Premier League 2012/2013: Race for the Top-4

New season is about a month away.

As we bid goodbye to Blackburn,Wolves and Bolton, we welcome Reading Southampton and West Ham.

Difficult start in terms of our fixtures, new players have come in and we might even see a few of our poorer players leave.

Fixture list - http://www.arsenal.com/fixtures/fixtures-reports

Premier league website- http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb.html

I know I'm sticking my neck out with the title and leaving myself open to a lot of laughter if we start the season badly or end up finishing 5th but if we don't have hope then we haven't got much.

I might edit the title throughout the season to reflect how we're doing but for now we are top of the league

Always go into the season hoping to win, otherwise sports is just boring. Still I think it's too early to be making predictions as we aren't even close to seeing how final squads for teams will look.

Premier League 2012/2013: Race for the title

Should that be race for third and fourth?

I guess that the title needs to be changed in october.

Excited to see the new guys.

18 Aug seems a long way off right now.

Wasn't the title intentionally left blank last season, squall?

Can't remember if we did poll for this or not. Not saying we'll win (not saying we won't ), but I think we'll still be in it after Christmas anyway.

It was left blank last season because I made it in October and by then it was too late for even my blind optimism to put it as race for the title and I also wanted people to draw their own optimistic or pessimistic views on what we were fighting for in the league.

At that time no one could have really predicted the race for 3rd. The last one didn't have a poll but a poll for this one with the lowest option being 5th would be nice .

I made the thread title the race for the title in light of all the recent van persie and usmanov news.

Figured it might give some fans a glimmer of optimism before the season or something to smile at.

I think that the poll should wait until August. We will have a better picture of the team (players, transfers, injuries etc) after the pre season.

A lot can change between now and our first PL game.

Well before Van Persie decided to bend of over and screw us I actually hoped we'd be in the mix for the title (similar to 07 08).

But now it will depend on what Wenger does and how we progress. We still have a decent base, both Poldi and Giroud are good strikers, a few more additions and I think we can trouble the top.

RVP or not, I still think we will be in the mix but we shall have a much better idea after our first 6 fixtures which throw up some real tasty clashes against some of the big boys. I would say that by the middle of October we should have a decent idea whether this team can mount a challenge or not.

I expect us to struggle early on like last season. Probably our pre season will give us an idea of how good we are.

I guess it'll be another 2 horse race between City and Utd for the title.

As always if it's involve Arsenal, being pessimist actually makes feeling happy easier than being optimist.

Really feel we are missing one or twos pieces to the puzzle before we can become a real threat to the title holders ..

Eh, hard to judge each teams fortunes in early/mid July. Still lots that could happen.

Better to aim high and fail, then to aim low and succeed eh?

I expect Chelsea and the Manchester teams to make it a three-horse race. It's early days yet and plenty can happen until August 31st but I think we'll comfortably grab fourth place behind those three teams.

I can't wait, don't care about Robin now, looking forward to seeing players that want to play for the club.

If we get a quality replacement for Robin, i think we could be a wildcard.

4th most likely.

Unsure about Chelsea as it is though, don't think they'll be a level ahead of us with the current squad. See if they add any more.

United/City certainly top 2.

Well before Van Persie decided to bend of over and screw us I actually hoped we'd be in the mix for the title (similar to 07 08).

But now it will depend on what Wenger does and how we progress. We still have a decent base, both Poldi and Giroud are good strikers, a few more additions and I think we can trouble the top.

Agree with this. The thought of RVP, Podolski, Walcott, Giroud and Gervinho had me salivating. Now without RVP (if things go that way) it paints a picture of more doom as we need the two new strikers to really hit the ground running. Obviously, I hope, if RVP goes we will sign new players to strengthen the core team and this should make us stronger.

To answer the question
Favourites: Man City
Second favourite: Chelsea
NEXT: Us, Man Utd and Spurs.

Hopefully AVB continues where he left off at Chelsea, though I cannot see it, Man Utd need to strengthen as I believe Fergie was the only reason they challenged and Chelsea once again have strengthened though the loss of Drogba needs to be factored in.

Its gonna be tight and whoever gets their nose in front at the start will have difficulty keeping it there.

4th most likely.

Unsure about Chelsea as it is though, don't think they'll be a level ahead of us with the current squad. See if they add any more.

United/City certainly top 2.

They will do well in the cups, Di Matteo will be found out in a 38-game league season. Drogba is a big miss but Torres might benefit from his departure.

It's between United and City as far as I'm concerned. I watched the 07-08 season review the other day which was painful; we'll be lucky to reproduce that sort of form, let alone remain in the title race by January.

You can't write off a title challenge in August (unless you follow sports for masochistic reasons)! Who knows what will happen over the course of 9 months, what our squad will ultimately look like on Aug 18, and most importantly, you can't just assume that United and City will finish in the top 2 with all the crazy injuries and bounces in the sport! Ludicrous!

Full squad list first, please. But if pushed to a corner, with our current squad, I'd say 3rd - 5th, competing with the CL and the Carling Cup holders.

Still not discounting the likes of Spurs and Everton though..with Newcastle likely to fall apart the moment one or two key players are sold off to the bigger teams.

However, if ever there was a season for us to surprise everyone, this is it, with the likes of Podolski and Giroud, combined with the potential of bursting into the scene by the likes of AOC, Wilshere, Diaby and possibly even Ryo (at least 3 "new signings" there).

But for the love of God, please sort out that team defensive unit first, Arsène.

I guess that the title needs to be changed in october.

Most probably yeah, but if we can do good business this window we could be in a race for third place.

Agree with the 4th place sentiments on here, think we will hover round there this season.

I think the title will still be valid by February, just a hunch.

We have a settled back 5, last season's new signings settled in, and Diaby is going to have his first fit preseason in years. I'm really looking forward to this season.

We have a settled back 5, last season's new signings settled in, and Diaby is going to have his first fit preseason in years. I'm really looking forward to this season.

Oh come on, Diaby won't stay fit for more than three games.

I think simply because of the uncertainty caused by the changes in our squad, the outside chance of us overachieving is higher than some give us credit for. If we could get decent backup FB and a couple of other decent signings, I bet a little more optimism would appear here.

We have a settled back 5, last season's new signings settled in, and Diaby is going to have his first fit preseason in years. I'm really looking forward to this season.

Oh come on, Diaby won't stay fit for more than three games.

Similar things were said of RVP, and Rosicky clawed his way out of a 2-year injury. With Jack out for awhile, having a fit Diaby who fulfills his potential would be immense. The odds are definitely stacked against him, but I'm an optimist.

We can settle it by playing Diaby at least three times during the pre-season. It would be quite something if we had him fit for the whole season.