The Sunday Times predicts

[PTP]

for me, my main concern is actually competing, being involved towards the end....I don't mind finishing 5th, if we are say 10 points behind 1st place.....It would mean it would have been a hell of a competitive year and right up to the last four or five games we would have been there........One of our biggest complaints when we were finishing 4th was we were like 25 points off the pace.

That said - If we can get a good start, get gerrard reasonably fit and suarez firing I think we should be comfortable for 4th.

If we cna add a good left back and one other 'top' signing (either a centre half or an attacking threat with pace) then i think we should be looking to challenge and would nick top 3.

I would say it will be

1. United - clearly favourites and the team to beat
2. Chelsea - having a bit of wobble, new manager, aging squad but i think they'll get it together and be consistent

then 3rd and 4th will be Us and City - in what order i don't know.....City have enough to be up there, but not enough to push any higher than that.

5th and 6th between arsenal and spurs - all depends on the last couple of weeks of the transfer window - who goes nasri/cesc/modric and who if anyone they sign

7th my money would prob go on Sunderland

[ronanm]

I think Chelsea could be a mess this season. If they get off to a bad start Villa Boas could be gone by Jan. Ancelotti was an excellent manager and he didn't last. Too many egos (particularly Drogba and Terry) in that dressing room.

[Darkon]

Sunderland for 7th is a good shout

I don't really see many good sides under the first 6 this year, and perhaps the only challenges will come from the likes of stoke, bolton or fulham but that is saying more about the rest than them IMO.

[PTP]

still can't believe they have everton up at 7th - even Everton fan's don't think they'll be that high.

[RichC]

I think it's going to be closer than many believe at the top of the table - United looked good yesterday no doubt at all but City looked a bit jaded and didn't really get at United - we'll see if they can play football like that when really being pressed and harried.

There are a couple of sides who I'm not sure what they're going to do as in Arsenal - obvious issues with the defence and Nasri and Fabreagas and Chelsea big ego's and an owner who might push for people to play due to reputation rather than form (thinking Torres being picked over a Sturridge for example) AVB will have a tough time there unless he gets them firing from the get go.

I really think we've got a good chance to compete right at the top this season as long as we can nurse SG back to fitness and get a decent number of games out of him and keep Suarez fit, we've improved the supply line to the front pretty well so far this summer only concern is the defence.

We really need to get back to having a settled back 4 and with 2 crocks in Agger and Aurelio coupled with the aging Carra it's going to be tough ask. If we can keep the back 4 settled and fit we're in with a chance of being a lot closer to the top than we've been for the past couple of seasons.

[Neil Young]

We're likely to finish fourth or fifth.

Of course there's always a chance we'll do better but I find the arguments pretty unconvincing at this stage, being based more on hope than probability.

And sixth is fairly plausible (and would be very disappointing) but you'd think without European football we'd be in a good position to take advantage of the tiredness of other teams (Arsenal and Spurs).

If Arsenal do get knocked out by Udinese, am I right in thinking they go into the Europa League?

[Exiled_red]

After watching the charity shield yesterday I thought the scum were quite impressive, and sadly I think that they are the team to beat and the title is probably their's to lose The question marks for me will be over whether De Gea will settle quickly and how they handle a bad patch having lost so many big characters from the dressing room.

City for all the money they've spent weren't impressive, Although they have Aguero to come (and may still have Tevez) which would improve them. But I get the impression that they could become over-reliant on a couple of players performing week in week out, also having Champions League games to play as well could be a major distraction, as it's something they haven't had to deal with before.

Arsenal haven't changed much yet, and we don't know where they'll be in terms of their squad, will Fabregas still be here, will Wenger finally sort out their problem areas. If they can keep Fabregas (or get a good replacement who settles well), and they address the problem areas they could be up there challenging, if they don't I think they'll be in a battle for the top 4.

Chelsea their squad is ageing if they can keep everyone fit and Villa-Boas gets to grips with the league you would have to consider them a threat, they had excellent form for alot of last season, if it weren't for a long bad run around November (when there were issues with coaches and off the field stuff etc) they would probably have won the league.

Spurs I think need to add to their squad and keep hold of Modric. I think they need a striker, they were very good the season before last, last season they struggled to reach the same heights, perhaps because of CL games or perhaps not. I'm unsure about what they'll do this year.

Liverpool I feel we are an interesting one, we had a great run on the whole under Kenny last year, and have strengthened the squad considerably, I still feel we need a couple of other signings (a centre back and a left back). I think we need to make sure we get our team to gel. The underlying problem last year was inconsistency, (as it has been for years) hopefully we now have a good squad that can play well regularly. I think in many ways we could be the team to watch - given that we did so well towards the end of last season and have signed so many players in the window.

I think this year it will be harder to call than it has been for a while as there are so many questions hanging over so many teams. Whether this results in a much closer top 6 or whether one or two teams will be able to break away I don't know. Sadly I think Man Utd are the team in pole position at the moment. I think anything could happen with the others.

