Premier League Predictions - FootBlg

Premier League 2016-17 Predictions

Will the cash-rich Manchester clubs reign or rags-to-riches Leicester City-type story can be expected?

This years' Premier League promises to be the most highly compititive season at the top. Here's my predictions.

The Relegation Candidates:

Hull City.

The manager-less club goes into the new season with virtually no preparation or new signings. Their most important player last season, Mo Diame, has agreed to drop down a division. The club are totally out of shape.

Predicted Finish: 20th

Burnley.

Burnley's manager 'Ginger Mourinho' Sean Dyche has a hell of a job in his hands to keep this team in the league. They have a la-Dany Ings in Andre Gray, who is expected to take the burden of scoring goals.

Pridicted Finish: 19th

AFC Bournemouth.

  Manager Eddie Howe has made slight changes to the squad. Liverpool's youngsters Jordan Ibe and Brad Smith are the major transfers into the team. Ibe is a like-for-like replacement for Matt Ritche. Their defense is still light.

Predicted Finish: 18th

Threatened by Relegation:

Swansea City.

The Swans have lost two of their most influential players last season, Andre Ayew and in-particular captain Ashley Williams. They now don't have a leader in the center of defence. Gomis is also gone, and Spainard Fernando Llorente is his replacement. Coach Francesco Guidolin has a re-building job to do.

Predicted Finish: 17th

Sunderland.

 The Arsenal of the bottem half- Sunderland always find a way to stay up. Newly appointed manager-David Moyes has brought in a couple of lads from Manchester. Adnan Januzaj, Paddy McNair and Donald Love arrived at the Stadium of Light on loan deals. It would be exiciting to see if Januzaj could re-discover his touch under Moyes. The undeneiable spirit of the 12th man, fans, would help them stay up.
Predicted Finish: 16th


Middlesbrough.

The former Real Madrid assistant manager-Aitor Karanka has done some decent business over the transfer window, considerabley strengthening his squad. Alvaro Negredo, Victor Valdes are world class signings, while Antonio Barragan and Viktor Fischer are impressive too. Great days ahead for the Boros!
Predicted Finish: 15th

Mid-Table Obscurity:

West Bromwich Albion.

Tony Pulis has established West Brom as a Premier League club. They've now been takenover by Chinese investors. The first signing is Matt Philips from QPR. The defense is rock-solid and well led by Jonny Evans and Jonas Olsson.

Predicted Finish: 14th

Watford.

Watford were totally reliant on Deeney and Ighalo for goals last season. It doesn't seem like thats going to change for anytime now. They've brought in Colombian Zuniga to add pace and steel to their defense. The new manager Walter Mazzarri has to figure a way to push the club forward.

Predicted Finish: 13th

Crystal Palace.

As of now, Palace are chasing Benteke after selling Bolase for $25million to Everton. Then they would have a good targen man in the box. This has been a fantastic transfer window for Palace, bringing in Andros Townsend, Steve Mandanda among others. Alan Pardew will be looking to make sure they don't have another barren spell of wins like last season.

Predicted Finish: 12th

Stoke City.

 

Mark Huhges is conducting a quiet little project at the Britannia. Shaqiri, Bojan, Arnautovic are an excellent attacking midfield trio. Joe Allen is a very good playmaker. Decent defense. Striking options poor.

Predicted Finish: 11th

Southampton.

How many years will a team repeatedly lose its top players and managers? The newly appointed manager Claude Puel giuded Nice to 4th place in last season's Ligue 1. Saints have lost Mane,Wanyama, Pelle and manage Ronald Koeman this season. They've brought in Nathan Redmond, Hojbjerg and Jeremy Pied. The defense remains unchanged, which is a huge positive because they are some of the best in the league.

Predicted Finish: 10th

Europa League Chasers:

Leicester City.

The fairy tale story of last season, Leicester City. They have lost their midfield general N'Golo Kante to Chelsea and have brought in Mendy, Musa among others. Claudio Ranieri is preparing them for the Champions League, where it'll be excieting to watch how the underdogs perform. I don't expect them to be two times lucky.

Predicted Finish: 9th

Everton.

Everton have brought in manager Ronald Koemen from Southampton in hope to archieve the promises that Roberto Martinez had shown. John Stones has been sold finally and Ashley Williams is an able replacement. Idirissa Gana Gueye was the best player for the relegated Aston Villa. They lack an able replacement for Lukaku, if he is sold.

Predicted Finish: 8th

West Ham United.

Slaven Bilic's West Ham have made some key and impressive signings during the transfer window. Feghouli, Andre Ayew, Nordtviet are the major incoming players. Playing in the Europa League as well as the Premier League takes its toll, but West Ham has enough fire-power to get through.

Predicted Finish: 7th

Champions League Chasers:

Liverpool.

 Jurgen Klopp has had a season to assess his Liverpool squad. Sadio Mane, Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan will definitely boost the squad. But gaps remain in quality midfielders. Klopp will certainly hope Grujic will add to the bite. They probabilly have the most talented attacking midfield in the league. Coutinho, Firmino, Mane, Lallana, Wijnaldum and Ojo. Phew! They're still trying to get rid of Benteke and Balloteli. The only problem with the team is inconsistancy of play.

Predicted Finish: 6th

Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs pushed Leicester all the way last season, untill their tantalizing catapultation towards the end. Spurs have brought in Wanyama and Vincent Jannsen to strenghten their weakness from last season. Pochettino must rally his troops after a dissapointing EUROS for the core of the team. 

Predicted Finish: 5th

Arsenal.

