English Premiership Preview-Everyone is Trying to Match Moneybags Chelsea
الخميس، 17 أغسطس 2006 - 20:34
كتب : Amro Hassan

جون تيري قائد تشيلسي
However, top teams like Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal have geared-up in an attempt to dethrone the Blues.
FilGoal.com offers a look at the prospects for Premiership clubs in the 2006-2007 season.
The clubs are listed in alphabetical order (last season's positions in brackets):
Arsenal (4):
Manager: Arsene Wenger (France)
New signings: Tomas Rosicky
A new stadium and one new signing…that is how the Gunners welcome the new season.
With a multitude of young talent at his hand, Wenger can take on the Premiership with nothing to fear.
However, the North Londoners' title hopes could be hampered as they'll start the season without a number of key players due to injury.
Arsenal also lack in the 'experience' department following the departure of Robert Pires and Sol Campbell and the retirement of the legendary Dennis Bergkamp.
Aston Villa (16):
Manager: Martin O'Neill (Northern Ireland)
New signings: Yago Bellon, Damian Bellon
Following a quite turbulent season at the Birmingham club that saw the departure of manager David O'Leary, former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill was brought in to take over the Villans.
However, the club had a very short pre-season warm up under O'Neill, which suggests that they would be fighting for a mid-table position.
Despite the lack of big summer signings, O'Neill will be expected to lead the team to a better position than the 16th they finished in last season.
Blackburn Rovers (6):
Manager: Mark Hughes (Wales)
New signings: Francis Jeffers, Jason Roberts, Benedict McCarthy
Blackburn will be looking to build on last season's success after they finished an astonishing sixth place.
And even though the departure of star striker Craig Bellamy to Liverpool may seem as a blow, the arrival of South African ace Benni McCarthy should be sufficient to fill in the void.
The Rovers secured a permanent deal for Georgian defender Zurab Khizanshvili from Rangers, but the failure to add either Egyptian international Wael Gomaa or PSV's Andre Ooijer as defense enforcements can also have a negative effect on their chances this season.
Bolton Wonderers (8):
Manager: Sam Allardyce (England)
New signings: Abdoulaye Meite, Idan Tal
Sam Allardyce's team has seen many departures over the summer including Jay Jay Okocha, Radhi Jaidi and the retired Hidetoshi Nakata and with Allardyce mostly counting on last season's team, Bolton are expected to struggle this season.
Charlton Athletic (13):
Manager: Iain Dowie (England)
New signings: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Djimi Traore, Amdy Faye, Christian Bolanos, Scott Carson
Charlton will experience their first season in the Premiership without mentor Alan Curbishly.
New coach Iain Dowie has brought in experienced enforcements, but the Addicks' chances in making an impact remain slim.
Chelsea (1):
Manager: Jose Mourinho (Portugal)
New signings: Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine), Michael Ballack (Germany), Salomon Kalou (Ivory Coast), Jon Obi Mikel (Nigeria)
As usual, Roman Abramovich went on a summer shopping spree, adding top-notch players like Ballack, Shevchenko and Kalou to his talented team that won the last two Premiership titles.
And while Mourinho would be facing a dilemma regarding who to play up front, he will be forced to make last minute addit
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