London Braces for the Season: Arsenal and Chelsea

Although London has spent the last month immersed in the Olympics, there have been two clubs quietly training and preparing themselves for another EPL season. One team, Chelsea, has the expectations that come with a Champions League victory and the continued standards that come from a club that always makes splashes in the transfer window. The other team, Arsenal, has spent most of the off-season in a “will he, won’t he” situation with talisman Robin Van Persie, but has also made some efficient transfer purchases all while continuing to search for their first trophy in many seasons.

Chelsea will enter the season with many positives in their camp. They finally got the one trophy that “mattered” to Abramovich and they will be able to avoid any chants of “This is what a European Cup looks like,” during their upcoming EPL season. They also saw Fernando Torres performing in the Euro’s and ending the season with a decent scoring rate, leading many to believe that he might have finally gotten over his post-Anfield slump. Despite losing Dider Drogba to Shanghai Shenhua, the performance of Torres and the Englishman Sturridge will be positive enough to make Chelsea look like they will have a very threatening attack.

The attack will only benefit from the signing of the Belgium phenom Eden Hazard and the Brazilian Oscar. Both players are highly rated and, although Oscar has yet to ply his trade in a European league, there is little doubt that both players will be great additions for the blue side of London once the season begins. 23 year old Marko Marin also provides another young spark for Chelsea, and it is yet another signing that will benefit the future as well as the present of the London outfit. Considering that many labeled Chelsea as too “old” in the previous seasons, this is certainly a welcome change and will definitely prevent anyone from labeling them as “too old” for quite some time.

The rest of the field also sees the return of several players that have seemed to have finally found the proper footing that you need to be able to compete at the highest level in the Premiership. Gary Cahill and David Luiz have started to look more and more consistent for the European Champions, and they will only continue to improve as their careers at Chelsea continue. Oriol Romeu also continues to look like a budding defensive midfielder, although many will hope that Michael Essien can remain healthy for this season. The Brazilian Ramires started to find his scoring boots last season, and it would not be too surprising if his formed continued to improve for another season at Stamford Bridge.

The Chelsea heartbeat of John Terry and Frank Lampard will finally don a Chelsea kit with a “European Champions” badge on the sleeve, and they will be the consistent performers that they have always been for another campaign. John Terry will look to silence the inevitable “boo’s” that will rain down on him, and he always seems to score more from set-plays when the crowd is against him. Frank Lampard will also continue to be a consistent midfield force, and he might spend the season trying to prove that his non-selection for the Euro’s was a mistake. Add in the growing comfort of Meireles and Mata in the Chelsea starting 11, and it truly seems like Chelsea will have a formidable squad for the upcoming season.

Although they missed out on the top four last season, the Champions League conquest will erase any hard feeling about the Premier League campaign. This season, we look for Chelsea to finish in the top three and possibly be the only team to truly give the teams in Manchester a sufficient challenge to break their hold on the trophy. Although we believe that their EPL finish will improve, another shot at a CL title seems unlikely. We never like to rule anything out, and it might be an easier task now that they have won their first CL, but they seemed to ride the “perfect storm” last season and it would take quite a few small miracles for them to repeat.

Prediction: 2nd or 3rd in the EPL. Last 8 in the Champions League. (will make the FA Cup final…again)

Although Arsenal has made the headlines for their captain’s constant transfer possibilities, they have quietly done what Arsene Wenger does best. He has made some quality signings while certainly looking to continue to improve on what he already has in the stables. However, improving on a third-place finish will be difficult for the Gunners. Chelsea look like will be top four contenders again, AVB could make anything happen with Tottenham, and the rumors now look like Arsenal could lose more than just RVP, but it looks like Alex Song could also look for “greener pastures.”

The first thing about Arsenal entering this season is that they are INCREDIBLY deep at every position. Sure, Van Persie’s performance last season will probably not be equaled, but they have sufficient players at every position to make deep pushes into the EPL season and into the CL. The signing of Olivier Giroud and Lucas Podolski will bolster the attack and they will be able to score whether the front line has Robin Van Persie or not. Oxlade-Chamberlain will look to improve on an impressive season, and Theo Walcott seems to get more and more mature and threatening as the years pass.

Although many predicted that the loss of Fabregas would be too much for Arsenal to cope with last season, the introduction of Mikel Arteta made sure that some “Spanish flair” was retained. We also are seeing Aaron Ramsey develop into a decent midfielder (albeit a little bit slower than Arsenal fans would hope) and Tomas Rosicky always puts in a solid campaign for his club. The addition of Cazorla will certainly add more speed to the Arsenal squad, and it will certainly be a scary thought to have Walcott attacking down one flank and Cazorla down the other. Factor in that the Spaniard is good for about 7 goals a season and we see another quality purchase by Wenger.

One of the biggest issues with Arsenal last season was their defense in the start of the season. We realized that Mertesacker is a touch slow to deal with the English game, but we saw Vermaelen and Koscielny perform admirably and we can only assume that their defensive partnership will continue to grow. Wojciech Szczesny has also ended the debate over what player should start as the Arsenal shot-stopper, and he will hope to improve on the 13 clean-sheets that he accrued in the EPL season. Considering all the injuries his back-four had last season, that is definitely a possibility.

No matter what I say or how I say it, Arsenal will finish in the top four. Every year, thousands predict that they will finish outside the CL places, but Arsene and Arsenal always pull through. I believe that this year will be no different, and the benefit of Tottenham becoming a constant contender only pushes Arsenal to do even better. With their deep squad, cup runs could turn into something, but their track record prevents me from crowning them as winners of anything…yet. The additions that they have brought in may be buoyed by the retention of RVP, but Arsenal will survive (and thrive) with or without Van Persie in the coming season. The only way I see them finishing outside the top four is if they sell RVP, Song, AND get hit by injuries as badly as they did last season. Even with that, Arsenal always seem to have enough magic in the tank to perform. Never bet against the Gunners.

Prediction: 4th in the EPL. Last 8 in the Champions League.

Do you agree or disagree with our thoughts on these two London giants? Which team has had the better transfer window?