Home Grown Premier League

Next season, the English Premier League is going green...kinda. The League has announced that each club has a 25 player limit roster and 8 of those players need to be home grown. Home grown refers to any player who has played for an English or Welsh club for three years before their 21st birthday. In addition, out of the 25 players, no more than 17 of them can be over the age of 21 and not home grown. As of right now, every club in the Premier League team meets these new restrictions, however; Chelsea and Liverpool both barely meet the requirements. With the new transfer ban on Chelsea, the Blues will rely more heavily now on their Academy reserves to meet all criteria.

It can get worse for Chelsea too. The League has announced also that Chelsea cannot recall loan players at this point in time...so Chelsea will have to play with the players that they have for the rest of the season...more or less...

The new rules will help the Premier League. The League has been under attack the last few years for buying foreign players. Billionaire club owners have open their wallets to attract some of the best talent in the game to England. England would like to see more English players in the top flight, and with more opportunities for English players to be in the top flight, England's national team will benefit. If everything goes according to plan, this new legislation can only help the Premier League.

Blues seeing Blue?

Last week, FIFA places a one year transfer ban on Chelsea for acquiring French youth international star Gael Kakuta two years ago. Allegedly, Chelsea encouraged Kakuta to break his contract with then French club Lens. In addition, Chelsea has also been charged by FIFA for violating rules pertaining to acquiring youth players.

In response to FIFA's attack on the current Premier League leader, many other English clubs have come under attack including Manchester United, Manchester City, and Arsenal. I am assuming allocations will also be presented for Spanish club Real Madrid after their summer long spending spree to get many of the top names in the sport. Chelsea is appealing the harsh penalty that FIFA has issued, and like many people, I believe the ban will be lifted. But then again, everyone has their own opinion. FIFA and Chelsea have clashed heads many times in the last few years, the most notable incident happened in last season's UEFA Champions League. Drogba, Ballack, and Belletti were all fined and suspended for outbursts during the semi-finals match against Barca. Like many reporters, I believe that FIFA is still trying to make an example out of the London team.

Yet, if Chelsea is unable to secure a reduced punishment, it may be a long year for the club. The Blues have an aging line up which include 8 players that are over the age of 30 (Belletti, Ferreira, Carvalho, Deco, Ballack, Lampard, Anelka, Drogba). Chelsea will need to find replacements or substitutes for many of these players in the next couple of years. With the year transfer ban, Chelsea will not be able to find replacements for these players for the next 2 yeras (this season plus the next). By then, most of those players may be thinking about retirement...especially with the World Cup coming up this summer.

However, things might not be so bleak yet. Currently, Chelsea is holding their own in the Premier League, and is a dominating force. Their line up is strong and they have much more depth this season than last. In addition, many of their youth squad is receiving Premier League experience via loan spells (Michael Mancienne to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Scott Sinclair to Wigan Athletic, and Franco Di Santo to Blackburn Rovers), not to mention the numerous other loans to the Championship League. If there is a mass exit like Former Chelsea winger Arjen Robben believes there will be if FIFA holds firm on the ban, there will be many opportunities for Chelsea's youth system. This can only help the Blues, even if they are not as competitive.

Win, lose, or draw in the courtroom, you can bet that the Blues will bounce back and will be more ferocious than ever before.

It's good to be back!!

Well it has been a very exciting opener in the English Premier League, and it only seems to keep heating up with the trading deadline a few days ago. As of right now, Chelsea is on top of the table with Tottenham, Manchester City and United right behind the Blues. I think these teams along with Liverpool will be in the top 5 at the end of the season. I am going to say it now: Chelsea is winning the Premiership this year. I think that with their new diamond formation brought in by Carlo Ancelotti, along with a deep, healthy line up will give Chelsea the extra push to bring their dreams of the Premier League Title closer. In addition to a new head coach and formation, the Blues added a few more players in the off-season including Nemanja Matic, Yuri Zhirkov, and Ross Turnbull. Chelsea has started the season strong, and will only get better when Joe Cole, Zhirkov, and Alex come back from injury.

Many of the Premier League clubs have a lot of new faces. Manchester United has spent the whole off-season buying a new team which now includes Tevez, Cruz, Adebayor, Toure, Lescott, and Barry. These new faces might be enough to break into the top 4, if not the top 3 with a deep offensive line up. Tottenham also added a few new members. The Spurs might have one of the best teams in the league with Bently, Pavlyuchenko, Keane, Defoe, and Modric. Hull also took advantage in the summer window and made a great move to sign Altidore on a season long loan from Villarreal. Newly promoted Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Burnley all made numerous moves in hopes to stay in the top flight at the end of the season. So far it has paid off for some of these clubs. Burnley did beat Manchester United, and both Wolverhampton and Birmingham have 4 points and are sitting in the middle of the table.

However, while some teams added new faces, some clubs have lost some familiar faces. Both Manchester United and Liverpool fell victim to Real Madrid’s summer spending spree. Manchester United lost Ronaldo while Liverpool conceded Xabi Alonso to the Spanish club. Although these clubs have replacements, it still will be hard for those replacements to fill the gaps that Ronaldo and Xabi left at their respective clubs. Depending on how these clubs do in the first half of the season, I foresee that they will be splashing some cash in the Januarry transfer window. Portsmouth fell victim to a mass exit of players and a take over by new owner Sulaiman Abdul Kareem Mohammad Al-Fahim. Key striker Peter Crouch left Pompey and moved over to Tottenham in the off-season and star defender Glen Johnson transferred over to Liverpool. As of this point in time, Portsmouth is the anchor in the table with no points in 4 outings…things are not looking good for this club.

All in all, I think your top 3 teams will be 1) Chelsea 2) Manchester United 3) Tottenham. I feel that Chelsea will be too much for Man U this season and that Tottenham has the depth this season to do very well…I mean they are currently undefeated. In addition, Tottenham has a ton of offensive talent and will be a hand ful for virtually every club. Liverpool and Man City will be rounding off the top 5. I think it will be a close foot race for the fifth position with Arsenal. Everyone has been writing the club off since they did not make many moves in the off season and the only headlines before the season started was exiting of key placers. However, they started the season strong and are currently at the top half of the league with 6 points. However, I think that their lack of depth could plague them later in the season, especially when the Champions League picks up. One of the big surprise is Everton’s performance has been so far. Many experts believed that this club would be in the top 5, but they have only one win to show so far and only 3 points in 3 games. I hope that they get their act together.

The thing that is on the back of many clubs’ minds is relegation. Yes, it is very early to talk about this, but it’s never too early for predictions. As of right now, Portsmouth, Bolton and Blackburn are at the bottom of the table. My prediction is that Portsmouth will be relegated at the end of the season, as well as Blackburn and Sunderland. So far this season, Portsmouth has not look well at all, and were nearly relegated last season. Sunderland seems to be in the same position as Portsmouth…I thought that they were going to be relegated last season. Finally, I am getting a bad feeling from Blackburn, I just don’t see them winning a game in October. Then again, this is just my opinion…feel free to chirp in.