Premier League Preview Thread

[TheRef]

Rooney out for 2 months. That's a big blow for the Mancs.

Good thing no one likes them, right? HEYOOOOOOOO

[War Machine Dawg]

Hull City and Arsenal went head to head in FA Cup action on Saturday. The game finished in a nil draw. It was a hell of a match, though. Hull has a really damn good D. Arsenal had chances, but Jakupovic had the game of his life in goal for Hull. Both teams made major lineup changes and Hull debuted recent Man U loanee Nick Powell.

I'm really excited to see Hull atop the Championship and bidding for automatic promotion. They've got a good shot, and considering how good the B team looked against Arsenal's B team, I don't see why they couldn't finish in the top 2 and then stay in the PL for the foreseeable future. Maybe we could even have new Tiger Overlords to replace our current Fox Overlords. (Being facetious on that one)

[DudyDawg]

PSA- TWO GREAT, GREAT GAMES TODAY. I don't know if you all watching the EPL has gotten you interested in europe, but you've got potentially the two best games for the year so far coming up today in the first leg of the KO round in the champions league. 1:45, FS1 and 2, Arsenal v Barcelona, juventus v bayern Munich. Two great games, you'll see more talent in both these games today than you will in any English game this year by a country mile

[War Machine Dawg]

PSA- TWO GREAT, GREAT GAMES TODAY. I don't know if you all watching the EPL has gotten you interested in europe, but you've got potentially the two best games for the year so far coming up today in the first leg of the KO round in the champions league. 1:45, FS1 and 2, Arsenal v Barcelona, juventus v bayern Munich. Two great games, you'll see more talent in both these games today than you will in any English game this year by a country mile

I watched the Arsenal-Barca match and DVR'd Bayern-Juventus. Damn I'm pissed that Arsenal let it slip away like that, but Messi is the GOAT. Barca is definitely my favorite La Liga team, though. It just isn't fair when they start Neymar, Messi, Suarez, Iniesta, Alves, and Alba.

[TheRef]

Your Fox Overlords have claimed another victim in the Norwich City Canaries. With two minutes left in the game, Leonardo Ulloa smacked one in to give the Foxes the winning edge in this 1-0 match. The Foxes are now 5 points clear in first place with the first of a 5-game stretch that Ranieri called the defining stretch for this team. If we can make it through this stretch relatively unscathed, we may have a true Championship squad in your Fox Overlords...

ALL HAIL LEICESTER CITY! ALL HAIL! LONG LIVE THE FOX KINGS

[War Machine Dawg]

Arsenal played like hot garbage and lost to Man United 3-2. Welbeck drew his first EPL start of the season and scored his second EPL goal of the year. Mesut Ozil got the other goal.

The Daily Telegrah is reporting Arsene Wenger will have approximately 75M pounds sterling to spend this summer and he plans to use the majority of it in the midfield and center defense. Still no solid plans to add a striker. It's really starting to piss me off.

ETA: Dudy, what's your opinion of Isco? Looks like he could be a top target for the Gunners.

[DudyDawg]

Isco is damn good. I don't see us selling. He's a top 3 or 4 young talent in the world in attacking midfield

[TheRef]

The Foxes and the West Brom squad fought to a 2-2 draw at King Power Stadium. This puts the Foxes still in the driver's seat for the Premiership with a 3-point buffer to Tottenham right now. Saturday, the Foxes will travel to Watford in another battle. Let's hope that we can get a solid 3 points out of this.

[Liverpooldawg]

I didn't watch this morning but it appears the North London Derby was quite a match. It ended 2-2. No word who won the riot outside White Heart Lane before the match. From the pictures it appears Ragnar Lathbrook was there and took a rather severe blow to the head.

Norwich just went down 1-0 to Swansea. They are sinking deeper into the relegation mire. 10 games without a win.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

With Newcastle standing on the precipice of relegation and seemingly unconcerned about the situation, I'm beginning auditions for my favorite team next season. I want to pull for a title contending team, but the MSU fan in me always draws me to lesser teams (hence Newcastle).

Stoke City has grown on the MSU fan in me recently, but I'm trying to convince myself to pull for a more traditional power. Tottenham might be the biggest team I can pull for with good conscience, as I like the way they run their team and they still aren't in the absolute top tier. My brother has been trying to convince me to pull for Liverpool for a few years now, and I put them in the same tier as Tottenham. But their fanbase rubs me the same way as Newcastle's: quick to become toxic due to higher expectations than they are capable of producing every year. Am I off base in my feeling? Any other team suggestions?

[TheRef]

There are only 9 games remaining in the Premier League schedule and ALL HAIL YOUR FOX OVERLORDS!!!! After today's 1-0 victory over Watford, your overlords currently hold a 5 point advantage on the lead for the Premiership Title. Your overlords also show no signs of stopping, so go ahead and get that trophy ready for your new overlords.

[Liverpooldawg]

With Newcastle standing on the precipice of relegation and seemingly unconcerned about the situation, I'm beginning auditions for my favorite team next season. I want to pull for a title contending team, but the MSU fan in me always draws me to lesser teams (hence Newcastle).

