Premier pundits

It started with a few beers over a Champions League game, then morphed into extended e-mail banter, then mushroomed into a Fantasy League, and then developed into a fully-fledged, face-to-face summit. The inaugural NOX Premiership Panel met at La Calle in Amman’s Rainbow Street just after the opening weekend of the season to pick apart the season ahead. And nearly an hour of half of four grown men talking over each other, liberally interspersed with accusations of bias and ignorance, produced the following. We will, of course, be following the accuracy of their predictions throughout the season.

 

 

The panel

 

Supports: Manchester United

Since: The 1980s, long before they were winning anything, so I not jumping on any bandwagon.

 

Predicted top four

United

Chelsea

Liverpool

Arsenal or City

 

Supports: Arsenal

Since: 1990/91, which as when I started following football properly. I loved the Dutch school they introduced.

 

Predicted top four

Chelsea

Arsenal

Liverpool

United

 

Supports: Liverpool

Since: 1980, and basically that’s because they were only team on Jordanian TV in those days.

 

Predicted top four

Chelsea

Liverpool

United

Arsenal

 

Supports: Chelsea

Since: 1983, when we were in the Second Division, and on the brink of relegation to the Third. I went to boarding school in London.

 

Predicted top four

Liverpool

Chelsea

United 

Arsenal

 

 

Karim: I actually think Tottenham. Harry Redknapp is a great manager and has assembled a very talented players. 

Issa: Agree. Modric is an incredible playmaker in the middle, Lennon is a great wide player, Defoe will always score… good team.

Wael: Come on, guys, I know they beat Liverpool, but they’re an average side.

Karim: Spoken like a true Cheslea fan. What do you mean “average”? They’ve got a great squad…

Mohammed: No, Spurs are good. I would also put West Ham in there. Everton will do okay again, but I think Villa will dip a little. Although no one will challenge the top four, I don’t think. 

 

 

Wael: Portsmouth for sure, with Burnley and Wolves. Portsmouth have some decent players, but they’re selling more and more every month, and this al-Faheem guy looks to be a complete fake. They have got big problems down there. 

Issa: Absolutely agree with you about Portsmouth, they’re pathetic this season. They have lost Johnson, Crouch, Defoe and alot more.

Mohammad: I’ll go for the same three, definitely.

Karim: Hull will definitely be down there. I might put them in instead of Wolves.

 

 

The first manager to be given the boot this season

Karim: Mark Hughes by January– as the new owners won’t accept not being in the top three. But I’d love it if Sam Allardyce got the chop at Blackburn. I really don’t like that guy!

Wael: No way, man. Big Sam is great! He’s one of the few personalities we have left in the game. For me it will be either Paul Hart at Portsmouth, and that will be sooner rather than later with the impending takeover, or Mick McCarthy at Wolves. The last time he was in the Premiership he lost 31 games or something!

Issa: Phil Brown at Hull has to be in danger. After that whole pitchside half-time team-talk at City, the team hasn’t been the same. And it’s only going to get worse.  

Mohammad: Brown or Hart. Burnley won’t sack Owen Coyle whatever they do, and I think City have enough talent on the pitch to keep Hughes in a job for a while.

 

 

Wael: I might go for Ashley Young. He’s only getting better and it could be a big year for him.

Mohammed: That depends on how Villa might do as a whole. I wouldn’t rule out Fabregas, particularly as Wenger has given him the freedom to roam this year.

Karim: He had that role against us last year, though, and he was awful. Maybe someone like Stephen Ireland at City.

Issa: Maybe Robin van Persie, but I like Ireland, too. 

Wael: What I like most about Ireland is that when Robinho is having a bad game, if it’s raining or something, Ireland will go over and give him a mouthful! I love that.

 

for a full version of this interview, see NOX38.