After 96 agonising days of waiting we are only hours away fromthe start of another reason to love weekends-- the start of the English PremierLeague or for the uninitiated the best Football league in the world.
Theexcitement, drama, disappointment and controversies of match days captivate thehearts and minds of the nation like nothing else- to see evidence of this oneonly needs to look at the effect the World Cup had across the UK.
Hundreds of thousandsof us stayed up late to watch as many games as possible even the tiresomemarathon sessions that went to penalties just so that we could go into theoffice and relive the highs and lows through our own “Match of the Day” style analysis.
The reason the Premier League is so great is that it offers the same level ofunmissable excitement on a weekly basis which keeps us obsessed and in suspensefor months on end. Another aspect that sets the Premier League apart is that itis one of the few top leagues in the world where it is not easy to predict whichteam will walk away with the Championship title.
Consider howeasy it is to predict the team that is likely to win either the German orSpanish premier leagues. Although the Bundesliga and La Liga can easily out dothe Premier League in terms of the calibre of players who play in them with thelikes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez, BastianSchweinsteiger and James Rodriguez playing week in week out.
However, there is nocontest when it comes to the entertainment factor that the Premier League’srace for the title holds.
Instead of it being the usual two horse race that LaLiga has traditionally been known- at least prior to Atletico Madrid’shistorically unceremonious triumph last season- or the unrivalled dominancewhich Bayern Munich holds in the Bundesliga, the Premier League always has atleast three genuine title contenders, over the last few years the PremierLeague has produced some of the most exhilarating endings to any top flight sportingleague in the world which has captivated the interests of avid fans and thosewho were simply interested.
This year'sPremier League season promises to be as exciting as the last few seasons andoffers an array of interesting points for even those who claim to be"neutrals":
-Will Louisvan Gaal’s arrival mark the return of Manchester United’s glory days?
-Can ArseneWenger's Arsenal finally come of age and win an overdue Premier League title?
-Will the returnsof Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas come back to haunt their former clubs?
-Who will bethe star player of this season?
Andlast but not least: which team will emerge as the Champions of this season?