Stoke City has grown on the MSU fan in me recently, but I'm trying to convince myself to pull for a more traditional power. Tottenham might be the biggest team I can pull for with good conscience, as I like the way they run their team and they still aren't in the absolute top tier. My brother has been trying to convince me to pull for Liverpool for a few years now, and I put them in the same tier as Tottenham. But their fanbase rubs me the same way as Newcastle's: quick to become toxic due to higher expectations than they are capable of producing every year. Am I off base in my feeling? Any other team suggestions?

You are off base about Liverpool. The expectations are high because it actually IS an enormous club with a proud history. It has been incompetently led from an ownership standpoint for nearly three decades now. The current group is at least trying but they have had a steep learning curve. Liverpool is truely a sleeping giant. Even with all the underachieving in the 20 years I have been actively following them they have won every major trophy but one, the EPL. Their fan base is one of the best there is. They are genuine, there are no bandwagoners left anymore. It is still one of the biggest ones out there too.

[Liverpooldawg]

There are only 9 games remaining in the Premier League schedule and ALL HAIL YOUR FOX OVERLORDS!!!! After today's 1-0 victory over Watford, your overlords currently hold a 5 point advantage on the lead for the Premiership Title. Your overlords also show no signs of stopping, so go ahead and get that trophy ready for your new overlords.

The rest of the results lately have certainly gone your way too. This may be one of those once in a lifetime magical runs. It's the best story in the EPL since Newcastle under Kevin Keegan. Let that one be be a lesson to you though, it didn't have a happy ending. They collapsed late and Manchester United pipped them for the title. If you win its the best one since Blackburn won it.

[TheRef]

The rest of the results lately have certainly gone your way too. This may be one of those things once in a lifetime magical runs. It's the best story in the EPL sense Newcastle under Kevin Keegan. Let that one be be a lesson to you though, it didn't have a happy ending. They collapsed late and Manchester United pipped them for the title. If you win its the best one since Blackburn won it.

I think it's fair to say that fans of teams that can't win are cheering for the Foxes right now to win it all.

[Liverpooldawg]

I think it's fair to say that fans of teams that can't win are cheering for the Foxes right now to win it all.

Better you than the Fantastic Plastic London Russians, either flavor from Manchester ( the legitimate ones or the nouveau riche ones), or the North London think they are a big clubers from White Heart Lane. I wouldn't begrudge the Gooners a title. They are the only other big club besides mine I can actually stand.

[Liverpooldawg]

It was a penalty.

[War Machine Dawg]

I was gone to a buddy's wedding over the weekend, so I settled for watching the North London Derby on DVR. It was a helluva match. Arsenal was up 1-0, then Coquelin was sent off for a second yellow. The Spurs scored 2 goals in about a 5 minute span. Alexis got the equalizer with 15 minutes remaining. The Gunners had a couple more chances but couldn't capitalise. All in all, can't really complain about a road draw after playing almost an entire half a man short.

Btw, I'd recommend finding the vid highlight of Harry Kane's then go-ahead goal. It was nasty.

Hopefully we can catch our Fox Overlords, but I'm rather skeptical. And to be honest, I'd actually enjoy seeing them hold off the pack for the title. Going to be an interesting summer transfer window to see how hard they get raided. I know that Mahrez is apparently a target for Arsenal. Gotta figure Vardy and Kante will be hot commodities as well.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

You are off base about Liverpool. The expectations are high because it actually IS an enormous club with a proud history. It has been incompetently led from an ownership standpoint for nearly three decades now. The current group is at least trying but they have had a steep learning curve. Liverpool is truely a sleeping giant. Even with all the underachieving in the 20 years I have been actively following them they have won every major trophy but one, the EPL. Their fan base is one of the best there is. They are genuine, there are no bandwagoners left anymore. It is still one of the biggest ones out there too.

See, that statement is almost identical to statements I see on Newcastle boards all the time, minus the part about winning a major trophy. I'm coming around to the idea of Liverpool, though. I did like Klopp at Borussia, and it is right up my alley to pull against what I consider to be mainstream.

[Liverpooldawg]

See, that statement is almost identical to statements I see on Newcastle boards all the time, minus the part about winning a major trophy. I'm coming around to the idea of Liverpool, though. I did like Klopp at Borussia, and it is right up my alley to pull against what I consider to be mainstream.

That's exactly what Newcastle is, minus the history. That is a HUGE club with a fantastic fanbase. To me they are by far the biggest enigma in England. They by all rights SHOULD be better than they are. They SHOULD have a great history, but they don't. I remember the year it looked like they were finally going to win it. Liverpool hero Kevin Keegan was the manager and Allen Shearer was banging in goals for fun. They were 10 points clear at Christmas and it looked like they had it in the bag. Man U slowly chipped away at the lead and Keegan got caught up in Sir Alex's mind games. They collapsed in the last month and Man U won it by 6 or 7 points. That club has it all, but success.

[DudyDawg]

It was a penalty.

A damnnnnn soft one. But he got clipped. Thought it had to be called. Fortunate one Haha. Maybe that can start a Red push for Europe