11/05/24
April 30, 2005
Chelsea end it two weeks early.: The 2004-2005 season title race. And the 50-year wait for the top division title in English soccer. Today's 2-0 away win at Bolton gave Chelsea an insurmountable 14-point lead over last season's champions Arsenal, their closest challenger. Having added the EPL title to this season's League Cup, Chelsea can now focus on this Tuesday's Champions League semi-final 2nd leg away to Liverpool (my boyz!). Will they make it a treble or will Liverpool break their hearts?
posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 10:49 PM - 20 comments
Also, who will finish 2nd - Arsenal or Man U? Who will grab fourth, the last Champions League qualifying spot - Everton or Liverpool? And, which three will go down - WBA, Norwich, Soton, Palace? --------------- 2nd place: Too bloody close to call, and it will be bloody. Arsenal (current 2nd, 74 pts) - Run-in: v WBA (A), v Everton (H), v Liverpool (H), v Birmingham (A) - Injuries: 2 Man U (current 3rd, 70 pts) - Run-in: v Charlton (A), v WBA (H), v Chelsea (H), v Saints (A) - Injuries: 4 4th place: Advantage Everton Everton (current 4th, 58 pts) - Run-in: v Newcastle (H), v Arsenal (A), v Bolton (A) - Injuries: 4 Liverpool (current 5th, 55 pts) - Run-in: v Arsenal (A), v Villa (H) - Other: v Chelsea (H) in Champs League, semis 2nd leg Injuries: 4 The drop: Surprise, surprise. After today's last-gasp 4-3 win over Norwich, it looks like a win over Palace in the next game will keep the Saints up, and send all of this season's new boys back where they came from. --------------- I do this because I'm geek like that. And so you don't have to. Back to the peanut gallery ...
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:30 PM on April 30, 2005
Arsenal will take second, Everton will take fourth. Fourth may not be "the last Champions League qualifying spot", because if Liverpool finish fifth and win the ECL, then the English FA will have to decide if they send Liverpool or Everton into the ECL next season. No country may have more than four qualifiers to the tournament, so with Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U already in, Liverpool and Everton can't both go. Everton may yet finish fourth and still miss out.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 05:14 AM on May 01, 2005
Yep, Arsenal second, Everton fourth and I still think Norwich will stay up. I think Everton will go to UCL qualification because quite frankly, I don't think either Chelsea or Liverpool can win a final with AC Milan, which will deem the whole Merseyside debate irrelevant.
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 09:35 AM on May 01, 2005
According to this article, "A precedent was set five years ago when Real Madrid won the Champions League, but only finished fifth in the Primera Liga, resulting in the Spanish football authorities opting for the 'Galacticos' ahead of Real Zaragoza, who had finished fourth." But it's really too early to speculate, since the Reds haven't even made the final. And, as much as I'd like them the Reds to go if they win the CL, it should really be based on EPL finish.
posted by worldcup2002 at 10:37 AM on May 01, 2005
Liverpool will win the title and Champions League after an investigation into Roman "the criminal" Abramovich finds that he has been dealing in the white slave trade among other nasty business... Everton, Birmingham and Tottenham will get relegated and a new league featuring all teams with United in their names will begin next year...
posted by StarFucker at 01:18 PM on May 01, 2005
Soccernet: Uefa boss raises hopes on Merseyside, so maybe if the Reds pull it out of their arses there will be five EPL sides in it next season. ManU seemed to be pretty dominant today against Charlton but I think tomorrow's match is the key. If Arsenal slip up and lose, then the Mancunians will likely be puffed up enough to ru it out. The bottom four are just too close to call for me and I'd still prefer Crystal Palace.
posted by billsaysthis at 02:40 PM on May 01, 2005
Either Chelsea or Liverspool (it doesn't really matter) will lose 1-0 to Milan on May 26th. And it will be the most boring game of the season. You heard it here first
posted by owlhouse at 10:11 PM on May 01, 2005
Regardless of how dull a Milan-Chelsea/Liverpool game is, it will never match, for tedium, the Marseilles - Red Star Belgrade finaly, which was played for penalties from the first second. I'm never going to get those two hours back.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 03:00 AM on May 02, 2005
Peerless predictcions guaranteed to be wrong: Arsenal takes second. Crystal Palace stays up. Liverpool beat Chelsea this week, but fail to win the final. And since we're predicting: Arsenal wins the FA cup.
posted by trox at 08:28 AM on May 02, 2005
I'd personally love to see the back of Norwich, West Brom and Southampton. Delia Smith's a nutcase, and her team are rotten. West Brom are just dire, and Southampton's chairman deserves ruination for the way he treats people. I hope Everton get the CL spot, and Arsenal take second.
posted by Duncan Mathers at 11:06 AM on May 02, 2005
I'm looking forward to next season just so we get to talk about Wiggin and Preston North End (hopefully) in the EPL.
posted by billsaysthis at 02:50 PM on May 02, 2005
We are PNE! I really like following the lower division playoffs as well. Here's some info on who is being promoted and relegated from all divisions.
posted by trox at 03:02 PM on May 02, 2005
Wow. Sunderland are back. It only took one season, right?
posted by worldcup2002 at 10:32 PM on May 02, 2005
I talked to a Sunderland fan once about his team last season. he said a successful season for them would be to finish in the playoffs and have a dramatic loss and not get promoted. because getting promoted meant looking forward to another season of getting thumped. I imagine his happiness is tempered slightly.
posted by gspm at 06:42 AM on May 03, 2005
All the interest this season is in the Premiership relegation battle. It's really only the fans of the teams involved that are bothered about the European places. I'm hoping the Baggies stay up, though I really can't see it happening. Hopefully if they go down this season they'll have enough about them to bounce straight back up. I'd imagine keeping Gera would be a big part of that equation.
posted by squealy at 06:19 PM on May 03, 2005
True English fans: why are there different numbers of promotion/relegation clubs at the different levels? As for Spanish and Italian leagues, how would I know since the games aren't available on any channel I get except for the occasional Champions League match.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:25 PM on May 03, 2005
billsaythis, as far as seeing Spanish and Italian leagues, you can see them on GolTV as part of the Fox Soccer Channel package on DirecTV for no additional charge. There may be an extra charge if you have cable, I'm not sure. Regarding your first question, there are 20 teams in the prem and 24 teams each in the 3 lower divisions but I'll let somone else give you a more complete answer on why the numbers of teams up for promotion/relegation are different.
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 10:23 AM on May 04, 2005
Getting GOl TV is $5/month extra on my local Comcast service, I get enough games through FSC and ESPN2 can't see paying extra for just that.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:06 PM on May 04, 2005
Looks like i will be...
posted by StarFucker at 03:44 PM on May 04, 2005
Congrats to Chelsea. But, break their hearts, Liverpool!