In keeping with a request made by our very own Jason Chalifour, I have set out my choices for a variety of items including the winner of the title, cups, the sack race, and who will be the top players. So, without further delay, I present to you my choices for the 2011/2012 season.
Other contributors will be adding their predictions for the remainder of this week.
Premier League Champions – Manchester United
FA Cup – Manchester City
Carling Cup – Aston Villa
European Places – Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Spurs
Relegated – QPR, Norwich, Wigan
EPL Golden Boot – Fernando Torres
Player of the Year – Wayne Rooney
Young Player of the Year – Phil Jones
Manager of the Year – Andre Villas Boas
Sack Race Winner – Steve Kean
Champions League Winner – Chelsea
Aston Villa Player of the Year – Charles N’Zogbia
Aston Villa Young Player of the Year – Barry Bannan
My reasons why
Whilst Manchester City will prove worthy opponents for the team across the other side of the city, I feel Manchester United will shade it, especially if, as has been vaunted, Wesley Sneijder signs for them before the end of the transfer window.
Beyond United, I see Manchester City retaining their FA Cup due to the abundance of talent they have to rotate through when it comes to progressing through the competition. League Cup wise, I see Aston Villa actually being a possible winner given both McLeish’s experience, and the fact that it may be the most obvious route to silverware that Villa could take.
My pick for the Golden Boot is a, perhaps, random choice. However, nobody can doubt that, on his day, Fernando Torres is world class. The term “world class” is bandied about with far too regular usage but, in this case, the term is truly justified. However, I am acutely aware that Torres could do the total opposite and be shipped out to a European team in January if he doesn’t get his shooting shoes on.
With regard to player of the year, I think it will be a United clean sweep with both Wayne Rooney and Phil Jones taking the awards. Rooney is undoubtedly a different class to many other strikers in the league, and Phil Jones will, at £16m, be seen as a key component to the Manchester United team going forwards, not only for this season, but for other seasons going forwards.
For the sack race, I see Steve Kean being the unfortunate recipient of the dubious honour. With owners who got rid of Sam Allardyce in a fairly ungentlemanly manner, I see a similar future for Kean, with the owners likely to dump him should he fall down the table as the season progresses. Couple this with a likely late exit for Chris Samba, and the already lost Phil Jones, I think it could add up to too much for Kean, and he will be ejected.
Chelsea may actually see the final end to Roman’s pursuit of the ultimate prize in Europe with Andre Villas-Boas being the prime candidate for success given both his Europa League success with Porto, his fantastic man motivation skills, and the hugely talented squad that Chelsea have.
As for Villa, I figure that Charles N’Zogbia, whilst not having the scoring capabilities of Darren Bent, will be the player of the year. With Villa relying heavily on wing play in recent years, and N’Zogbia’s fantastic aptitude both wide, up front, and with goals and assists, I think he will be just the player to make us forget about Messrs Downing & Young. For the young player, I’ve picked Barry Bannan as, if utilised properly, I think he can be an outstanding talent for the club. It was, in all honesty, a toss up between Barry Bannan and Gary Gardner but, whilst I rate Gary very highly, I don’t see him getting sufficient game time to grab the title of Young Player of the Year.
*** ADDITION *** As many of you are aware, many cities in the UK are currently experiencing violence, unrest, and other civil disorder, including my home town of Birmingham.
This has taken me away from AVL for the past few days, so I apologise for my lack of presence. I also encourage everyone here who lives in Birmingham, or has family there, to stay off the streets this evening as it is not worth the risk as police will be out in force dealing with troublemakers.
It’s also worth noting that the Fulham game will be called off, although a definite decision will not be made till Thursday.
The Author
