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English football : English Premier League 2007/2008 season preview

Winners and losers in 2006/07

Last term Manchester United won their first English Premier League title since 2003. United’s main rivals Chelsea lost the championship two rounds before the end of the 2006/07 campaign, but they still won two trophies, becoming the first team since Liverpool in 2001 to win both FA Cup and League Cup in the same season. Liverpool edged Arsenal for third place on goal difference, but both teams have earned spots in the qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Everton, Tottenham and Bolton all booked their places in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup.

Despite finishing only 10th Blackburn clinched an Intertoto Cup spot after the two teams ahead of them, Reading and Portsmouth, opted to not take part in the competition. At the bottom, Wigan and West Ham beat the drop at the expense of Sheffield in the final round of the 2006/07 season. Sheffield dropped into the League Championship on goal difference after losing to visiting Wigan 2-1, joining already relegated Charlton and Watford. Meanwhile, rising star Carlos Tevez scored the winner at champions Manchester United to ensure West Ham's Premiership survival.

teamstitles2002/032003/042004/052005/062006/07
Liverpool1854533
Manchester U.1613321
Arsenal1321244
Everton97174116
Aston Villa7166101611
Sunderland620--20-
Newcastle43514713
Chelsea342112
Blackburn361515610
Tottenham21014955
Manchester C.291681514
Portsmouth2-1316179
Derby County2-----
Bolton-178687
Middlesbrough-111171412
Fulham-149131216
Birmingham-13101218-
West Ham-18--915
Wigan----1017
Reading-----8

This table shows the overall number of titles for each club in English Premiership since 1889 and their league standings in the last five seasons.

New managers

Sam Allardyce has agreed to take over at Newcastle United, the English club's fourth manager in three years. The 52-year-old had joined on a three-year deal, replacing Glenn Roeder, who quit after finishing last campaign in 13th place. Allardyce resigned as Bolton Wanderers manager with two games of the 2006/07 season remaining, ending an eight-year spell at the club. He lifted Bolton from a persistent relegation candidate to a side that finished in the Premier League's top eight for fur straight years. Newcastle have not won a domestic honour since 1955 and Allardyce didn't exactly fill the fans with confidence when he said he needed five years to build a trophy-challenging side. Meanwhile, his former club Bolton promoted assistant Sammy Lee to head manager. Lee also worked as an assistant coach with England from 2001 until leaving after the 2006 World Cup.

Manchester City have sacked manager Stuart Pearce and released eight players in a clearout after they finished in 14th place in the Premier League last campaign. Pearce has blamed a lack of finances for his disappointing spell in charge of the club. They scored only 10 goals at home all season, the lowest ever in England's top division, and 29 goals in their 38 league matches. During the summer, Manchester City's crisis seems to be receding with the news that former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has agreed to buy the club and Sweden manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has agreed to coach the team on a three-year contract. The 59-year-old Eriksson has been out of a job since guiding England to the 2006 World Cup.

This page is introduction to the 2007/08 English Premier League season. Latest news, statistics, results and predictions you can find on our main Euro Football > England page.

In April, Fulham fired manager Chris Coleman, with Northern Ireland coach Lawrie Sanchez taking charge of the club for the remaining five games of the 2006/07 season. Sanchez, who has steered Northern Ireland to the top of their EURO 2008 qualifying group, won just one of four Premiership games, but Fulham chairman Mohamed Al Fayed has been impressed by the 47-year-old's "steely determination and focus". So just one month later, Sanchez has stepped down as manager of Northern Ireland after being asked to take charge of Fulham on a permanent basis.

Wigan Athletic have appointed Chris Hutchings as their new manager after Paul Jewell resigned just a day after keeping the club in the Premier League. Jewell had been in charge of Wigan since June 2001 when they were in the third tier of English football and Hutchings was his assistant.

#teampoints g.dif. win-draw-lose
1Man. Utd.895628-5-5 (38)
2Chelsea834024-11-3 (38)
3Liverpool683020-8-10 (38)
4Arsenal682819-11-8 (38)
5Tottenh.60317-9-12 (38)
6Everton581615-13-10 (38)
7Bolton56-516-8-14 (38)
8Reading55516-7-15 (38)
9Portsm.54314-12-12 (38)
10Blackburn52-215-7-16 (38)
11Ast. Villa50211-17-10 (38)
12Middlesb.46-512-10-16 (38)
13Newcast.43-911-10-17 (38)
14Man. City42-1511-9-18 (38)
15West H.41-2412-5-21 (38)
16Fulham39-228-15-15 (38)
17Wigan38-2210-8-20 (38)
18Sheffield38-2310-8-20 (38)
19Charlton34-268-10-20 (38)
20Watford28-305-13-20 (38)

This table shows the English Premier League standings for the 2006/2007 season.

