And so its that time of the year again....

So the Premier Leage season finally gets underway today after an interesting pre-season of transfers and the usual millions being spent improving squads. The usual names will be expected to challenge for the title but personally I can't see anybody getting past Manchester United. The addition of Ashley Young brings in even more pace and superb delivery and the arrival of an extra centre back in Phil Jones means that United shouldnt suffer as badly if injuries strike Vidic and Ferdinand like last season.

Manchester City with the players they have brought in should be the closest challengers to United and will be interesting to see how Aguero settles in the Premier League. The pressure will be on him to deliver straight away and will be fascinating to see whether Tevez plays any part in the first few games of the season. City will have to get out the blocks fast if they want to win the title and the only thing that I can see stopping them is the way very defensive way Mancini plays expecially against teams lower in the league that they need to beat if they are going to win the league.

Chelsea under there new manager will certainly be up there but I dont believe they will win the title this year. The squad is again mostly the same with the addition of a few younger players but I still think they will have the same problem as the last half of last season of who to lead the front line...Drogba or Torres. The manager is no doubt talented but I beleive he will need time and everybody knows that the Chelsea manager doesnt get time. If he is given 3 seasons then I believe he will deliver the league and maybe the Champions League but asking a lot to deliver that in your first season. I never understand while Chelsea have sacked their managers as people forget that Alex ferguson didnt win anything for the first 6/7 years of being at Manchester United and was thought to be close to getting the sack before winning his first trophy there the FA Cup!!

Liverpool are the biggest spenders and the names they have got in are good however much they over paid for them. I certainly think top four for Liverpool but I dont think they will be near winning the league. After two seasons not in the Champions League that is where they must get and build from there. The midfield at Liverpool is going to be very competitive and you would expect that Downing will be a regular but I dont think Henderson will be this season at least as I cant see Dalglish leaving Kuyt out the side too much and he wont play him up front unless Carrol or Suarez is missing. This is a very big year for Liverpool and the honeymoon period is over for Dalglish with the pressure to deliver now on his shoulders and nobody can say he hasnt been backed as thats the most any Liverpool manager has been given to spend on players in one season.

Arsenal with their current squad I think will struggle to finish in the top four this year and thats the first time I have thought this going into a season. With it looking like Nasri and Fabregas on the way out that leaves the midfield short and looking like built around Ramsey and Wilshire who are no doubt fantastic players but will need help in that area. The defence as usual is cause for concern with another centre back needed with the injuries that Vermaelen picks up but again Wenger seems stubborn in his ways and bought another youngster in Jenkinson. Arsenal are great club which is ran very well and no doubt Wenger is hugely responsible for that but every year players are being talked about being great in the future when Arsenal fans are now wanting a team to be great now and start bring back trophies. The annoying thing is is that it isnt like Arsene has to spend huge amounts and loads of players, they just need to add to the spine of the team in a world class centre back, centre midfielder and another forward player. If they had more steel in the team last season I believe they would have won the league but at the time of writing Arsenal seem to be losing their big players and are going to be relying on youth for most of the season.

Top six prediction:

1) Manchester United
2) Manchester City
3) Chelsea
4) Liverpool
5) Arsenal
6) Spurs

Not as bad as first thought...well kind of..

Its been a few months since my last post so thought would post the on-goings since stopping competitve running! Had my MRI scan results back this week and although it does confirm cartilage damage it not quite as bad as first thought. I still have cartilage damage but instead of possible grade 2-3 has come back between grade 1-2. Grade 1 is where the cartilage has soft spot or blisters and grade 2 is where there are tears visible in the cartilage. I do have tears in the cartilage but they are apparently only minor but the good news is that it seemed to have co-inside with Patellofemoral Pain AKA as "runners knee" which gives off a dull, aching pain under or around the front of the kneecap (patella) where it connects with the lower end of the thighbone (femur) where the treatment is simply RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) and I have noticed a mark improvement the last few months with no running!! The doctors believe that I can keep running aslong as on grass and not "intense training" basically me running 50 plus miles a week so I will still not compete anymore but its good to know I can still keep fit running a few times a week!

Stopping running was a big blow at first and of course did miss it but after a few weeks was actually enjoying other activities a bit more and didnt miss the intensity of training so all in all I think it has done me some good as there is a lot more to life than running. One of the main things is that its nice not too feel tired all the time as I didnt realise how used to feeling tired I was! After a few weeks rest I was wide awake after 6 hours sleep and bouncing off the walls with so much energy! So overall its good news as running no matter what will be part of me until the day I die and nice to be able to still run but certainly going to enjoy some other activities in life. Some would say I havent really achieved what I was capable of during my running career but only my closest friends know that I was never a "proper" athlete and if there was a world championships of racing after drinking 10 pints and smoking drugs and roll ups the night before then I would certainly be up there! Looking back my best moment in running is a weird one...back in 2001 after an afternoon bunking off lectures and smoking a few joints going to run Yeovilton 5k and ended up running 15:45 spending 30 minutes after the race lead in a heap puking my guts up. Another one was winning the Burnham On Sea half marathon in 72:33 after getting home at 3am from a night on the town...im no role model! Now sorry if that offends you "proper" athletes but that is just the way I was and I lost count of the amount of times people saying "you could be a lot better if you lifestyle was better". Yeah thats true but running was always just a part of my life and NOT my entire life. My housemate came up with a good name for it...Rock and Roll athlete!