Spurs under Juande Ramos now there is an interesting proposition. At the end of last season with the League Cup safely tucked up after out foxing Avram Grant, Ramos did not seem to care too much about anything else that was happening, except perhaps his goalkeeping situation where his unforgiving nature as regards Paul Robinson was in some contrast to the lenient view of the keeper’s gaffes taken by former England coach Steve Maclaren. While everyone else was wondering what was going to happen at Euro 2008, Ramos bagged Croatia’s Luka Mondric who at £16 million looks a snip. Suddenly the rumour static has also dried up surrounding Dimitar Berbatov although that may be temporary or possibly Lucas Podolski is being lined up as a replacement, the axe instead of the rapier. He has a lot of English talent at his disposal - in fact he has a big squad all round - especially in Jermain Jennas, Tom Huddlestone and Aaron Lennon all of whom would hope to be part of Fabio Capello’s thinking. So too Jonathan Woodgate if he can stay free of injury. And his strike force is reliable in terms of Robbie Keane and Ramos obviously felt secure enough in his planning to let Jermaine Defoe walk to Portsmouth not withstanding the mystery of that other £16 million man Darren Bent who is currently pretty much untransferable for anything like that money.

Bet Tottenham: Spurs are 65/1 to win the title, and are anticpated to come in fifth, but fourth or higher is what is expected. A cup is not beyond them though, or Ramos.

They start with the kind of game that neither Spanish managers nor Tottenham have historically liked very much - away to Middlesbrough on August 16.

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It is a strange thing about transfer rumours. Maybe the soccer ciogaroos are so respectful of the occasion of Euro 2008, that, like a funeral, all activity must be postponed until after the event. We are in mourning for the season that has gone. We are in mourning for the team that might have been - England at the Euro 2008, for example spanking those awful lucky Germans.There has as a result been a lot more talk than action. Or if action there has been, then it has been in secret, except where Critian Ronaldo is concerned. Ronaldo is probably not going to Aston Villa, although Martin O’Neill has been linked to everyone else with two feet and a pair of Nike laces. The extremely encouraging team he had last season has already lost the rock that is Olof Melberg and is expected to also see the departure of the energetic captain Gareth Barry being courted by a slobering-at-the-chops Liverpoool as Steven Gerrard’s best new mate. As everyone knows O’Neill is no slouch in terms of spotting talent. He learned from the past masters Brian Clough and Peter Taylor when he played for them at Nottingham Forest, so who he buys will be doubly interesting. So interesting in fact the the club’s website currently lists 111 players that are being linked to Aston Villa, which must be sort of a record or else the boys on the Birmingham Post have been popping acid all afternoon and playing fantasy football. O’Neill of course has been entrenched in Vienna with the BBC so the cheque book probably won’t come out until next week. And how much can he force Liverpool to pay for Barry. If Luka Modric was £16million, that would seem a good benchmark

Aston Villa are 200/1 to win the league and their expected position is seventh. but without reinforcements for Barry and Melberg they won’t do that. Also players at this level are expensive for what they are - either untried, or young and developing or over priced and other managers are not going to do them the kind of favours that rumour says could bring Jimmy Bullard from Fulham. Not over Roy Hodgson’s dead and relegated body one suspects.

Aston Villa open the season facing a new look Manchester City under Mark Hughes on August 16. It could be an interesting game.

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Each time that Rafa Benitez gets his ducks nicely in a row then that Scotsman, that Portugese, that Frenchman comes along and spoils it. And this year there is another Spaniard in town with Juande Ramos at Spurs. Each time Benetiz says he needs more money but the squabbling Americans umm and err over the cash. His great success was Fernando Torres, but he probably needs more class and the cash for David Villa would be a tantalising proposition. The trouble is the money men seem more interested in building the new Stanley Park stadium about which they now talk as if it is a leading edge football team. It could well be the world’s first 4-3-3 architectural build.

But Benitez has often bought strangely and there are conundrums to his management style. Peter Crouch is surely the foremost shock tactic attacker in the league and should be brought on with a winger to feed him on 75 minutes in every game and yet the rumours say he will be sold which could make Portsmouth with Jermain Defoe a force to be reckoned with. And then there is Steven Gerrard, to some England and Liverpool’s footballer of a generation, albeit his trophy cabinet is more naked than www.sapphicerotica.com. Is he the disrupting force that stops the others from playing? The solution of playing him up front as Torres strike partner also changes the complexion of the team.

Dirk Kuyt played tirelessly for Holland at Euro 2008 on the right and obviously would rise to the kind of fast end to end movement that Van Basten believed in rather than the slow slow Spanish style push and shove. And where in this mix does the luring of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa quite fit, unless it be to free Gerrard even more?

The Anfield faithful believes it is entitled to the Premiership title again. They are 7/1 The Anfield faithful believes that they can be champions of Euope again. The odds are 14/1. On Saturday August 16 they open the campaign at Sunderland, for once perhaps they can get off to the kind of start they need and not be looking up the table from mid September onwards. Roy Keane may have other ideas.

