What I do know is that the lads EPL preview grossly underestimated the might of the Hull Tigers! An opening weekend victory at Fulham put Hull in the drivers seat early, needing only another 30 odd points to avoid the drop.
Much of what I read of the Hull City tilt this year discussed Hull having a two year strategy to stay up in the premier league. By being relegated this year, Hull would receive About $60 Million pounds in parachute payments. This would enable them to buy heavily next year to come back up for good. Whilst it seems a sound strategy, one certainly hopes to see Hull stay up this year. Hull will have to avoid injuries due to a complete lack of depth, but between Boaz Myhill, the rejuvinated Marcio Geovanni and the "usual suspects" for a team struggling to avoid relegation in Dean Windass, Nicky Barmby amd George Boateng they could be competitive.
As for the top of the table, as much as it pains me, I have to disagree with the lads and stake Man Utd to the top of the premier league table this year. If Berbatov gets his wish and ends up at Old Trafford they will end up being far too strong for Chelsea. The big mover may well be Villa this year, potentially breaking up the big four.
My drop teams, Stoke, Wigan and Fulham.
The only sport I caught a lot of this weekend (all on Virgin Blue's Live to Air!) is some A league. Most teams looked a little underdone in the first round - Sydney v Melbourne didn't rise to the heights that I hoped it would. Perth v Adelaide was a touch static as well. Adelaide look rock solid in defense but will seriously struggle to score goals. Perth look significantly more organized than last year. Perth's Amaral looked well short of fitness. However, the couple of times that he injected himself into play makes you think that he could be one of the A-leagues biggest stars in a months time. As for the rest of the games - 5 goals in four A-league games! Soccer fever: Catch it! Probably more symptomatic of early season form than anything else, but wasn't the weekend of soccer that promoters would be looking for.
