The Premier League season gets underway on Saturday with seven games including Arsenal hosting West Brom. Defending champion Manchester United and second place finisher Chelsea will start their seasons on Sunday.

Manchester United will not start the season at full strength so manager Alex Ferguson will have to mix and match early on. Last year Manchester United started slowly with just two points in their first three games but came back to win the title. Manchester United will start this season without superstar scorer Cristiano Ronaldo who is out until October. Ronaldo had 42 goals last season. Also missing to start the season for United will be striker Louis Saha, Nani and Anderson. “Last season we had a staggered start, Tevez and Anderson joined us and weren’t 100 percent fit, Ronaldo got suspended for three games after the first game, then Rooney got injured in the first match against Reading and was out for three games,” Ferguson said, “By the time we got everyone focused and fit, we then went on a fantastic run with our consistency and really good football. I’d prefer to get a good start, we want that, but we are also able to go the long distance.”

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Manchester United is trying to get Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham but hasn’t been able to pull of the deal yet. Also missing on Sunday will be midfielder Owen Hargreaves. “In terms of attacking options we are down to the bare bones a bit,” Ferguson said. “But the backbone is with the midfield players and defenders, and there is good variety there. Hopefully that is enough to get us through the first game against Newcastle, which is always a good, exciting game. They will always have a go Newcastle.”

Chelsea will begin their season on Sunday looking to start fast. “We need to start well and get off to a flyer and just keep winning,” Chelsea captain John Terry said. “Man United have a few tough games early on. We need to focus. We have a good home record and if we can continue that and get off to a good start we’ll be all right.” Chelsea added Deco in the off-season and Terry believes he can make a big difference. “He’s probably one of the best I’ve ever trained with or played against,” Terry said. “He looks awesome. He has a great touch, opens up defenses and can pass the ball. He gets stuck in as well, which I like about him. He makes it look so easy and is a class act. When you see him day-in, day-out you realize how determined he is.” The other Sunday match has Manchester City at Aston Villa.

The other two main contenders for the Soccer Betting Premier League title are Arsenal and Liverpool and they begin their seasons on Saturday. Arsenal hosts newly promoted West Brom while Liverpool is at Sunderlund. Other matches on Saturday have Bolton vs. Stoke; Everton vs. Blackburn; Hull vs. Fulham; Middlesbrough vs. Tottenham; and West Ham vs. Wigan.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Arsenal, Chelsea, English Premier League, Manchester City. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.