Now that the best team in the Premier League have been relegated to the Champsionship (Stoke City) I think it is time to start a thread for the new season. Champions: Manchester City Relegated: Southampton, Bournemouth, Watford. Do not take any notice of what the pundits say, every 'expert' last season said something along the lines of "one team that does not have to worry about relegation is Stoke."
As a semi neutral, I go for the attractive football of Liverpool or arsenal to win the league with Man City and Chelsea to make the top 4. City or Liverpool for the C.l. I expect stoke to get promoted as they play the type of football that brings results in their division and also Leeds to come up. I agree with Rob that the pundits often are clueless and biased towards their old clubs.
Champions Manchester City Champions League Manchester Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea Relegated - Huddersfield , Cardiff and Watford or Southampton Promoted - West Brom, Derby, Stoke via play offs
Champions - Man City top 6 (in order) - Man Utd, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham Relegated - Cardiff, Newcastle & Brighton
As I support Liverpool I am going to have to go with them as champions Top 4 in order, City, United, Spurs. Relegated I will go with Southampton, Cardiff and Huddersfield Liverpool to not even make the Top 6. You sure?
I can't see past the UAE winning the league. I was just wondering what the views are on Spain selling it's treasure to the USA and how long until the FA do the same La Liga to play regular-season game in the United States as Spanish league strikes landmark 15-year deal
I can't stand the idea of a team playing a league match in a different country. Also don't know how it would work for home and away games. Surely it would be a disadvantage to both teams, so which team draws the short straw and has it as their home game.
Without Mo Salah I'm afraid they could struggle so going to say top 10 maybe but they need to win the League or Champions League to keep Klopp. Jose to leave Man Utd at end of season and either Zidane or Blanc to take over.
Last time I checked Mo Salah was still a Liverpool player and the only player we sold was Danny Ward (Emre Can and John Flanagan leaving on a free). Just wondering if Liverpool did sell Mo Salah, where would you think we would finish in the League. I would still see us as possible title contenders due to the great transfer window we had.
I was on about if he got injured mind you if Barcelona or Juventus came in for him in January I wouldn't count on him being there in February as he turned down Real Madrid,
It may turn out to have been a great transfer window , but that can't be judged after one game surely? The keeper may turn out to be another Karius for a start!!
The mention of a Flamingo Land Rhino being sent to Rwanda next year reminded me to look into this, having noticed the sponsor on Arsenal's shirt. What is Visit Rwanda and what does the sponsorship mean for Rwanda? Visit Rwanda operates as the nation's tourist board and the sponsorship is a bid to promote tourism in the central East African nation. According to the Telegraph, tourism is the biggest foreign earner in the nation and foreign affairs minister of state, Olivier Nduhungirehe, said he believes the tourism streams from the sector would double from more than $400million to $800million by 2024 and a deal with the Premier League side could help achieve this target. Why is Visit Rwanda sponsoring Arsenal causing controversy? Politicians in countries such as the Netherlands have been vocal against the decision for the country to sponsor Arsenal because the country receives foreign aid to sponsor President Paul Kagame's favourite team. The nation suffered in the Rwanda genocide during which 800,000 people were killed in 1994. According to Borgen Magazine, around 39 percent of Rwandans fall below the nation’s poverty rate and 16 percent live in extreme poverty. Furthermore, 60 per cent of Rwandans are living on less than $1.90 per day and foreign politicians feel that the money should be used to deal with impoverished conditions instead of sponsoring the Premier League side. Politician Joel Voordewind told Dutch news outlet VI: "I am indignant that a country where we provide solid financial assistance has now become a whopping €30million shirt sponsor of a major English football club." While Isabelle Diks of political party GroenLinks added: "Of course our development aid does not go to the government of Rwanda and it is good that Rwanda tries to give the economy a boost. "But it is disheartening that this kind of spending is being made, while the international community is trying to do something about the terrible poverty in the country." Arsenal chief commercial officer Vinai Venkatesham defended the deal and believes that the sponsorship will benefit the country in a positive way. He said: "This is an exciting partnership which will see us support Rwanda's ambition to build their tourism industry. "The country has been transformed in recent years and Arsenal's huge following will bring Rwanda into people's minds in a new and dynamic way. "The Arsenal shirt is seen 35 million times a day globally and we are one of the most viewed teams around the world."
The British Premier League is the most popular football competition in Africa and Arsenal is by far the most popular football club in Eastern Africa. The vast majority of African men support an English club. The number of Arsenal fans in Ethiopia alone would be something along the lines of 10 million people, if not more. Only Manchester United comes even close to the number of followers. Why they all chose Arsenal is because they used to play very nice football to watch (and winning is then slightly less important) and Arsenal used to be a huge club when these people got access to foreign football competitions.
One does not simply cease to support a club because they are having mediocre results (or in this case, because they've known better times). If you do, then you're not a true supporter (and that applies to every sport). As to why there are so many people supporting Arsenal, lintworm summed it up perfectly. I'd just add that most of the time it's also a family matter, if the father supports Arsenal for ex. the son or the daughter often will too etc...