"Big four"

Manchester United may be the bookies' favourites to defend their Premier League crown but after a summer of big spending there are no safe bets this season. Instead the only secure prospect is that the title will be won by one of the "big four", again.

teamoddsteamodds
Manchester United2.1Chelsea2.4
Liverpool7.5Arsenal11
Tottenham Hotspur121Newcastle United175
Everton250Blackburn Rovers350
Aston Villa350Manchester City500
Portsmouth500Middlesbrough750
West Ham United750Bolton Wanderers750
Reading1000Fulham1000
Sunderland1500Birmingham City2500
Wigan Athletic2500Derby County5000

The preseason odds for the outright winner of the 2007/08 English Premier League

FA Cup finals in last five years

2003   Arsenal - Southampton   1:0
2004   Manchester United - Millwall   3:0
2005   Arsenal - Manchester United   0:0   (5:4 on penalties)
2006   Liverpool - West Ham United   3:3 (3:1 on penalties)
2007   Chelsea - Manchester United   1:0   (after extra time)

League Cup finals in last five years

2003   Liverpool - Manchester United   2:0
2004   Middlesbrough - Bolton   2:1
2005   Chelsea - Liverpool   3:2   (after extra time)
2006   Manchester United - Wigan Athletic   4:0
2007   Chelsea - Arsenal   2:1

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key players

Arsenal London

Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann (€5.7m); Defense: Kolo Toure (€19.5m), William Gallas (€15.2m), Bakari Sagna (€9m), Emmanuel Eboue (€7.8m); Midfield: Cesc Fabregas (€21.9m), Tomas Rosicky (€16.4m), Aliaksandr Hleb (€11.7m), Gilberto Silva (€10.3m); Forward: Robin van Persie (€14.8m), Eduardo (€13m).

Aston Villa

Goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen (€5.4m); Defense: Olof Mellberg (€7.1m), Wilfred Bouma (€4.5m), Martin Laursen (€3.2m), Gary Cahill (€1.9m); Midfield: Nigel Reo-Coker (€12.5m), Stilian Petrov (€9.1m), Ashley Young (€7.1m), Gareth Barry (€6.4m); Forward: John Carew (€7.1m), Gabriel Agbonlahor (€2.9m).

Birmingham City

Goalkeeper Maik Taylor (€2m); Defense: Franck Queudrue (€4.3m), Radhi Jaidi (€3.3m), Martin Taylor (€1.3m), Stephen Kelly (€1m); Midfield: Fabrice Muamba (€6m), Gary McSheffrey (€5m), Olivier Kapo (€3m), Damien Johnson (€1.5m); Forward: Mikael Forssell (€4.3m), Garry O'Connor (€4m).

Blackburn Rovers

Goalkeeper Brad Friedel (€2.5m); Defense: Brett Emerton (€4.5m), Ryan Nelsen (€2m), Stephen Warnock (€1.8m), Christopher Samba (€1.5m); Midfield: Morten Gamst Pedersen (€6.2m), David Dunn (€5.5m), David Bentley (€4.4m), Robbie Savage (€4m); Forward: Benni McCarthy (€9.5m), Roque Santa Cruz (€5m).

Bolton Wanderers

Goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen (€5.5m); Defense: Abdoulaye Meite (€4.6m), Ricardo Gardner (€2m), Jlloyd Samuel (€2m), Nicky Hunt (€2m); Midfield: Kevin Nolan (€6.7m), Christian Wilhelmsson (€5.3m), Ivan Campo (€2.7m), Gavin McCann (€2.5m); Forward: Nicolas Anelka (€12.5m), El-Hadji Diouf (€5.8m).

Chelsea

Goalkeeper Petr Cech (€27.4m); Defense: John Terry (€33m), Ashley Cole (€18.9m), Ricardo Carvalho (€17.5m); Midfield: Frank Lampard (€39.8m), Mickael Essien (€28.3m), Florent Malouda (€21m), Joe Cole (€15.2m), Claude Makelele (€8.6m); Forward: Andriy Shevchenko (€39.1m), Didier Drogba (€38.5m).

Derby County

Goalkeeper Stephen Bywater (€1.3m); Defense: Tyrone Mears (€1.5m), Andy Todd (€1.3m), Dean Leacock (€0.8m), James McEveley (€0.8m); Midfield: Matthew Oakley (€2.3m), David Jones (€1.5m), Giles Barnes (€1m), Stephen Pearson (€0.9m); Forward: Robert Earnshaw (€5.3m), Steve Howard (€2.3m).

Everton

Goalkeeper Tim Howard (€4.9m); Defense: Joleon Lescott (€7.5m), Joseph Yobo (€7m), Tony Hibbert (€3.9m); Midfield: Mikel Arteta (€13.5m), Tim Cahill (€8.8m), Phil Jagielka (€6m), Philip Neville (€5m), Steven Pienaar (€2.5m); Forward: Andrew Johnson (€12.3m), Victor Anichebe (€0.9m).

Fulham

Goalkeeper Antti Niemi (€5m); Defense: Chris Baird (€4m), Paul Konchesky (€3.7m), Zat Knight (€3.3m), Liam Rosenior (€1.5m); Midfield: Steven Davis (€6m), Papa Bouba Diop (€5.5m), Lee Cook (€3.8m), Simon Davies (€3.7m); Forward: Diomansy Kamara (€9m), Brian McBride (€1.5m).

