The 7500 to Holte Pre-season Roundtable Extravaganza Part II: The League

If you thought we were going to confine ourselves just to the state of Aston Villa, you will be sadly disappointed. Or you won't! More of us and our thoughts!

This time, we're talking about the Premier League as a whole. Who's going to win it all, who's going to fall through the trap door into the Championship, and even some transfer nonsense mixed in. You know, for fun.

Chip in with your thoughts in the comments!

Who will win the Premier League?
Aaron: Chelsea. I don't think Eden Hazard's quality can be understated, and they've probably still got a big move or two left in them.
Andrew: Manchester City again.
Gareth: I don't know what it is, but I really fancy Chelsea to win the league. I think getting that Champions League monkey off their back will help a lot, not to mention their victory in the Eden Hazard sweepstakes.
Kirsten: Chelsea, the lucky bastards.
Matt: I generally hate the "they've been there before" cliche in sport, but I think it may ring true for Manchester City now, after last season. Now that they have their title, I expect them to have a Chelsea 05-06 type season and win the league by a more comfortable margin this time around.
Robert: Manchester City.

Who will qualify for the Champions League?
Aaron: Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal. Spurs or Newcastle could make a push and I think Arsenal is probably more vulnerable than in years past, but until they don't get there I have a hard time believing they won't find a way. Keep an eye on United as well; I think their slipping out of the top four is a longshot, but it's not inconceivable.
Andrew: Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea and I'll say Liverpool because I hate them and teams I hate usually do inexplicable things to piss me off.
Gareth: Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal. Sorry, Spurs fans. Not sorry, Liverpool fans.
Kirsten: Chelsea, City, United, Spurs. Arsenal just aren't fixing themselves and Liverpool seem to think the way to repair their club is to buy young Italians, which has really worked for them in the past.
Matt: Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal
Robert: Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal. I think Arsenal surprise us this year by being better than expected.

Who will be relegated?
Aaron: QPR, Wigan, Southampton. I am not buying the QPR "revolution" and I fully expect to made to look like a fool by Wigan.
Andrew: Swansea, Wigan and in a surprise I've got Fulham. I could picture them getting Boltoned.
Gareth: I agonized about this one. I'm going with West Brom, Norwich City and Wigan (finally) but I'm not at all confident. It'll go right down to the wire again, I'm sure.
Kirsten: West Ham, West Brom and Swansea. I still cling to my faith in Roberto, but if Wigan go down, that man needs to be made a TV analyst.
Matt: I've got a weird feeling about West Brom going down, I think Wigan's time in the Premier League is up, and I think the Laudrup at Swansea thing, may end up being amazingly good or amazingly bad, and for my prediction I'll go bad and take Swansea as my third team. That being said, I could totally see West Ham going down again, because West Ham.
Robert: If you look at the EPL table now, it's got West Brom, West Ham, and Wigan at the bottom thanks to alphabetical order. It very well may read the same way come next Spring.

Who will win the FA Cup?
Aaron: United
Andrew: Chelsea
Gareth: Everton.
Kirsten: Chelsea. Also, Everton?
Matt: Manchester United
Robert: Tottenham.

Who will win the League Cup?
Aaron: Some mediocre team, probably.
Andrew: Chelsea
Gareth: Manchester United.
Kirsten: Stoke. Because why not this year?
Matt: Tottenham
Robert: Newcastle.

Which manager will be the first to lose his job?
Aaron: Mark Hughes. QPR is either going to make a huge jump or crash apart into a million hilarious pieces right from the beginning. I think the latter is more likely.
Andrew: I'll go with Pardew when things don't start off well with Newcastle and Ashley decides to remind the word he's human bath salts.
Gareth: I'm tempted to go with Roberto di Matteo here, but I can't really say Chelsea will win the league and fire their manager in the same season, can I? I'll go for Nigel Adkins, because he's over his head and because Nicola Cortese is a mental patient.
Kirsten: Brendan Rodgers. Come on, he doesn't even have the Liverpool history to save him.
Matt: Just because I picked Swansea to go down, I'll take Laudrup, but I hope not.
Robert: I have no idea whatsoever. In that spirit, I'm going to say that MON quits 2 days after the season begins, just to troll.

Who will be the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year?
Aaron: Hazard for young player. He is obscene. Rooney for player, just because that's a really safe bet.
Andrew: Hazard for young player, Aguero for player (he's 23 but not sure he will be eligible for young player)
Gareth: Wayne Rooney and Eden Hazard. If Manchester City win it again this year, though, I reserve the right to replace Hazard with Mario Balotelli.
Kirsten: Hazard and Džeko. C'mon, I love symmetry.
Matt: I took Silva to win player of the year last year, and I might as well take him again. And I'll echo everyone else and take Hazard for young player.
Robert: Wayne Rooney and Mario Balotelli.

Which newcomer to the Premier League are you most looking forward to seeing? (This could be either a player or a promoted team, if you're so inclined.)
Aaron: Hazard is kind of a given, so I'll say Hulk. I know he hasn't signed with a Premier League team yet, but I assume he will. If not him I'll say Vertonghen as I really, really like his game but it's always interesting to see how defenders adapt to the Premier League.
Andrew: It'll be cool to see Arsenal's new forward, Olivier Giroud. With pants on, of course.
Gareth: I've already mentioned Eden Hazard enough in here, so I'll go with Shinji Kagawa. Manchester United is still a tremendously flawed team, but Kagawa/Rooney could be positively erotic.
Kirsten: Our new Villans. I'm thrilled to see some non-English/Scottish blood.
Matt: Hazard for sure.
Robert: Reading could be fun to watch. I always get excited about the promoted teams for the first three weeks, though.