in the race for Champions League spots. United, City and Chelsea are unbackable all at 1.10 while 

at this time the odds on the others are: Arsenal 1.60 Spurs 2.80 Liverpool 3.00 Everton 21.00

At the other end I'll pick Sunderland Palace and Norwich to go down.

Barclays Premier League

Scores & Schedule

1. Week 1
2. Week 2
3. Week 3
4. Week 4
5. Week 5
6. Week 6
7. Week 7
8. Week 8
9. Week 9
10. Week 10
11. Week 11
12. Week 12
13. Week 13
14. Week 14
15. Week 15
16. Week 16
17. Week 17
18. Week 18
19. Week 19

Saturday, 17 August
Liverpool 9:45 pm Stoke City
Sunday, 18 August
West Ham 12:00 am Cardiff City	Sunderland 12:00 am Fulham
Norwich City 12:00 am Everton	West Brom 12:00 am Southampton
Arsenal 12:00 am Aston Villa	Swansea City 2:30 am Man United
Crystal Palace 10:30 pm Tottenham
Monday, 19 August
Chelsea 1:00 am Hull City Tigers
Tuesday, 20 August
Man City 5:00 am Newcastle