“Battle for the sun” in the English Premier League

We are all waiting for the start of the 2009/2010 season, and first let's think about what should we expect?

1 Who will be the champion of the premier league
2 who finishes in the eurocup zone
3 Battle for the sun ( the last chance to be not relegated to the championship ).

in the 2008/2009 season one of the most interesting points was #3.
and next season in the championship will see playing: WBA, Boro, Newcastle
To escape a ride to the championship, 4 teams had to play well in the 38th tour. 4 teams had 4 hard opponents.
WBA was destroyed by Liverpool in previous tour. Look to the fixtures and results: Sunderland 2:3 Chealsea, Hull 0:1 MU, Villa 1:0 Newcastle, West Ham 2:1 Boro.
None of those 4 teams played good in the last 5-6 tours.
They did not use the example of West Ham. In the 06/07 season they were in chance of leaving EPL for nearly 90%. But West Ham gathered all 12 available points at the end of the season.

Boro scored in premier league only 28 goals, and collected 32 points. Although 4 points were gained in the games with Liverpool(!). But if you look at the statistics of the last 11 games - you'll see a really disappointing picture - just one victory.

This season Newcastle made headlines, scandals, having switched 3 coaches... But in the field they made no news. And just like Boro won only one of the last 12 matches (which was against Boro)
The defense played horrible at times, and one of the best goalies in EPL left for City. But relegation will give the necessary push in the reconstruction of the team. It will be a hard process, but it's much better this way...

Hull city & Sunderland had a bad game in second half. Sunderland won one match out of the last 13, and Hull hasn't won until the last tour in 21 matches. Sunderland also leads in lost points - 23.
But there are positive moments for cats' fans. They beat Newcastle after 28 years.

Blacburn and Portsmouth also can be added to the bottom 4 teams, but they've subsituted coaches. instead of a young coach(*), came a coach with experience. And it helped keep the team in the premier league.
Stoke city, played the same level, and saved themselves from relegation. They must be in the premier league in the next season. Because
1. Atmoshere that fans created in the stadium Britannica was fantastic.
2. Rory Delap and his outs. My friend has said: Delap's outs are more dangerous then the corners. Scholari : "I think he puts the ball better with his hands than his foot, it's fantastic. I have never seen anything like this in my life; 10 metres outside midfield, this boy puts the ball inside the area. Maybe it's not beautiful football but it's effective."
Effective
1 23 August 2008   Aston Villa Sidibe (90')         3-2 
2 14 September 2008 Everton 1-2 Olofinjana (54') 2-3 
3 14 September 2008       Everton 2-2 Jagielka (63' OG) 2-3 
4 30 October 2008  Sunderland Fuller (73') 1-0 
5 1 November 2008  Arsenal 1-0 Fuller (11')         2-1 
6 1 November 2008  Arsenal 2-0 Olofinjana (73') 2-1 
7 4 March 2009  Bolton 2-0 Fuller (73')         2-0 
8 21 March 2009  Middlesbrough Shawcross (84') 1-0 
3 and the manager had done the right transfers.

* in this season young managers that worked bad: Paul I, Tony Adams, Shearer, Gareth Southgate.

exception Dzola - super Debut.  
 
Who will be candidates for relegation next season?
1. Wolves, Birmingham, and Burnley.
One of these teams will be relegated 100%.
Hull City and Stoke City.
Blackburn & Bolton
 
Why I did not write Sunderland? Because they have a good financial statement now, and they found a new coach: Steve Bruce.  And also Portsmouth, who have got a sponsor from Saudi Arabia.