This season's contenders: Same three again?

Someone replied to my last entry asking me about how I thought the season was going to pan out and I gave a very coy answer.

I’ll say from the off, I don’t think City or Arsenal are in it this year.

City have some great names but not so many as they’d like to think and it takes time to get that many new players to gel. I do think they could play a major part in where the league ends up as they should give any team a run on their day, including the traditional big guns. Add in how utterly woeful they’ve been in preseason and I just can’t see it happening soon enough for any kind of challenge. Could Hughes be unemployed before Christmas?

Arsenal just lack the strength in depth that I think is needed to attack on all fronts. Too many of their best players have a knack of picking up injuries and Wenger’s inability to replace players and supplement his squad will show once again that he isn’t quite in the top bracket of managers he once was.

So I think it’ll be between the same three as last year.

On paper, Liverpool and ourselves have both weakened. Madrid have poached arguably our two best players in Ronaldo and Alonso and the way in which both teams replace those players will be key to the season coming up.

I’ve championed the signing of Valencia from the moment the rumour first appeared midday through last season, I think he is an excellent player who could well flourish under the added pressure that comes with playing for the Champions of England and the great history of Manchester United. I also feel that Michael Owen could well turn out to be a little diamond, pinching vital goals for us as the season goes along but I don’t expect him to return to his very best.

Other signings are much more low key and may not play a pivotal role this season; Obertan and Pogba already present in the squad with Ljajic and Diouf set to join up later in the season. Personally I’ve got a lot of hope for Tosic after he stepped it up in preseason. He reminds me of a left-sided Kanchelskis and we all know that the KanKan Man was the best player to grace the club.

A massive bonus for us this season would be to keep certain key players off the physio table; Carrick, Ferdinand and N E RightBack would be a good start.

The single most important factor we may struggle with is goals. No matter how much the most head-burying fan wants to pretend they aren’t bothered by Ronaldo’s departure, even they must accept that it’s a huge loss in terms of the goals he scored and also the amount teams had to sacrifice by marking him constantly. In a dream world, Berbatov will hit the ground running after his first preseason with the club, Rooney will finally get that central role he craves and will start scoring the goals we’ve always thought he had in him and the likes of Owen and Macheda will chip in consistently. Not asking for much, really.

Liverpool also suffered a huge loss this summer as long term want-away Xabi Alonso finally secured his move to Real Madrid. Liverpool have moved quickly to replace the Spaniard with Aquilani, a good player in his own right but it’s hard to imagine him doing quite what Alonso did last season. He is also injury prone. This could see Liverpool struggle to maintain their form from the end of last season. Moving Gerrard back would be excellent from everyone else’s point of view, he simply can’t perform in that role to anywhere near the standard people expect. Even better would be for the offensively ineffective Mascherano to be asked to perform a playmaker’s role. That would bring great mirth.

Their back line will continue to be fairly solid, such is Benitez’s way. It will be interesting to see if Aquilani serves as a direct replacement for Alonso and he retains his two holding midfield system that brings solidity at the expense of flair. I’ve long said Liverpool need to be more attacking to have a chance of winning the league and they’ve yet to secure players this summer that would suggest they’re going to do that. Torres will bang them in as always, Gerrard will get his fair share from his slot behind the front man (if kept there) and the main sticking point is where will the rest of the goals come from. Benayoun was in great form at the end of last season, as was Dirk Kuyt, but the likes of Riera, Babel (Liverpool’s Nani) and Lucas (Liverpool’s Anderson) will need to up their attacking input substantially to supplement the front two.

So we move onto my tip this season; Chelsea.

If Drogba, Joe Cole and Essien had been fit all last season, I doubt Liverpool would have been our closest rivals and I can’t even say I’d be sure we’d be champions right now. I know all teams can use that as an excuse but losing Essien, Cole and Drogba is akin to us without Ronaldo, Rooney and Carrick or Liverpool going for large periods without Torres, Gerrard and Alonso last season. Could you imagine those teams doing so well? I think not.

Ancelloti is considered by many to be a CL manager but we shouldn’t overlook the controversies around Italian football of late and the overall decline of that league. He cannot polish the proverbial turd. I think he’ll have enough nous about him to stage a real challenge and they’ve strengthened well in a player like Zhirkov though at the other end of the scale I don’t share the views that Sturridge is worthy of Stamford Bridge. Overall, Chelsea have the most players that I’d love at Man Utd. Cech, Carvalho, Zhirkov, Joe Cole, Essien (the best midfielder in the league)…

If Drogba can find renewed enthusiasm for the game, Anelka is utilised correctly for once and Essien and Lampard stay fit, they will boss teams out of most games without breaking a sweat. Keeping Terry is also a major plus, for his leadership if nothing else.

If Chelsea (Roman Abramovich) can resist the temptation of ignoring the league in search of elusive European success, they are going to be a real force this season and as such are the team I think the rest will be chasing this season.