New Season

My predictions for the Premiership:

This year again, only the Big Four can win the title. Man City's squad seems top-heavy with strikers & they will need to massively improve on their away form from last season. They will get some good results but i can't see them being consistent enough. Arsenal have talent & the promise of youngsters like Wilshere for the future. Their midfield looks too lightweight to me, they need someone in the Viera mould who can boss the midfield. Liverpool will up at the top again this year, but they lack adequate cover for Torres. Which leaves the usual suspects: Man U & Chelsea. Man U are bound to miss Ronaldo's goals & assists, though they will hardly be struggling for goals with Rooney, Berbatov & Owen. Chelsea can grind out the title, but it will be close, by not more than 5 points.

WTA & ATP

Kim Clijsters' first tournament since her comeback ended with a QF loss in Cincinnati to world no. 1 Safina, a great effort. Clijsters looks like a sure bet to return to the top five & be a Slam contender again. If only her fellow Belgian Justine Henin is now tempted to come out of retirement, it would be fantastic for the womens' game.

Andy Muray has a chance today to overtake Nadal as world no. 2. Rafa lost in the Montreal QFs to del Potro, Murray plays Tsonga (who beat Federer in the quarters) in the semi, if AM wins he'll be the new world no. 2.

Feat of Clay

French Open Tennis


Dinara Safina has been the surprise of the tournament, backing up her win in Berlin by reaching the final. Her run has included two great comebacks against Sharapova (from a set & 5-3 down) & Dementieva (set & 5-2 down) saving a match point both times. Ivanovic has been undone by nerves in finals before & Safina can add another Slam to the family trophy cabinet. It looks like only the Williams sisters can prevent Serbo-Russian domination at Wimbledon & the US Open.
Federer looks to have his work cut out against Nadal in Sunday's mens' final. Rafa was awesome in beating Djokovic in straight sets in the semi yesterday. Nadal in 4 sets.


Euro2008


Euro 2008 looks quite an open tournament, the leading contenders seem to be closely matched. I've commented on the lopsided draw in my post of 15/12/07. Italy & France both have ageing squads. Italy don't appear to be as formidable defensively as they once were. Cannavaro will miss the tournament due to injury, & Nesta has retired from the national team (as has Totti). France are also getting long in the tooth through the spine of the team (Makelele, Viera, Henry) but Ribery has been in superb form. Portugal have man of the moment Mr C Ronaldo, but should suffer from lack of quality strikers. Spain are unbeaten in 15 matches & have beaten both France & Italy in that run, albeit in friendlies; & have in Torres arguably the best striker in Europe. Germany are in the easy half of the draw, and should be back to their traditional status as favourites, having performed miserably at both Euro 2000 & 2004. Croatia are my pick as dark horses. A Spain Germany final then, Miroslav Klose to finish top scorer.

Blue Moon

Only 3 games played, so let's not get carried away, but Man City are top. P3, W3, & no goals conceded. I can't resist the opportunuty to be smug, & to remind readers that I tipped City as my dark horses on Aug 6th. Of course, the old maxim about the table not showing anything meaningful until Xmas, has to be borne in mind. However, I doubt whether Man U's 2 points from 3 games was part of the Glazers' plan for world domination. Man U dominated possesion, but couldn't stick any of their chances away. Sven must secretly be delighted to have sneaked a win over Fergie. United have now made their worst start since 1992-3 (P3 Pts 1: Sheff U, A, 1-2; Everton, H, 0-3; Ipswich, H, 1-1). The Man U-haters should enjoy their schadenfreude now, with the calibre of players available in their squad, they will surely soon start winning. Despite that bad start in '92 they ended up winning the innaugural Premiership by 10 pts from the Villa. My barber reckons that next time I get my grade 3 (probably in 5-6 weeks) Utd will be top, I have to disagree. Surely, at least one of the other 'Big Four' clubs will still be above them.

Chelsea must be chuffed with the point they got at Anfield, Malouda appeared just to collide accidentally with Finnan for the (equalising) penalty. Torres looked sharp for the Reds, & showed great pace & skill for his opener. Arsenal showed once again they can be ratled by teams who take a 'robust' approach & who try to deny then time & space for their passing game.

Saturday sees the first 'six-pointer' of the season, as 2nd bottom Derby host 3rd-bottom Birmingham. Both teams need to make some astute buys to avoid the drop.