Jeff's PL picks

Stelling: Backs the Red Devils to retain title

Also see

• Paul Merson's picks
• Alan McInally's picks
• Charlie Nicholas's picks
• Phil Thompson's picks
• Matt Le Tissier's picks
• Chris Kamara's picks
• Tony Cottee's picks
• 2008-09 preview

It's a dangerous game, making pre-season predictions. But with just days to go before the big kick-off in the Premier League, the Soccer Saturday gang have gallantly agreed to put their necks - and their credibility - on the line.

First up is Soccer Saturday frontman and all-round legend, Jeff Stelling...

Champions

I think Manchester United will win it but it will be extremely close. United are obviously ridiculously short of strikers going into the season - no Ronaldo, no Rooney and Saha injured but while Chelsea have got a fantastic squad, it will be very different for Scolari managing a squad week-by-week in the Premier League from being a national team manager. It'll be interesting to see how he copes with the stresses and strains - and Fergie will inevitably be trying to wind him up at every opportunity!

Champions League spots

I'm tipping Arsenal to finish second, Liverpool third and Chelsea fourth. I wonder about Drogba - I'm not sure how fit he is and if he fancies it, and without him Chelsea are not the same side. But you look at Keane and Torres together at Liverpool, along with Carragher and Stevie Gerrard, and they're the Fabbest Four on Merseyside since you know who! Number one in the charts though? Not quite!

Fit for fifth

Fifth place is going to be all to play for. Juande Ramos is certainly making it his own team at Tottenham - I'm sure if you'd have told the Spurs fans when he first arrived that he was going to sell Robinson, Defoe, Keane, maybe Berbatov, they'd have thought: Hasta la vista, baby! But he's brought in exciting players in Modric and Bentley. I just worry about them defensively. Hopefully the Brazilian keeper Gomes can help sort things out a bit but otherwise they are going to have to score four or five to win every game. They're certainly a team to watch. I thought Manchester City might have been a good bet but they've got worries over their finances, although I think Jo could be a big, big hit in the Premier League. And I expect Portsmouth to have a terrific season, too. Defoe and Crouch looks like a fantastic partnership - Defoe got eight in twelve at the end of last season and that was alongside a donkey like Baros!

Surprise package

Manchester City for me are the dark horses. I like Mark Hughes a lot, I think he's better than Sven, put it that way. They faded away last season but they've got Elano, Petrov and Bojinov, and two terrific players at the back in Richard Dunne and Micah Richards so they won't be far away. I'm backing Aston Villa to have a good season, too. With Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and John Carew, they're inevitably going to score goals even if they haven't got Gareth Barry at the start of the season. I think Steve Sidwell is a good enough player to fill his boots. I can see it being a lot tighter, from first down to eightth, say, than it was last season or even in recent seasons, and I think we'd all welcome that.

Going down

People reflect on Derby and think the gap's too big to bridge but Sunderland stayed up last season, although they obviously spent a lot of money, and everyone wrote Wigan off three seasons ago and they're still here now. Having said that, Hull and Stoke in particular are going to find it hard. Dean Windass is 40 in April and if Hull have 40 points by the time Dean Windass is 40, Phil Brown will be the manager of the season! You want to give them both a chance but it's very hard to. On the other hand, West Brom might have lost Kevin Phillips and Zoltan Gera but Tony Mowbray will get them playing football. They might lose some six or seven nil but I think they've got enough about them to stay up. So I think Bolton could take their place in the bottom three. They've lost Anelka, Stelios, Campo - the nucleus of the team. They're relying on this £11m Swede, Johan Elmander but if he turns out to be a turnip, then they're in trouble.

Golden boot

Torres is certainly the bookmakers' favourite but my money would go on Emmanuel Adebayor. I saw him at the Emirates in pre-season and I thought he looked fantastic. Bearing in mind that there are question marks over Ronaldo, who is going to miss the first two months, Drogba, and Torres - because with Rafa, you never know if he is going to play or not - I think Adebayor will have a massive season for Arsenal.

Best buy

Paul Robinson for Blackburn. £3.5m for an England goalkeeper and I'm tipping him to have a fantastic season. He'll probably need to, because I don't think Blackburn will have a great season but I fancy him to be one of the best buys. Equally, I think David Bentley going the other way will be a huge success. He'll love the glamour and glitz of Spurs.

Barking buy

Dave Kitson is a bit of a desperation buy but I'll tell you what has surprised me, Deco going to Chelsea. He cost a lot of money, he's already in his 30s, and while he showed at the end of last season and at Euro 2008 what he can do, I'm absolutely unconvinced that he will do it week-in, week-out in the Premier League.

Soccer Saturday summer slacker

Well, Charlie Nicholas will come back with the best tan - no contest! He's been in Majorca sunning himself so he'll be the same colour as the dark glasses he wears every Saturday morning!