Premier League

Stoke City are destined to be the new Derby County. That's the call from espnstar.com as the countdown continues.

By Dez Corkhill

There's normally one promoted team who have the feel of being relegation certainties at the start of a new campaign. This year, the mantle goes to Stoke City.

I was at Stoke City's opener of the 2007-08 season when they beat FA Cup Finalists, Cardiff City 1-0 at Ninian Park. Stoke were a crude, route one, spoiling team without tall, robust defenders, and very little attacking verve. That was the style that propelled them to promotion in a very competitive League. It won't be enough in the Premier League, and Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, hasn't secured enough players in the transfer market to be able to change their style when they kick off at Bolton on the first weekend of the season.

It's revealing that the biggest news story out of the Britannia Stadium in the close season was the unveiling of a statue for legendary goalkeeper, Gordon Banks. It's also an indication of the ambition and resources of the Club that Dave Kitson is their new record signing.

Throughout their squad they have a long list of players who are either at the wrong end of their career (Russell Hoult, Dominic Matteo, Rory Delap); weren't good enough to be considered worth buying by a Premier League side (Mamady Sidibe, Ricardo Fuller, Liam Lawrence, Danny Pugh); or were at a Premiership side and released having not made an impact (Salif Diao, Ryan Shawcross, Shola Ameobi).

In many ways that last paragraph could be Stoke's strength. So many players have a point to prove that they might just scrap their way to a respectable points total. At the Britannia Stadium they will have raucous home support which, like Derby last year, does not have huge expectations of success. But basically, this team - whilst not as poor as Derby - will have an almighty struggle.

The man at the helm, Pulis - who actually played football in Hong Kong early in his career - hasn't managed at this level before. His teams have always been organized, competitive and strong, but that doesn't work in the rarefied atmosphere of the Premiership. Stoke are doomed to go down.

Hull City, by contrast, may surprise a few people. Phil Brown spent long enough with Sam Allardyce to know what's needed to over-achieve. The signings of George Boateng from Middlesbrough and Anthony Gardner from Tottenham will strengthen the spine of the team, whilst Giovanni will add a little flair up front - although the fact that Frazier Campbell will not be joining from Manchester United is a big blow to them. Even so - and I wouldn't be prepared to make any kind of bet on this - unlike Stoke, Hull City have a fighting chance of staying up.

Who'll end up where:
RELEGATED: 20: Stoke City; 19: Blackburn Rovers; 18: Hull City;
STRUGGLERS: 17: Bolton Wanderers; 16: Fulham; 15: WBA; 14: Wigan Athletic;
MID-TABLE MEDIOOCRITY: 13: Middlesbrough; 12: West Ham Utd.; 11: Portsmouth; 10: Everton;
SURPASSING EXPECTATIONS: 9: Sunderland; 8: Manchester City; 7: Newcastle Utd.; 6: Aston Villa;
THE TOP FIVE: 5: Arsenal; 4: Tottenham Hotspur; 3: Manchester United; 2: Liverpool; 1: Chelsea