Premier League 2010-2011 preview (2)

The first part can be seen here. We start the second part of the preview with Birmingham, which finished 9th last season. They wanted to improve the attack and they did it, by bringing Valencia’s Nikola Zigic for 6 million pounds. Alongside Cameron Jerome, who scored 10 times last season, Birmingham has now a very good attack line. They still need to improve the midfield line and seem favorites to sign former World Cup winner Mauro Camoranesi, but also Fabio Grosso. Both Italian players are on their way out from Juventus and Birmingham is chasing the two of them. Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster (foto left) was also brought on St. Andrew’s to improve the squad. I believe they will do well next season, probably finish mid-table.

Blackburn Rovers finished 10th last season, which was a very good performance considering their shy offensive line. Sam Allardyce’s intentions were to improve the attack line, but at least until now he didn’t managed to. Besides bringing Manchester United’s 23 years old striker Mame Diouf, their attack looks exactly like last year. Oh, no, it doesn’t. Experienced striker Benni McCarthy moved to West Ham, after scoring 52 times in all competition for Blackburn since 2006.

Since coming back to Premier League in the summer of 2008, Stoke City finished 11th two times. They always targeted a mid-table finish and with players like Begovic, Huth, Fuller or Etherington they can reach the same position next year too. They will not impress and they will not disappoint either. They’ll just be the Stoke City we saw in the last two seasons.

Fulham made one of the best transfers they could have thought about. Swiss defender Philippe Senderos joined the Cottagers to assure an improved defence. 27 years old defender Moritz Volz moved on a free transfer to St. Pauli in Germany and young midfielder Christopher Buchtmann (18 years old) moved to FC Koln. After a half-season loan spell to Celtic, 29 years old striker Diomansy Kamara will probably feature in Fulham’s squad next year. Besides what we talked until now there are not big differences from the last season’s squad. Last year’s Europe League finalist will have no problem avoiding relegation and will finish mid-table.

Sunderland‘s squad looks a bit different from the one least season. They had around 15 million pounds to spend. Goalkeeper Mignolet Simon was landed for 2 million pounds, defender Ahmed Al-Muhammadi is loaned for the whole season, English defender Titus Bramble was brought from Wigan on an undisclosed fee and Argentinian defender Marcos Angeleri comes from Estudiantes for his first European experience. On 5th August Hungarian goalkeeper Marton Fulop moved to Ipswhich. 30 years old defender Nyron Nosworhty moves to Sheffield for a season-long loan spell and midfielder Lorik Cana moves to Galatasaray. Many changes for a club like Sunderland, especially in the defense line. They finished 11 points above the relegation and I have enough reasons to think they will do it this season too.

Bolton is probably targeting avoiding relegation for this season, as for the last two. After he scored 8 times in the last season, when he was loaned by the British team, striker Ivan Klasnic signed a two-year deal with Bolton, moving on a free tranfer from Nantes. Experienced midfielder Martin Petrov moved from Manchester City on a free transfer too, while Burnely’s striker Robbie Blake followed the same route. Besides all of those experienced players, manager Owen Coyle also clinched Marcos Alonso Mendoza from Real Madrid, a 20 years old defender deemed surplus to requirements at Bernabeu. Bolton will probably manage to hold off the Premier League challenge and will feature in the league next summer too.

Wolves finished 8 points above relegation last season, which is a good performance considering they just came back in the first league after 6 years. They also improved their squad this summer, with manager Mick McCarthy having around 15 million pounds to spend. After splashed the cash on Burnley striker Steven Fletcher and imported Stephen Hunt and Steven Mouyokolo from the relegated Hull City, Wolverhampton looks stronger this season. Let’s not forget about 25 years old defender Adlene Guedioura, coming on a 700.000 pounds  fee from Charleroi. 24 years old midfielder Andrew Surman moved on an undisclosed fee to Norwich and alongside striker Iwelumo are the only two players leaving The Wanderers. Anyway, 8 points above the relegation doesn’t mean that much and I tip them to fight for achieving the same thing again, but this is going to be very difficult for a team that I was never fan of.

Wigan Athletic signed a bunch of players this summer. With 12 million pounds to spend, manager Roberto Martinez splashed almost half of his cash on Estudiantes striker Mauro Boselli, who is probably going to be a hit signing and become a key player for the Latics. Goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi will play on loan for a season, 23 years old midfielder James McArthur came from Hamilton Academical and defender Ronnie Stam leaved Twente to join Premier League after Wigan paid 3 million pounds on him. Midfielder Jason Koumas will play on loan at Cardiff City and Titus Bramble already joined Sunderland. However, with their new signings they will have the same objective: avoiding the relegation. Even if striker Mauro Boselli might improve the shy-attack line, they shouldn’t expect more from this season.

West Ham United barely avoided relegation last year, with manager Gianfranco Zola being sacked two days after the season ended. Israeli manager Avram Grant (foto right) signed a four-year deal with the team and began his spell with a very good transfer: Thomas Hitzlsperger came on a free from Lazio, after the players’ disappoiting half season in Italy. The German international is set to provide balance in the midfield, alongside players like Valon Behrami or Radoslav Kovac. With the new ownership ready to offer Grant a 25 million pounds to spend, the manager started to target many players. Besides Hitzlsperger, he also bought young Frederic Piquionne from Lyon, Mexican Pablo Barrera from Pumas and defender Winston Reid, who played well in this World Cup for New Zealand. Besides all very good transfers he made, Grant also signed Tal Ben Haim on a loan deal from Portsmouth, with both player and manager working before at the Blue Army. I tip West Ham to do well this season, not just only avoid relegation, but even finishing mid-table.

Newly promoted side Blackpool is short of money this summer, with only around 5 million pounds to spend. They signed Charlie Adam from Rangers on a 500.000 pounds fee and Jason Euell from Southampton on a free. However, their fans are worried by the lack of funds and activity and I support them. Blackpool will probably go down this season because of not having enough quality players nor management to finish above the 18th place.

Owner Mike Ashley failed to sell the club and the funds seem to be lower than ever, and Newcastle‘s faith may be relegation again. Manager Chris Hughton brought experienced defender Sol Campbell from Arsenal, but at 36 years old he is already past his best and may not be able to give so much back. Midfielder Dan Gosling came on a free from Everton and James Perch move the same way from Nottingham Forest. Many bookies think they will finish mid-table, but I really can’t see how. Their only objective should be avoiding relegation, as any other’s team which is promoting to a higher-league.

The last promoted side is West Bromwhich Albion. After one year spend in the second league they came back to try surviving on a tight budget. Pablo Ibanez and Gabriel Tamas were already secured, while shotstopper Boaz Myhill moved form Hull City. Spanish midfielder Borja Valero moved on loan to Villareal and Steven Reid moved on a free transfer from Blackburn. That’s pretty much all for WBA this summer and there might not be other signings once the season is under way. I believe they will also relegate.