++ [ originally posted by Alex ] ++
I can't see any EPL team winning this year. Chelsea may have many stars but none of them are superstars.
Ahhh, but hasn't the last few years taught us that superstars don't matter if they don't win as a team?
For all of last season's jokes about Chelsea being a Serie A team in the EPL under Ranieri, this year they are a Portuguese team in the EPL under Mourinho. And while Mourinho won it last year (and the UEFA Cup the year before) with a less expensive squad, I don't see a repeat.
Call it the curse of the EPL.
(God, I hate it when networks like Fox Sports World beats their chest over the EPL's superiority -- because they cover it. Superiority over the English-speaking football world, maybe. But really -- the EPL is no better than #3 in Europe.)
As for Arsenal, there forwards can be marked out of the game and their back line isn't the greatest. Man U don't have continuety and are lacking the class players of the past.
Man U can be pretty awesome once (if?) that team gets healthy. One thing I do like about Fergie is that he isn't afraid to play young, budding talent -- and they certainly have it. Their bench is stronger than most starting teams out there. But I don't see them coming together this season in the CL.
As for Arsenal, I think their style of play is limited in an elimination format. Defense wins championships, as they say, and what they have isn't good enough to combat, say, a Chelsea in a do-or-die situation in the CL. I could even see Arsenal getting into trouble with Depor, for example.