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The big man Felipe Scolari arrives at Stamford Bridge this week and who knows what he and Roman Abramovich have cooked up? First he inherits a good team, a team that missed out on winning the European Champions League by one penalty miss. A team that tracked a rampant and very fine Manchester United side to the last minutes of the 2007/8 season. However good or bad Avram Grant was as a manager, this team knows what to do. They still have it instilled in them from the Jose Mourinho era. A bit of man management to get the best out of one or two underperformers and they could be an outstanding team taking everything that moves. How quickly Scolari can get things moving is critical but the English players at least will be fresh from a summer by the pool. On the other hand knowing how capricious Abramovich could be the stable ship could be unsettled by multiple comings and goings just to please the owner who wants a new train set.

At the back they don’t have problems although the flying Portugese right back Jose Boswinga is a luxurious addition. Claude Makele’s age is not an issue with either Michael Essien or John Obe Mikel more than capable of being the enforcers. Indeed when Grant bought Nicolas Anelka in the transfer window many wonderered if he could even risk playing 4-2-4 with Drogba and Anelka up front, two wingers and the African hard men in the middle. It would have been brave, but it would have been electric football. The question is more to do with those wingers. In Mourinho’s first season it was Arjen Robben and Damien Duff, both now sold. Although they got good money for Robben to Real Madrid, as the Dutch found out in Euro 2008 he does not always turn up fit enough to play. But Florent Malouda was no substitute for them, Nor was Shaun Wright Phillips who flattered against the lesser teams and against the big teams just passed the ball straight back to the opponents. Joe Cole as other managers have noticed is not really a winger and has never quite found the best position for his talents.

Strangely in midfield Scolari could afford to let Frank Lampard go which would free up the shape of the team. In Michael Ballack he has a class operator going forward.

So does Scolari stick with what he has or twist on a few fancy purchases? By general assent there are too many players at Chelsea and some have to go. The big decision must be Didier Drogba who annoyed the faithful by getting sent off in the Champions League Final, but he is 30 and maybe only has one more year at the top level. Unfortunately for him the Milan rumours have it that Mourinho’s new Internazionale are well endowed with strikers where it is the other Milan club AC that need a strike force to team up with Kaka and the young Pato.

But there is another factor which in football terms runs deep. It was Lampard’s goals from midfield and Drogba’s explosiveness on which much of Chelsea’s success was based. Losing two such talismen sounds like a bad omen. Portsmouth are 8/1 to win at Stamford Bridge on the first day of the season. Stranger things have happened. Let the samba begin.

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The Emirates: Probably only Arsene Wenger really knows the true strength of the Arsenal team that he has in his charge at the Emirates Stadium for next year. He has always subscribed to the Dutch theory of letting youth and speed come to the fore although whether Theo Walcott is going to be the answer for him is a tricky one. The £5 million Aaron Ramsey is a few years away too.  Looking back last year Wenger was unlucky to lose Eduardo just when the goals were flying in. Statistically Arsenal were only four points off the title and goals dried up towards the end of the season. Arsenal fans may grumble, but the rest of us admired. It was mathematically a close run thing and there was plenty of betting money going on them as late as February. Can Wenger go on with the structure of this team or does he have to inject a magic mix of new blood? A whole double decker bus of rumours and gossip has been running down the road. He has been linked to just about every footballing talent on the continent.
Former keeper David Seaman has been critical too, although over the years Wenger has been proved right. Holding midfielder Mathieu Flamini and keeper Jens Lehmann have already left the Emirates and Alexander Hleb is looking like joining them. Reports that both Barcelona and AC Milan are preparing massive bids for African Footballer of the  Year Emmanuel Adebayor, meanwhile, which according to his agent is 80% a done deal,  would leave the team looking particularly lightweight up front.. Eduardo could return in time for the start of the season, but after such an injury there must be doubts as to how effective or quick he can be. Goals win titles, so where will they come from?

Samir Nasri of Marseilles has been linked to a move for weeks and looks a likely lad in the midfield. Other rumours like Peter Crouch seem, surely, to be just that. But Wenger will have taken heart from the Russians, Holland and the Turks at the Euro 2008 and seeing high octane young teams playing disciplined football with unsung players looking to make a name for themselves and their team. Whether he will keep the cash locked up in the safe or splash big on perhaps one of Cesc Fabregas’s teammates in the Spanish team post the Euro 2008 remains to be seen. The Russian options seem less likely. The dice are not thrown as yet. Wenger, who has been on Euro 2008 sponsorship patrol with Castrol has just distanced himself from speculation.

“I know a lot has been written about us, but I am very calm. Why? Because I don’t know why I should be nervous. It’s like when you take a penalty, if you are nervous it doesn’t help. I will approach it with my usual calm. My biggest challenge is to make sure I have a competitive team next year no matter who it is.”  Given that Arsenal are 1499/1 against relegation and 5/1 to lift the title, he is probably right to be relaxed. West Brom come to the Emirates on the first Saturday of the season which could give us an idea.

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Saturday August 16 - first day fixtures and betting here