Football Predictions | SoccerAss

Without a trophy since 2005 and hungrier than ever for success, we assess Arsenal’s title credentials ahead of the new season.

Goalkeeper
While Manuel Almunia has made some crucial saves during his six years at Arsenal, the Spaniard has become increasingly error-prone, and Arsene Wenger is reportedly looking for a replacement.

Arsenal are 6/1 to win the Premier League, but if they are to win their first title since they finished the 2003/04 season unbeaten, they will need to be tighter in defence.

Defence
Wenger spent £10m on Lorient defender Laurent Koscielny, and the 23-year-old arrives with a reputation for robust physicality and a natural technical ability.

With William Gallas, Sol Campbell and Philippe Senderos all leaving this summer, Arsenal need to bolster their options in central defence, and another signing in this area would be a welcome addition.

Midfield
The long-standing transfer saga linking Cesc Fabregas with a move to Barcelona seems to be subsiding, and the World Cup-winning midfielder will be crucial to Arsenal’s hopes this season.

Fabregas was a part of the last Arsenal team to taste victory in a major final (the 2005 FA Cup final), and the Gunners are 7/1 to win the famous trophy again this season.

Arsenal are notoriously suspect against physically superior opposition, and despite Alex Song’s impressive showings last term, Wenger could do with an extra holding midfielder in his squad.

Attack
While Eduardo has left for Shakhtar Donetsk, Arsenal already have a replacement for the Croatian in the form of Marouane Chamakh, who is 33/1 to be the Premier League’s top scorer this season.

Chamakh has arrived on a free transfer from Bordeaux, for whom he scored 10 league goals last season, and he will compete for a starting role with Robin Van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner.

If he stays fit, Van Persie will be integral to Arsenal’s attack, and the World Cup finalist with Holland is 9/1 to finish the season as the top-scoring Premier League player.

How do you think Arsenal will fare? They are 33/1 to win the Premier League and FA Cup in the same season for a fourth time. See the full Arsenal Specials market.

Mario Balotelli has agreed to join the revolution at Manchester City after Inter Milan reportedly accepted a £23million bid from the English club.

The transfer would take City’s spending past £100million, after similar big-money moves involving David Silva, Yaya Toure and Jerome Boateng. Left-back Aleksandar Kolarov is also close to signing for £17million.

19-year-old Balotelli arrives with a reputation for explosive strikes and even more explosive outbursts, having famously fallen out with Jose Mourinho while in Milan.

However, as boss at Inter, City manager Roberto Mancini enjoyed a good relationship with the forward – who has scored more goals than Roberto Baggio at the same age.

Should Mancini manage to focus the player’s fiery temperament on opponents rather than team-mates, a trophy could follow. City are 5/1 joint-second favourites to win the Carling Cup.

The similarity between City’s trolley dash and Chelsea’s splurge during the early Roman Abramovich years has been duly noted by most, with many pundits tipping City to win the Premier League this season.

The Eastlands team are 5/1 third-favourites to repeat Chelsea’s 2004/05 title-winning exploits, but a closer look at precedent would hint that it will be at least another year before they sit atop the pile.

An Abu Dhabi-backed supermarket sweep has stronger echoes of Blackburn Rovers’ quick-fire spending from the early 90s.

Jack Walker helped a small town reach the Premier League summit after investing around £25million from December 1991, while still in the old Division Two.

It took four and a half seasons for the title to be delivered – City have only been spending big bucks since the summer of 2008, after finishing ninth in the league.

In comparison, Chelsea had come fourth just before Abromovich came calling, securing the title a speedy two years later.

While City will hope for such a quick turnaround, Mancini will have his work cut out moulding all the new stars into a cohesive team.

After finishes of 10th and fifth, the curve is clearly an upwards one – but this season seems too soon. Maybe the FA Cup, at odds of 7/1 is more realistic.

However, ending the season in second may not be such a bad thing. Both Blackburn, in 1993/94, and Chelsea, in 2003/04, came runner-up the year before winning the title.

Man City seem assured of finishing in the top four – they are 4/7 to qualify for the Champions League. See the full Manchester City Specials market.

Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken out to rubbish reports linking Manchester United with big-name signings, by stating that he has done all his transfer business for the summer.

“We bought players at the right time of the season and we are happy with what we have,” he said on the club’s pre-season tour in America.

It seems that because of this bold declaration – well ahead of the transfer deadline – United’s price for regaining the Premier League title has moved out from 7/4 to 2/1.

Ferguson’s words will doubtless give United fans a sense of deja vu; on July 13th 2009 the Scot said this: “It is the end of our business. Stories about who we are supposed to be getting – forget it.”

Last close-season the Red Devils were swift in bringing in Michael Owen, Gabriel Obertan and Antonio Valencia before Ferguson dusted his hands off.

This time the 18-times champions got in quickly to nab Chris Smalling and Javier Hernandez to bolster the squad ahead of the World Cup – a squad which is 6/1 to win the Champions League.

Such brisk business hasn’t appeased the team’s followers, though. Most forums are a flutter with debates about whether the tight-string repetition is truly through choice, or is in fact enforced.

A total of five players in two seasons at a cost of around £35million clearly doesn’t balance with the £80million received for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Most of those players will feature in United’s match with Philadelhia Union at 12.30am on Thursday, which the English side are 6/1 to win 3-0.

Ferguson, who is leading United into their 25th campaign, says there isn’t value in the market – and he would know.

But the worry for those backing the team to bounce back from last year’s disappointment, is that the manager is making excuses for the debt loaded onto the club by the Glazer family.

Only Ferguson knows the real answer: if United are in decline, their chances of silverware come May look to rest on another Carling Cup victory (5/1) .

Yet if the boss is right about the side’s youthful potential, as he was at the start of the 1995/96 season, then another double of FA Cup and Premier League, at 12/1, is not out of reach.

Can the man nicknamed The Wizard conjure up a fairytale ending for Manchester United this season? They are 66/1 to repeat their 1999 success of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League wins. See the full Manchester United Specials market.