8 Captains Blog

You may remember in my first blog post I made predictions for the this seasons title winners in some of Europe’s top leagues, most notably Kazakhstan. Well I thought as it is the New Year and we are pretty much at the half way point in the English domestic season I would take a look back at my predictions and see how well I am fairing so far.

Firstly I will quickly get the Premiership out of the way as I predicted my beloved Liverpool would be top come May (miracles do happen), but right now at the midway point I would be happy with Champions League football again next year. However it was brought to my attention today in one of the morning newspapers that Arsenal have made a 10 point turnaround on Chelski and Manc U in just one month. It is clear that this premiership season has been the craziest yet with even the so called invincible Manchester United struggling to hit the heights without Ronnie and Carlos.

Premiership January Prediction

Champions: Arsenal
Runners-up: Chelsea

Moving on to the Championship. I predicted that that Newcastle would struggle after suffering relegation last year, but Chris Houghton seems to have steadied the ship, kept hold of some quality players and they look set to storm back into the top flight, what they do once they are there remains to be seen. Instead of the black and white half of the North East I opted for Middlesbrough to bounce back immediately, but with Southgate sacked when they were just 2 points from the summit, things have spiralled downwards under the stewardship of the Poisoned Ginger Dwarf that is Gordon Strachan, Boro currently sitting in eleventh and struggling to keep pace. My other two predictions for promotion from the Championship still look like possibilities, with Cardiff currently fourth and Sheffield United just outside the play-offs but only two points adrift.

Championship January Prediction

Champions: Newcastle

Runner-up: West Brom

Play-off winner: Cardiff

How about Spain. Well this one is usually pretty easy, and it just depends on the order, once again this season is no exception and my prediction of Barcelona winners and Real Madrid runner-up still look good.

Spain January Prediction

Champions: Barcelona
Runner-up: Real Madrid

In Italy I went for Juventus to topple Joe Marinho’s unstoppable Inter Machine, but so far it is Inter who are out in front nine points clear. Juventus currently sit third, but plenty to play for.

Italy January Prediction

Champions: Inter
Runner-up: Juventus

The last few seasons in Germany have seen four or five teams battle it out till the end as teams like Woflsburg, Werder Bremen and Shalke all began to push Bayern Munich all the way. This year has been no exception, and due to this my prediction is slightly out. Werder Bremen, my tip for the top currently sit sixth and Munich are currently third. The league is so tight though and anything can happen between now and May.

Germany January Prediction

Champions: Bayern Munich
Runner-up: Shalke

Well it is safe to say Bordeaux have completely messed up my predictions for the French league, they are currently nine points clear off Lille in second with my predictions Marseille and Lyon off the pace in fourth and sixth respectively.

France January Prediction

Champions: Bordeaux
Runner-up: Marseille

In Portugal FC Porto are third and Benfica as I predicted are placed second at this stage. My prediction still looks on the cards but current leaders FC Braga may have something to say about it.

Portugal January Prediction

Champions: FC Porto
Runner-up: Benfica

The best of the rest sees my predictions for the champions in Greece, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, and of course Kazakhstan all correct and in fact in Denmark, Ireland and Kazakhstan I have both the league leaders and the runner-up correct at this stage.

Oh if only I was a betting man!