Preview to EPL 08/09

After watching how Chelsea played against the Malaysian XI, i'm having major worries on our title bid. Anelka and Sheva looked out of sorts, and SWP did not contribute much to the game either. Apart from Lampard, Deco, Terry, and Carvalho, the rest of them had a poor game. If Chelsea were to challenge for the title this season, we'll need the strikers to step up their game.

I was browsing through soccernet.com when i realised Arshavin is going to join Bentley at Tottenham! I'm amazed how Tottenham has been so active and effective in the transfer market this post season. They managed to offload Malbranque, Chimbonda, Tainio and Kaboul. And with all the cash received from the transfer of Robbie Keane to Liverpool, they brought in fresh blood with the likes of Luka Modric, Dos Santos, Bentley and Arshavin. Quality players through and through. They're certainly a team to watch this coming season with Ramos familiarised with the EPL game.

With the signing of Robbie Keane, Liverpool now boasts an attack that has speed, flair, and promises goals. Torres, Keane, Voronin, and Ngog.

The midfield is held by Gerrard, accompanied by Mascherano in the centre, Babel and Kuyt on the flanks. The squad is so equipped in all departments they can field two first team squads at the same time. Hopefully Benitez has learnt from his lesson and stop rotating Torres out of the squad. Liverpool are serious title contenders for this coming season.

Sunderland has been making progessive improvements to the squad since Roy Keane's arrival at the club. I think he has bought well by strengthing his defence (Chimbonda), increasing flair and depth in Midfield (Tainio, Diouf, Malbranque). The Black Cats would definitely finish higher than last season, with the arrival of these new faces.

To finish this off, I got a sneaky feeling Blackburn will struggle next season. With Ince in charge, they lost Brad Friedel to Villa and Bentley to Spurs. Robinson has come in to replace Friedel in goal, also hoping to resurrect his career at Blackburn. But with the departure of Bentley, it will be a huge void left to be filled. Big worries.