Season Preview; Arsenal - Chelsea
Season Preview; Derby - Liverpool
Season Preview; Manchester City - Portsmouth
Season Preview; Reading - Wigan
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Derby
Neal's take:
Did someone say "Watford, Part Deux?" (Well, OK, a lot of people in the media and probably at pubs around the world where they discuss such thing have). There isn't a great deal to distinguish Derby and give either fans or fantasy managers much hope that they will survive the term with either their Premier League membership or their dignity intact. Despite the insane amount of money that will be awarded to the 20th place team in the Prem, Derby have failed to attract anyone to the team that gives you any feeling of optimism. In fact, the greatest reasons for optimism have to do with the ugly situations at places like Boro, Bolton, Citeh, Wigan, and Sunderland more so than anything positive happening at Derby. That said, there are at least two candidates worth at least an occasional glance from fantasy managers - Giles Barnes and Steven Howard. We'll get to Barnes below but you should look at Howard with something of a suspect eye. An old-style centre forward who scored 19 goals in the Championship for Derby which sounds sort of interesting until you realize that he hasn't attracted the interest of a Premier League club previously despite being prolific at the lower levels. Apparently the word is out that he's a good, but limited striker. Not good news for Derby supporters or fantasy managers.
Jeremy's take:
It does seem like Derby have assembled a team capable of winning next year's Championship. Dave Jones is a quality middie, but untested at this level. Like him, a lot of squad haven't experienced the Premiership, or like Robert Earnshaw or Matt Oakley (whom I actually liked as a player back when he was a Saint), weren't terribly successful in it. I agree with Neal's focus, but would have to caution that Barnes is still working his way back from a broken foot. Howard is interesting. Ia he a forward in the Horsfeld/Hulse/McBride mold? That kind of rough-and-tumble center forward, if they can nick a few important goals, can keep a club in the Premiership.
Player to watch:
Giles Barnes is the man to watch. The 19 year old is an attacking midfielder and, for a change, he's listed as such by Yahoo. Last season he produced 8 goals from midfield while picking up only a single yellow and a single red card. Of the guys on the Derby roster, this is the guy who gives you a sense he could step up and perform at a higher level and make some noise. Is he this year's Ashley Young? I can't say I feel as strongly about him for two reasons - 1) he probably won't get nearly as many phantom points as AY since he plays more centrally; 2) he didn't fare quite as well in the Championship. Still, keep an eye out, there's some potential there.
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Everton
Neal's take:
What looked to be taking shape as a great season at Goodison Park was taken down a peg recently by the news that always-fragile midfielder Tim Cahill will be sidelined for an extended period of time. David Moyes did well in fortifying his defence with Phil Jagielka and maybe Leighton Baines in the next couple of days. He brought in additional support for depth in midfield and now that depth will be tested. Cahill's absence will test newcomer Stephen Pienaar and relative newcomer Anderson's worth right off the bat unless Moyes chooses McFadden or Anichebe as part of a more conventional 4-4-2 alignment.
Jeremy's take:
Everton go into this season looking at the down side of their up/down cycle (7th in '03, 17th in '04, 4th in '05, 11th in '06, 6th in 07). They have a strong defence and game changing players like AJ and Mikel Arteta. However they are very thin in attack due to injuries and absences. Everton will probably have to persevere in matches and hope to shut down the opponent and win on the break, as they did so often last year. I'm just afraid that they don't have a plan B.
Player to watch:
The first question is whether Baines will indeed complete his transfer to Everton. If he does, he becomes an excellent option at the beginning of the season as a good wing defender on a team expected to be better-than-average. Not as good as having someone like Alves come in but better than Baines wasting away at Wigan. If he doesn't show up at Goodison, then the man to watch award is split between the two midfielders above (Anderson and Pienaar) and new boy Jags, at 6.86 and listed as a defender he would be good value as a defender and great value if he plays regularly in midfield (a poor man's Matt Taylor, if you will).
