Premiership Preview--12. West Ham

12. After West Ham blew a late lead at home against Tottenham and lost 4-3 on a last minute rebound goal on March 4, I completely wrote West Ham off. I thought they were dead and buried, that they were doomed to life in the Championship. Everyone knows about the controversy surrounding Carlos Tevez, but the fact remains that he almost single-handedly kept the Hammers in the Premiership. It's a near certainty that Tevez won't be at Upton Park this season, but the team that will be there won't be anywhere near relegation this time around.

Manager Alan Curbishley made a flurry of changes this summer and might not be done yet. He got rid of some dead wood (Teddy Sheringham and Roy Carroll) and swapped number one strikers (Marlon Harewood out, Craig Bellamy in). Losing Nigel Reo-Coker won't be too much of a blow as he looked disinterested and aloof at best last season, but the departures of Yossi Benayoun and the versatile Paul Konchesky are tough pills to swallow. Signing Scott Parker from Newcastle will pay big dividends if he can stay healthy as West Ham needed that bulldog-type player in the midfield, and Freddie Ljungberg should step into the role vacated by Benayoun on the wing. Striker Dean Ashton's return from injury is like a new signing and his presence on the roster will be important. West Ham might as well hold open tryouts for strikers after their top three (Bellamy, Ashton, Zamora), so they'll need productive, healthy seasons from each of those players. New midfielder Julien Faubert will probably return around Christmas from a ruptured Achilles tendon, but don't expect too much from the soon-to-be 24-year old this year.

West Ham's schedule brings 3 winnable games out of 4 in August and the same in September. The first spot of prolonged difficulty doesn't come until the end of November-mid December when road games at Chelsea (East-West London derby) and Blackburn are in the middle of home dates with Tottenham (London derby) and Everton. West Ham play Reading, Manchester United (both at home), and Arsenal in succession to bring in the new year, and close out their season with a trip to Old Trafford followed by a home game against Aston Villa. All-in-all, it's a schedule that should allow West Ham to think about a top half finish.

Bottom Line-West Ham of 2007-2008 will more closely resemble the 9th place team of '05-'06 than last season's team. They're solid in every aspect of the game (defense, midfield, attack), though their lack of explosiveness up front will hurt. This is a team that will have a legitimate hope of a top 10 place this season, though I don't think they'll reach that plateau.

Premiership Lookalikes-Continued

3. Patrice Evra (Manchester United) and Robert Ri'Chard (Coach Carter, House of Wax)

Premiership Preview--13. Fulham

13. It's lucky number 13 for Northern Ireland--excuse me, I mean Fulham. Manager Lawrie Sanchez will begin his first full year in charge of the Cottagers with a revamped roster and higher expectations for a team that was going nowhere fast under Chris Coleman. Sanchez managed Northern Ireland from January 2004-May 2007 and took them from 124th in the FIFA world rankings to 33rd, the spot they held when he resigned, and did it with a team that wasn't exactly teeming with individual talent. He's shown that he can be successful but the club level is different than the international stage, so he'll be looking to prove that he can cut it in the Premiership. Fulham finished in 16th place last season, just one point clear of relegation, and were rescued from the drop only by a victory over a Liverpool side that was without many of its top players.

If Sam Allardyce has been proactive in the transfer window this summer, Lawrie Sanchez may have been even more so. He brought in seven players and bid goodbye to eight more, most notably Heidar Helguson, who went to Bolton. Aaron Hughes, Chris Baird, Steven Davis, and David Healy all played under him for Northern Ireland, and striker Diomansy Kamara and versatile defender Paul Konchesky came to Craven Cottage this summer as well. Fulham were tied for the most goals allowed in the Premiership last year (60), and the signings of Hughes, Konchesky, and Baird will give Lawrie Sanchez more options in the back to help shore up the defense. Healy and Kamara join a striking corps that also includes holdovers Brian McBride and Collins John. The attack certainly won't be dynamic, but should be good enough if the defense does the job that's expected of them this season. Heidar Helguson is the only player worth mentioning that left Fulham this summer, so Lawrie Sanchez has a team that will be entrenched in the top 15 this season.

To be honest, Fulham's schedule appears to be the easiest of any of the teams covered in this Premiership preview so far. There's a five-game stretch that covers all of November and into December that brings road games at Manchester United, Liverpool, and Everton, as well as home games with Reading and Blackburn. January will be tricky as well, but Chelsea and Arsenal both come to Craven Cottage and Fulham have winnable road matches at Bolton and West Ham. There are no runs of games of any real length other than those two so Fulham will have every chance to at least challenge for a top half position, though that seems unlikely.

Bottom Line: Lawrie Sanchez will be out to show that he can manage at the club level. I wouldn't be surprised if they swap places with Newcastle (Fulham finishes 14th, Newcastle 13th), but I also wouldn't be surprised if Fulham finish a spot or two higher than 13th either. They've got a decent team in place, a schedule that's not particularly difficult, and a billionaire Egyptian chairman behind them in Mohamed Al-Fayed.