Liverpool

Goalkeeper Pepe Reina (€11.7m); Defense: Jamie Carragher (€16.4m), John Arne Riise (€13.8m), Daniel Agger (€8.3m), Steve Finnan (€5.8m); Midfield: Steven Gerrard (€38.4m), Xabi Alonso (€22.3m), Javier Mascherano (€12m); Forward: Fernando Torres (€35m), Dirk Kuyt (€17.2m), Peter Crouch (€10.9m).

Manchester City

Goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson (€4.9m); Defense: Vedran Corluka (€10.5m), Richard Dunne (€5.9m), Micah Richards (€4m), Nedum Onuoha (€2.2m); Midfield: Elano (€11m), Martin Petrov (€8m), Gelson (€6.3m), Geovanni (€4.3m); Forward: Rolando Bianchi (€13m), Valeri Bojinov (€9.8m).

Manchester United

Goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar (€5.5m); Defense: Rio Ferdinand (€27m), Nemanja Vidic (€15.5m), Gary Neville (€7m); Midfield: Cristiano Ronaldo (€34m), Owen Hargreaves (€25m), Michael Carrick (€17.5m), Paul Scholes (€11m), Ryan Giggs (€11m); Forward: Wayne Rooney (€36m), Carlos Tevez (€12m).

Middlesbrough

Goalkeeper Bradley Jones (€0.7m); Defense: Jonathan Woodgate (€11m), Emanuel Pogatetz (€5.1m), Luke Young (€4.5m), Andrew Taylor (€1m); Midfield: Stewart Downing (€7.7m), George Boateng (€5.5m), Julio Arca (€3.1m), Lee Cattermole (€1.5m); Forward: Ayegbeni Yakubu (€12m), Tuncay Sanli (€11.5m).

Newcastle United

Goalkeeper Shay Given (€8.8m); Defense: David Rozehnal (€5m), Steven Taylor (€4.5m), Celestine Babayaro (€3.4m), Stephen Carr (€3.1m); Midfield: Emre (€10m), Joey Barton (€8.6m), James Milner (€7.9m), Damien Duff (€7.8m); Forward: Michael Owen (€15m), Mark Viduka (€5.8m).

Portsmouth

Goalkeeper David James (€3.9m); Defense: Sol Campbell (€7.7m), Sylvain Distin (€7.3m), Lauren (€6m), Dejan Stefanovic (€1.7m); Midfield: Sulley Ali Muntari (€10m), Matthew Taylor (€3.8m), Gary O'Neil (€3.8m), Pedro Mendes (€3.3m); Forward: John Utaka (€10m), David Nugent (€9m).

Reading

Goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann (€1.3m); Defense: Nicky Shorey (€3.5m), Ivar Ingimarsson (€1.3m), Ibrahima Sonko (€0.9m), Graeme Murty (€0.7m); Midfield: Emerse Fae (€3.5m), Ki-Hyeon Seol (€3.5m), Stephen Hunt (€1.3m), James Harper (€1m); Forward: Kevin Doyle (€5.5m), Leroy Lita (€2m).

Sunderland

Goalkeeper Darren Ward (€1m); Defense: Greg Halford (€5.2m), Russell Anderson (€1.5m), Danny Collins (€1.3m), Nyron Nosworthy (€0.8m); Midfield: Kieran Richardson (€8.2m), Carlos Edwards (€2.1m), Graham Kavanagh (€1.8m), Dean Whitehead (€1.5m); Forward: Michael Chopra (€7.5m), Daryl Murphy (€1.5m).

Tottenham Hotspur

Goalkeeper Paul Robinson (€8.4m); Defense: Gareth Bale (€14.7m), Ledley King (€11.8m); Midfield: Pascal Chimbonda (€7.9m), Michael Dawson (€7.7m), Jermaine Jenas (€11.4m), Aaron Lennon (€10.3m), Didier Zokora (€8.8m), Steed Malbranque (€8.3m); Forward: Dimitar Berbatov (€27m), Darren Bent (€25m).

West Ham United

Goalkeeper Robert Green (€4.3m); Defense: Matthew Upson (€5.8m), Anton Ferdinand (€3.8m), Lucas Neill (€3.6m), Jonathan Spector (€1.8m); Midfield: Scott Parker (€12m), Fredrik Ljungberg (€7m), Matthew Etherington (€2.9m), Mark Noble (€1.5m); Forward: Craig Bellamy (€12m), Dean Ashton (€8.9m).

Wigan Athletic

Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland (€3m); Defense: Fitz Hall (€4.5m), Leighton Baines (€4m), Titus Bramble (€3.7m), Mario Melchiot (€3.5m); Midfield: Jason Koumas (€7m), Michael Brown (€3m), Antoine Sibierski (€2.4m), Luis Antonio Valencia (€2m); Forward: Henri Camara (€6.3m), Emile Heskey (€6m).

 
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