The season in the English Premiership is just around the corner – at last. This inevitably means that many wives and girlfriends will be relegated to second best within any given relationship, but what is likely to be even more disappointing to anyone and everyone who does not support Manchester United, is the equally alarming prospect of them winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title.

Or will they? Is this the beginning of the end of United’s domination of English football? Can United really cut the butter at top level with only Wayne Rooney and under-performing Dimitar Berbatov up front? What if one of them sustains an injury, sidelining him for a month, or two? Will it be down to Federico Macheda? Berbatov has vowed to score "more and more and more goals for United", but is he really up to it?

Well, if you listen to Ferguson’s assessment on the matter, United fans have absolutely nothing to worry about. Concerning the 100 plus millions pounds sterling spent next door at the Eastlands, the United gaffer dismissed it matter-of-factly, simply saying "they (City) are a small team, with a small mentality and will win nothing this season. Our main rivals are Liverpool and Chelsea".

Reimbursed psychologically from Xabi Alonso’s departure from Anfield towards Real Madrid, on August 5 Ferguson then resurfaced to give an updated version of his vision for the new campaign, claiming that "Liverpool are no longer a threat, they have no chance of winning anything either", he told The Guardian.

"Liverpool have just had probably their best season for 20 years, finished up with 86 points and still finished four adrift. It will be hard for them to match that, let alone improve. Chelsea are our only threat." So with City and Liverpool apparently out of the picture, and Arsenal and Aston Villa not even being rated by Ferguson as opposition worth mentioning, it appears that this will be an excruciatingly boring season indeed. Unless of course, someone hasn’t read the plot. 

So who will win the Premiership then? Arsenal appear to be regressing, with tons of pressure on Eduardo to find his form quickly if they are to be substantial challengers, but as a whole the Wenger enterprise appears to have been dislodged altogether. During the camp in Austria, he said "we don’t need new players, we need top fitness" - if that’s his cunning strategy, Arsenal are complete write-offs.

Liverpool made only one quality signing and with Alonso lost, they are hardly better than they were last season. Liverpool are on the verge of greatness, but if it happens this year it will be because United are weaker and City are yet unmoulded. Meanwhile, Chelsea are potent, and Ancelotti is class, but whether the spoilt Chelsea players can last the whole course under his leadership without tossing their toys out of the pram is another matter altogether.

Man United are definitely weaker, end of discussion. They lost two of the world’s top players and replaced them with injury-prone, past his prime Michael Owen. They haven’t suddenly become a bad team mind you, but they have lost that edge that made them lethal and took them so many years to build. Aston Villa? Forget it. They have lost four quality players, and they will start the season without player of the year Stiliyan Petrov and Luke Young, both injured. They are severely depleted and overstretched, and they will be lucky to be in the top five. Everton? No chance. David Moyes has done wonders and they are stronger than Villa, but other than that, dream on.