Speculation? Yes. Will all prophecies below come to pass? Maybe not.
The thing is - every single forecast about every single game in the history of football is pure speculation. Some get it right more often than others. Some never get it right. I don't fair too badly to be honest.
And so - be they right by next May, or wrong, my own take on the PL's top trio, and those Championship bound.
Top of the tree!
1. Manchester United
2. Arsenal
3. Manchester City
With 2011/12 finishing City / United / Arsenal the obvious difference come the end of the upcoming season is not so much City giving the title back to United - it is just as much about Arsenal's very impressive line up as we go into 2012/13 finally getting it right, gelling and pushing for the title all the way.
Manchester United - not selected just because I am a United fan - will finish top because history really does repeat itself. No team in the English game has ever been able to keep coming back as often or as powerful as do Manchester United, yet, to some extent 2012/13 will be just as much about City throwing away the title as it is about United winning it.
City have a formidable array of talent now playing in blue but absolutely zero experience in retention of a title - perhaps with the exception of Carlos Tevez who is a loose cannon at the best of times - and there are some massive egos now having to make-do with bench starts. Implosion due methinks but still enough on he bench to make 3rd.
Arsenal meanwhile could even pip United at the end, but their weakest link will prove to be the manager Arsene Wenger. He has delivered so little of late, is getting on in years and patience is wearing thin at the Emirates. This could be their year if Lady Luck smiles down, but for now, I will go with a 1 / 2 / 3 of experience trumping new talent trumping player egos getting the better of a still inexperienced manager.
And doomed for relegation!
18. Aston Villa
19. West Ham United
20. Southampton
In recent years the relegation battles have been all about whether or not Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves could escape the drop. Almost from Day 1, these three have existed solely to survive the end of season relegation to the Championship - but now, with all three having gone down - deservedly considering the football they play, the 2012/13 season will be one centered on the struggle for survival of two southern teams, and one from the Midlands.
Villa have of course been flirting with second tier football for a while and having made no significant changes to their team will this year offer little more than last. A shame considering their history.
As far as West Ham and Southampton go, I fear both will be back on the elevator south come the early summer of 2013 - the level of football in the top division proving far too much for what are excruciatingly porous last lines of defence at both clubs.
Southampton did of course score a cracking 85 goals in their last campaign but let in more than half that at 46. West Ham were similarly shady at the back scoring 81, conceding 48!
And there you have it - agree, disagree? Let me know.
