PL title contenders

Last season most realistic people called it between Chelsea and City,although City flattered to deceive and drew level for a short time,Chelsea ran away with it but no other team got a blow in so the expectation of a 2 horse race was about right.
This time around its not as simple to call

Chelsea will be involved obviously but retaining it is very difficult and Chelsea have a fairly small pool of players who can interchange without weakening the overall side so wil be reliant on much the same core as last season unless Jose gets some quality additions in before the window closes. If they can keep injuries/suspensions to key players like Costa,Terry,hazard and Fabregas to a minimum then they will probably have a favourites chance to retain it but I don't think the squad is strong enough to overcome an Emitates style physio room

City have addressed the lack of pace which at times made our attacking play easy to defend against and be largely predicable,with the recruitment of Stirling and Delph will improve the left side of defensive midfield where the disappointing Fernando has done little to justify his fee.
Achilles heel however hasn't been addressed and that's the left back position in which we have the very average Clichy and the defensively very poor Kolorov. Until we get some quality recruited there then it's a weakness that will be exploited time and again. Mangala has been left isolated time and again by left backs out of position and an ineffective DM sat in front which,coupled with a jittery Kompany diving in all over the place,it's really no surprise he struggled to settle but he started to really look the part in the last month of the season with the calmer Demichellis next to him and I expect big things of him,no matter how the media would like to paint him as a dreadful player.
Key to whether we challenge or not is probably down to whether we get the real Nasri and Yaya.If they are reenergised and play as they can rather than the at times lazy disinterested performances we got from them last year,then we will provide Chelsea with a much sterner threat.

Man Utd have recruited really well,van Gaal has got in useful experience in Schweinsteiger and the excellent Schneiderlin to give that back line some cover and provide midfield depth clearly lacking last season whenever Carrick wasn't playing.Not too sure the right back( Danian? ) is quick enough to cope with the PL from what I've seen of him,admittedly not a lot,and would question whether he can read the game like a Gary Neville who used guile to overcome his lack of pace. Time will tell whether Clyne would've been a better buy.
Dupay looks a real quality recruit and could be the player they thought Di Maria would be.
Biggest issue for me is not enough quality up top and have no real leader at the back to partner Smalling.If Utd can address those issues they will be a threat to all.

Arsenal will not be a title threat until Wenger has gone so it matters not who they bring in.
Liverpool aren't strong enough to challenge and will need a new management team in place before they can do so.
Tottenham are irrelevant



Thoughts?