[The_weatherman]

City for all the money they've spent weren't impressive, Although they have Aguero to come (and may still have Tevez) which would improve them. But I get the impression that they could become over-reliant on a couple of players performing week in week out, also having Champions League games to play as well could be a major distraction, as it's something they haven't had to deal with before.

I'm having trouble with City really, I believed they had a massive squad of superstars but then after looking over it I think we could even catch up on them sooner than later.

GK
12 Stuart Taylor
25 Joe Hart

Defence
2 Micah Richards
3 Wayne Bridge
4 Nedum Onuoha
4 Vincent Kompany
5 Pablo Zabaleta
6 Joleon Lescott
13 Aleksandar Kolarov
15 Stefan Savic
22 Gael Clichy
28 Kolo Toure
38 Dedryk Boyata

Midfield
6 Michael Johnson
7 James Milner
8 Shaun Wright-Phillips
11 Adam Johnson
18 Gareth Barry
21 David Silva
40 Vladimir Weiss
42 Gnegneri Toure Yaya
34 Nigel De Jong

Attack
14 Roque Santa Cruz
10 Edin Dzeko
16 Sergio Aguero
32 Carlos Tevez
27 Joao Alves Jo
45 Mario Balotelli

I underlined the players I'd take and I think are very good but I think we are not far from this squad really, if we get in a LB and CB I think there is not much to choose from. The above are 28 players so some will not be registered and this is not counting Adebayour or Bellamy. Am I missing something?

[Exiled_red]

As I said I think City will be reliant on a couple of players in an attacking sense at least IMO Silva and Tevez/Aguero, maybe all 3 if they can convince Tevez to stay. They have a number of other players who can be good players but (at the moment at least) lack consistency.

[Imy]

Everton to finish 7th

[The_weatherman]

Here is our squad, given that we only domestic competitions, and maybe have yet to add Enrique and another I think we are possibly on par with City.

GK
1 Brad Jones
32 Alexander Doni
25 Jose Reina

Defence
2 Glen Johnson
5 Daniel Agger
6 Fabio Aurelio
22 Danny Wilson
23 Jamie Carragher
37 Martin Skrtel
38 John Flanagan
49 Jack Robinson
16 Sotirios Kyrgiakos
34 Martin Kelly

Midfield
8 Steven Gerrard
10 Joe Cole
11 Rodriguez Maxi
12 Daniel Pacheco
14 Jordan Henderson
15 Alberto Aquilani
19 Stewart Downing
20 Jay Spearing
21 Leiva Lucas
26 Charlie Adam
28 Christian Poulsen
31 Raheem Sterling
4 Raul Meireles
33 Jonjo Shelvey
35 Conor Coady

Attack
7 Luis Suarez
9 Andrew Carroll
24 David Ngog
18 Dirk Kuyt

I think the underlined players are at least on a par with their players or better, maybe with the exception of Aguero.

[The_weatherman]

Everton to finish 7th

I think Bolton, Sunderland and Fulham are all very capable of finishing above Everton unless everything goes close to perfect for Everton.

[Pablo]

Are Everton really that laughable to finish 7th? I know they're skint but they haven't sold anyone and finished just behind us last year.

Also I think Villa will be **** this year, and Sunderland are poor up front. Who else is better than them?

I'd be surprised if they're not comfortably in the top 10 again, unless they sell a few of their better players before the window closes.

[Mattshark]

I think Bolton, Sunderland and Fulham are all very capable of finishing above Everton unless everything goes close to perfect for Everton.

To be honest, I think Everton are better than those 3.

[Mattshark]

Here is our squad, given that we only domestic competitions, and maybe have yet to add Enrique and another I think we are possibly on par with City.

GK
1 Brad Jones
32 Alexander Doni
25 Jose Reina

Defence
2 Glen Johnson
5 Daniel Agger
6 Fabio Aurelio
22 Danny Wilson
23 Jamie Carragher
37 Martin Skrtel
38 John Flanagan
49 Jack Robinson
16 Sotirios Kyrgiakos
34 Martin Kelly

Midfield
8 Steven Gerrard
10 Joe Cole
11 Rodriguez Maxi
12 Daniel Pacheco
14 Jordan Henderson
15 Alberto Aquilani
19 Stewart Downing
20 Jay Spearing
21 Leiva Lucas
26 Charlie Adam
28 Christian Poulsen
31 Raheem Sterling
4 Raul Meireles
33 Jonjo Shelvey
35 Conor Coady

Attack
7 Luis Suarez
9 Andrew Carroll
24 David Ngog
18 Dirk Kuyt

I think the underlined players are at least on a par with their players or better, maybe with the exception of Aguero.

Not sure you can really put Carroll on a par with Silva, Tevez etc.