Barclays Premier League 2012-13 league table prediction

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MAY 13: Manchester City fans celebrate after their team wins the title during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers at the Etihad Stadium on May 13, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

POS	TEAM	POINTS
1	Manchester Utd	85
2	Arsenal	83
3	Manchester city	82
4	Tottenham	71
5	Chelsea	71
6	LIverpool	62
7	Fulham	60
8	New Castle	55
9	Stoke City	52
10	Everton	50
11	Queens park Rangers	49
12	Swansea	48
13	Aston villa	44
14	Sunderland	40
15	Southampton	40
16	West ham	38
17	West Brom	36
18	Wigan	34
19	Reading	34
20	Norwich	30

THE CHAMPIONS - Everyone knows how dangerous Sir Alex Ferguson is when he’s seeking revenge. We all saw how he coped with pressure when Chelsea came into the scene bankrolled by Abramovich, and this time it’s not going to be any different. As for the title contenders, Man City are obvious choice and Arsenal is on the right track with some good signings. With or without RVP Arsenal are strong contenders for this season. Mancini might turn his concentration towards Champions League, leaving the door open for Man Utd.

THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOTS - The top three clubs will qualify automatically for the champions league, and the fight is going to be for that fourth place between Chelsea and Tottenham. And this is too close to call, so I’m going with Tottenham only on goal difference. Tottenham Got the edge only because of two reasons:

1) Abrahamovic loves to sack- Lets face it, RDM is not the kind of big name that the Russian likes, and it might just be a matter of time before he got the sack and a new manger will take time to settle ( unless he’s a “SPECIAL ONE”). With the loss to MLS all-stars and with RDM spending the lot on talent, it will be interesting to see how much time he gets at the hot seat.

2) AVB at Tottenham – They said he was the next Jose Mourinho and I personally think he indeed is, and with his visible hate towards the Chelsea owner, AVB will do anything to spoil the blue party and lift Spurs from where Harry Redknapp left them.

THE TOP HALF - Liverpool (this was really hard to call) got Brendan Rodgers at their helm, and if Steven Gerrard can last a full season without getting injured Liverpool might just finish inside a Europa League spot.

Speaking about the other clubs Fulham showed glimpses of form under Martin Jol last season, and this might be their season if they could do some good business in the market and hang on to their current talent. Everton who just lost Cahill might have a slow start, as usual, but David Moses is going to be there to keep them in the top ten come the end of the season.Newcastle, who where running for champions league place last season is also going to finish in the top half along with Stoke City.

MID TABLE - Swansea Who lost their manger to Liverpool got a new young talent in the likes of Michael Laudrap, and he will bedecent enough to keep the team in the mid table. Queens Park Rangers have been very busy in the market but looking at the signing they have made like Andrew Johnson, Park ji Sung, Fabio, Diakite , Green, Mark Hughes definitely has the firepower to finish in a mid-table position.

Unlike last season, this season new teams may get into the relegation battle, and it’s going to be bigger than last time around. Aston Villa with a new manager just might get sucked into the pit like Sunderland. West Brom, who were abandoned by the England Manager will be fighting for survival with some of their key players looking to move to greener pastures. West Ham and Southampton are the two sides whom I expect to stay up.

RELEGATION – He may be the chairman’s sweetheart but he cannot escape relegation by winning in the last minute, yes I am talking about Martinez. With Hugo Rodalega departing, Martinez is going to have a bad time finding a new strike partner for di Santo. And after all this Wigan may get relegated, and with all respect to the club I really think that Martinez is wasting his talent at Wigan.

Reading come to the league with a bunch of Championship players and a certain Russian striker, but this does not look like the team that can replicate what Norwich or Swansea did last time around. Many clubs have had a wonderful first season and a treacherous second one and Norwich may might just follow that path. With lambert leaving them, Norwich are the front runners for the drop.