Arsenal quickly moved to bring in Granit Xhaka, but since then there is no movement, while rivals have strengthened considerably. Similar problems remain for Arsene Wenger, striker and injury problems.

Predicted Finish: 4th

Title Dreamers:

Manchester City.

The Citizens have spent their millions in bringing in a top manager, Pep, and a host of world-class stars, Gundogan, Nolito, Sane and Stones. They are definately one of the top favorites to clinch the title this season.

Predicted Finish: 3rd

Chelsea.

Antonio Conte has a straight forward job ahead of him. With no European football, Chelsea will be a lot more fresher than most of its rivals. They've also brought in N'Golo Kante and Batshuayi which are great signings for most teams. Yet, their center-backs are aging and they need reinforsments.
Predicted Finish: 2nd





Manchester United.

Jose Mourinho got his wish to manage his dream team. They've made a statement of intent by paying a world-record fee to bring Paul Pogba back to the club. The charismatic Zlatan Ibrahimovic preceeded his signing, providing the much needed outlet in attack. It'll be intersting to see how Juan Mata is used in the squad.

Predicted Finish: Champions

         

EURO 2016 Semi final 2- France 2-0 Germany, Report

Griezmann's brace sends France into the EURO 2016 Final

Marseille, France:- Antoine Griezmann's brace was enough to send hosts France into the EURO 2016 final at the expense of Germany.

Germany dominated much of the first half, but were unable to break into the French defence. In the 2nd minute of added time, the referee pointed to the spot because of a handball by Bastian Schwintieger  following a corner. Griezmann coolly converted the penalty, sending Manual Nueur the wrong way.

In the 72nd minute, Griezmann poked the ball into the net to seal the win for Le Blues. Nueur fluffed Paul Pogba's cross from the left, into the path of the Atletico Madrid striker.

In the first half, Benedikt Höwedes, the replacement for the suspended Mats Hummels, made a tackle-of-the-tournament contender on Oliver Giroud inside the box.

Liverpool's Emre Can and Manchester United's Bastian Schwintieger were Sami Khedira and Mario Gomez's replacements. Thomas Muller played up front for Die Mannschaft, who lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Germany were guilty of playing the game at snail's pace compared to France, who were rapid in bringing the ball into the opposition half.

France are set to meet Portugal in the final of EURO 2016, were they will start as favourites.

Euro 2016 Semifinal 1- Portugal 2-0 Wales Report and Ratings

Lyon, France:- Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani helped Portugal reach the finals of the newly expanded EURO 2016 at the expense of Wales. The game began cagey and took time to get going in the first half. Wales had 2 enforced changes to their starting XI, with James Collins and Andy King coming in for the suspended Ben Davies and Aaron Ramsey. Portugal also made changes to their team with Danilo and Bruno Alves replacing the suspended William Carvalho and injured Pepe.

Portugal's Danilo Pereira

Danilo was tasked with marking Welsh superstar Gareth Bale, and he managed to keep him quiet for much of the 90 minutes.
In the second half, Wales switched off following a shoot corner, left-back Guerreiro delivered a perfect cross for the magnificent jump of Ronaldo, who nestled it in the top corner. Ronaldo was again in the thick of things as his cross-shot was turned in by his former Manchester United-teammate Nani.



Gareth Bale and his Welsh team showed a lot of nerves during the match, which led them giving away cheap possession in the middle of the park. Absence of Aaron Ramsey was surely felt by the this Welsh team, which has already exceeded pre-tournament expectations by reaching the semi-final. Chris Coleman brought on Jonny Williams, Sam Vokes and Simon Church to reduce the deficit but they couldn't deliver.

Ratings

Portugal

Rui Patricio- GK 7- Wasn't troubled much by the Welsh attack apart from some Bale long rangers.

Cedric- RB 7- Coped well with the threat of Neil Taylor at the right back position.

Jose Fonte- CB 7- Did well when challenged. 

Bruno Alves- CB 7- An able replacement for the injured Pepe

Raphael Guerreiro- LB 8- Full of attacking industry down the left wing.

Danilo- CDM 8- Managed to keep Bale quiet all night. 

Joao Mario- CM 7- Made many penetrating runs into the final third.

Adrien Silva- CM 7- Much better choice than Andre Gomes, good ball control

Renato Sanches- CM 8- Ran the show for Portugal with an all-round industrious display 

Nani- RF 7- Typical Nani performance capped with an athletic finish.

Cristiano Ronaldo- LF 8- Led the team with example, calmed the team down during possession.

Coach Fernando Santos- 8

Wales

Wayne Hannessey- GK 6- Could've positioned himself better for Ronaldo's goal.

James Chester- CB 5- Was Ronaldo's marker for the corner but lost him.

Ashley Williams- CB 6- Nobody closed down Ronaldo for the second goal, the captain should take responsibility.

James Collins- CB 6- Kept Ronaldo in his pocket during the first half.

Chris Gunter- RWB 6- Needed to provide more thrust going forward.

Neil Taylor- LWB 5- Couldn't provide enough service for Vokes and Church.

Joe Ledley- CM 5- He had to be the enforcer from the midfield, but failed to do so.

Joe Allen- CM 5- Showed some nerves by picking up a Yellow card in the 8th minute.

Andy King- CM 6- Came close with some efforts at goal and troubled the Portugese defence.

Gareth Bale- CF 6- Apart from a couple of long-range efforts, didn't trouble the defence. Nerves got to him in the second half, when he misplaced many passes.

Hal Robson-Kanu- CF 5- Didn't get enough service to make something happen.

Manager Chris Coleman- 6

Man of the Match- Cristiano Ronaldo.