Arsenal will reign in Premier League
Posted: Monday August 10, 1998 04:44 PM
Arsenal will make a successful defense of its title. Manchester United and Liverpool will again be the closest challengers. Chelsea, Newcastle United and West Ham United will challenge for UEFA Cup places. Charlton Athletic, Wimbledon and Nottingham Forest will be relegated.
There you have it. My head squarely on the block. They are my bold (although some would argue not so bold) predictions for the new English FA Premiership season.
Here's my reasoning on the title chase.
Arsenal has lost its boring tag. How can a team with such special talent as Dutch World Cup wonders Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars and French World Cup winners Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira be considered dull? It's not possible. The beloved chant of its rival fans, "Boring, boring Arsenal!", just doesn't hack it any more.
That's not to say them Gunners aren't solid. Far from it. David Seaman is one of the world's best goalkeepers. Tony Adams and Martin Keown are as typical a pair of English central defenders as you'll find, perfect for the rough and tumble of the English game.
French youngster Nicolas Anelka is an ideal foil for Bergkamp. Ian Wright has gone, he's with East London rivals West Ham United. A lot therefore depends on Bergkamp and Anelka staying fit and in form.
But I suspect Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger hasn't quite given up on adding to his forward collection. Patrick Kluivert has decided not to join his Dutch teammates at Highbury, but Monaco's Thierry Henry has made no bones about the fact he would dearly like to join his French colleagues there. That would be the cherry on top of the icing on top of an already succulent cake.
Wenger has a Champions' League campaign to occupy him this season, as well as the Premiership rigours. Busy times require big squads. He hasn't closed the Arsenal transfer coffers quite yet.
I don't see Wenger allowing Arsenal to become side-tracked by the Champions' League in the same way Alex Ferguson did at Manchester United when he turned European Cup victory into an obsession.
United will be there or thereabouts again, no question. Midfielder Roy Keane is back after missing almost all of last season through injury. That's huge.
Holland's Jaap Stam, the world's costliest defender, steps into Gary Pallister's boots in defense. The jury will be out on him for a little while if the way he was beaten by Anelka for Arsenal's third goal in the Charity Shield defeat is anything to go by.
But ultimately the "jurors" will return with a positive verdict on Stam. He'll prove a fine capture.
But United, far more than Arsenal, needs a world class striker. Andy Cole needs five great chances a game to score one goal. He shouldn't be leading United's line. Teddy Sheringham's not an out-and-out goalscorer and England teammate Paul Scholes prefers a more detached role, verging on midfield not direct attack.
Ferguson appears to believe Dwight Yorke, of Aston Villa and Trinidad fame, is the multi-million dollar answer. For me, that's like sending snow to the Arctic. For "Yorke" read "Cole".
There was a time not so long ago that Yorke couldn't hold down a regular place on the Villa side. Now he's being priced at 15 million pounds ($23 million dollars) and United is already reported to have offered eight million pounds and could go higher in a fit of desperation. There is undoubtedly better value out there.
United has failed to address it biggest weakness and will falter because of it. So will Liverpool.
It hasn't bolstered its woefully inept defense and, until it does so, can't be considered serious title contenders.
Oh yes, Liverpool will make its presence known. Teenage sensation Michael Owen and Steve McManaman will see to that. But it is a couple of pieces short of completing the Premiership puzzle.
And by the way, appointing joint managers is asking for trouble. Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier working sweetly in tandem all season long is an Anfield pipedream.
As for the other would-be title challengers? Well, Chelsea has built its very own League of Nations. The team reads like a Who's Who of world football.
Indeed, one of the more amusing games at Stamford Bridge these days is "Spot the Englishman".
Marcel Desailly, Brian Laudrup, Albert Ferrer and Pierluigi Casiraghi are magnificent additions. All, of course, are overseas signings. Add them to Italy's Gianfranco Zola, France's Frank Lebeouf, Uruguay's Gustavo Poyet, Romania's Dan Petrescu et al and you would imagine the championship was theirs for the taking.
But I would offer Chelsea fans a cautionary word. Italian giant AC Milan has boasted such talented players as Paolo Maldini, George Weah, Dejan Savicevic, Zvonimir Boban, Patrick Kluivert and Marcel Desailly, among others, in the last couple of seasons and has failed even to qualify for Europe, let alone win the title.
Molding a title-winning side takes more than throwing a bunch of superstars together on the pitch. Player-manager Gianluca Vialli holds the key to Chelsea building on its cup triumphs -- but I wouldn't put him in Wenger's or Ferguson's league as a boss quite yet.
One part of London will be celebrating though. It will be Arsene and Arsenal again.
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