Ok, so this would have been better if I’d posted it before the start of this season, but here goes!
2. Chelsea -Big Phil (who?) lost the plot and his job. Big Guus took over as interim manager and impressively steered them to third place in the Leauge and the semis of the Champions League (worse than Avram Grant). Oh, and the FA Cup, lucky to face Everton and not United.
PREMIER LEAGUE POSITIONS ON 28 DECEMBER 2008:
1 LIVERPOOL Pld 20 Pts 45
2 CHELSEA Pld 20 Pts 42
3 MAN UTD Pld 17 Pts 35
3. Liverpool – they were 10 points clear of United after they smashed five at Newcastle, albeit having played three games more than us. Gerrard got arrested that night and Rafa tried to deflect attention by presenting the facts of his case against Sir Alex. Draws at Stoke and Wigan in January, failure to beat Everton and City at home, defeat at Middlesbrough of all places followed in quick succession. United’s stumble let Liverpool back in with a real chance, but again they couldn’t take it, thanks in part to Andriy Arshavin! At least they beat Chelsea to second 
4. Arsenal – The returns from injury of Walcott, Fabregas and van Persie helped a bit as the Arse ground out a long unbeaten League run (includng four nil-nil draws in a row) while Villa choked. Arsenal really did need to look at improving their defence in all areas.
5. Portsmouth – Relegation scrap it was, but they scrapped well. Paul Hart’s interviews are worth watching, too.
6. Man City – consistent inconsistency and faded Robinho meant only tenth place finish.
7. Spurs - ‘Arry got Keane and Defoe back, but more importantly worked out his best team and tactics to haul Spurs up to an impressive eight place finish. If they can build on this and avoid a catastrophic start next season they could really challenge the top four.
8. Everton – sealed fifth ahead of Villa.
9. Aston Villa – Faded badly at the business end of the season. Hard to pinpoint why, but so disappointing after great first half of the season.
10. Newcastle – poor, poor old Toon 
Ashley has to carry the can for so many bad decisions.
11. Fulham – well done indeed Roy Hodgson and fully deserved seventh place finish.
12. Sunderland – disappointing season all round. Lucky that Middlesbrough and Newcastle were even worse.
13. West Ham – Zola had a shaky start but really turned the Hammers around, only injuries prevented better final position.
14. Blackburn – steady improvement under Big Sam, just enough to survive.
15. Hull – their form imploded in the second half of the season and did everything but go down, thanks to Newcastle and Middlesbrough.
16. Wigan – couldn’t quite keep it going after losing Palacios and Hesky and just missed out on the top ten.
17. West Brom – never had a hope.
18. Stoke – tremendous achievement for the club and Tony Pulis surely should have been Manager of the Year?
19. Middlesbro – By all accounts it was only Tuncay who really performed, so he did well to finish nineteenth!
20. Bolton – Megson himself has apparently tipped Bolton to be relegated this season. Strange.
Managerial predictions:
- Curbishley out – right about that!
- Keegan out – happened sooner rather than later, but easy enough to predict
- Ince out – sadly predictable
- Benitez out – close, but no cigar as the strange fellow signed a new contract
- Hughes out – if I was Garry Cook, I wouldn’t want to have to tell Sparky he was fired either
- Hodgson out – got this one badly wrong. If not Tony Pulis then Roy Hodgson should have been Manager Of The Year
- Southgate – Gibson stuck with him. Another strange one.
- Megson – stuck it out and did well enough. Surely he can’t last another season, though?
- Wenger – had to put up with a lot of crap, but stuck it out