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Fulham
Neal's take:
Well, there certainly has been a lot going on at Craven Cottage this summer. The big question is whether the velocity of transactions will actually yield any real improvement. Fulham avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth last season and they will require both better health AND for at least some of their new additions to work out to avoid being in the same spot this year. Lawrie Sanchez's Norn Irish "revolution" has certainly made it easy for the gossip columnists as all they have to do is throw a dart at the Northern Ireland team sheet and then print "Fulham have been linked with [Fill in player name here]" - as it turns out, they've been right at least occasionally with this strategy. The highest profile addition has been David Healy - clearly with the hope that the presence of his international manager and a few teammates will fool him into producing the same sort of form he's shown for his country (which has been excellent). The other moderately interesting addition to a team that is more solid than last year's performance would lead you to believe is Lee Cook. With Jimmy Bullard and Claus Jensen absent for large parts of the year, the midfield struggled to hold possession and fuel the attack leaving the defence to be overwhelmed by waves of attackers. With essentially an entirely new midfield, things are looking up. Bullard is presumably close to a full recovery. When he returns he'll certainly find Steven Davis (one year removed from an 8 goal season at Villa) and winger Lee Cook who represent upgrades over last year. He may also find both Charles N'Zogbia and Seol Ki-Hyeon who will provide depth, youth, and upgraded skill on the wings. Finally, Clint Dempsey will have some role to play this season. His arrival was awkward last season but he has all the tools to break out of the mold that typifies American imports (good squad player with fitness, dedication, and good workrate but not too much technical talent).
Jeremy's take:
While Neal is giving props to Steven Davis, I'll warn you not to sleep on Simon Davis. He's a decent midfielder from the left or through the middle and will take kicks for FUL. He put up some nice numbers at the end of last season. I'm just afraid that their defence will let them down again this season. I'm not sold on Zat Knight, Paul Konchesky, or Liam Rosinier. And while Carlos Bocanegra quietly scored as many Premiership goals as Shevchenko, he is still too prone ot the rash challenge for my tastes. Were Arsenal 2-gamers I would be loading up on them for the home game against FUL. As 1-gamers, it's still a bit tempting.
Player to watch:
There are a lot of options to choose from but my vote goes to Steven Davis. This is a guy who was on the rise at Villa until MON took over and started spending wildly. Nothing against the manager but it seems like he gave up on Davis' potential very quickly. Look for him to flourish in an everyday role.
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Liverpool
Neal's take:
Here we go again. If we thought we had some headaches last year trying to figure out who was going to play for Liverpool, this year is going to be even worse as Rafa continues to accumulate a Chelsea-sized squad. The midfield was already jam-packed and Ryan Babel has been added to Harry Kewell and Mark Gonzalez on the left. Yossi Benayoun has joined Jermaine Pennant and Steven Gerrard as candidates on the right side. Fernando Torres and Andriy Voronin have joined Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt in the striker rotation and the defence remains as crowded as it was last year. Really, the only sure bets are Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, and Daniel Agger (and his tattoos). The big question is, will the new players actually improve the squad?
My guess is yes, but margainally. Babel is likely to take a while to adapt to the Premier League, Benayoun's best season in the Premier League wasn't as good as Pennant's best season (although he may be a better fit than Jermaine in Liverpool's no-target-striker-lineup), and Torres and Voronin have to prove they're worth the hype. My guess is that they will finish 3rd or 4th in the table and cause fantasy managers no small amount of aggrivation as they see that the Liverpool player they chose not only didn't make the Starting XI but didn't even make the bench.
Jeremy's take:
On pre-season form, you would have to say that Voronin is the one to watch. But once Torres is up to speed, I guess there's not much chance that he's not the man. I hate to do this, but I'll take one "ditto" to what Neal said. I think we agree on this one.
Player to watch:
The obvious answer is the new strikers - Torres and Voronin - but the better answer for fantasy managers is Harry Kewell who is currently priced at 6.48 and we all know he has the potential to be a fantasy monster if he stays healthy. If Kewell isn't featured then the newly acquired Benayoun who comes in at 9.03 is the next most interesting proven commodity.