Everton will be close like they always are, just waiting for one of them to mess it up - solid to the core, they will improve marginally - but i feel everton will miss out again due to the big spending nature of liverpool etc.

Villa have a good young squad, so some improvement through development is likely but i doubt it will be anywhere near enough. A more solid midfield is needed along with a quality right back - Top 8 im confident of, but not top 4.

Man City - They will probably spend big, and become a reporters favourite so to speak - but i just cant see it this year. Like Villa, they will be in the mix, but no matter how heavy you spend, you need a solid core thats been together before, and i think the new manager may take a season to really be able to push on.

As for Blackburn, and West Ham - they would need to over acheive to stand a chance (like most of the above in fairness) but i think they will just end up battling for UEFA.

As for Newcastle - i really dont undertand why they are considered a big club!?! They always spend too much aon players and then fall horribly short. Prepare for another mid table finsish from them!

as for spurs its always the same promises every year, “this is definitely going to be our year” - change the record. you havent got the consistency to get into the top 4 and the one time you did, you f**ked up with a few lasagne meals!

City fans are so impressively deluded its unreal – there is no magic trick to turn mid-table team into world-beaters, almost half of the squad are not sure for their future and if Dunne and Richards leave it will be a disaster, moreover MH will need time to turn the things around and make them thick - 6-th place at best.

Villa have small squad and got lucky with injuries last term, they need quality CB as replacement for the departed Olof and 2-3 squad signings at least. Petrov didn’t impress me since his move Reo-Cocker is also not the leader in the middle of the park and now with Liverpool lurking around Barry – all their chances of breaking Sky 4 will hinge on his decision.

Everton have small squad as well and I was very, very impress with their performance last season they had to cope without their 3 influential African players for a month and came short only when their entire creative midfield – Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar were injured during the run in. In fact it’s a testament of Moyes work that they managed to finish 5 points clear from the rest with Carsley and Neville playing CM?!?

However they have also major decisions this summer with Moyes still not signing new contract and midfield reinforcements urgently needed – at least 2 quality players and maybe a striker as Johnson doesn’t fit the bill. They have the best defence outside Chelsea and MU and settles first team IMO

All in all I think that Everton are the major challengers for breaking Sky 4 closely followed by Spurs and Villa, for City it will be team building season regardless with or without Ronaldinho.

2.50 Tottenham
5.50 Everton
6.50 Aston Villa
11.00 Man City
11.00 Newcastle
13.00 Portsmouth

In fact let’s hope two sides can break into the top four!!