Poll: Who Is the Favorite to Win the Premier League?
Well we’re a week away from the opening weekend of the 2012/2013 season in the English Premier League. We’ve already seen City beat Chelsea in the Community Shield, Liverpool win pretty convincingly with new acquisition Joe Allen, and Arsenal begin to gel amid the Robin van Persie ordeal (I would write “saga,” but sagas are usually interesting).
And, of course, we already have some requisite mind games from City boss Roberto Mancini, who claims that his side are not the favorites coming into this season. Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo begged to differ, offering some backing evidence: “They are the champions, we have to catch up 25 points from last season. They are favourites, there’s no doubt about it.”
Arsenal looks to be closing that gap as well, and if their summer signings (Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud, and Lukas Podolski) are any indication, they will be right up there in the mix again.
And then there are some wild-cards: Newcastle, Spurs, Liverpool, …Everton? The first two teams in that list both occupied the third position in the league table for spells last season, and with the shakeup at Anfield, we could be in for a wild ride. Everton topped their Merseyside rivals last season, but can they repeat their success? They’ve had a tame summer, relatively speaking, and especially compared to Liverpool. They came on strong at the end of last season, but can they realistically hope to contend for the top four?
So, a week out from the opener, who looks to be the favorite? Other than Swansea, I mean, who will undoubtedly go undefeated and win the Champions League next year.
