A brief look at the Top 5 Premier League teams

Last week Arsene Wenger said thatas many as six clubs can win the Premier League. While five of those clubs seem obvious (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and both the Manchester clubs), I struggle to think about who the sixth club could be. Maybe Tottenham? Maybe Everton? To me theyre no more than top 4 contenders, let alone the league.While we Premier League crazy fans wait for the league to begin, we take a look at the top teams.

#1 Arsenal

Despite being on top for 128 days, Wenger’s men managed to finish fourth once again last season. It was all going well for them until Aaron Ramsey got injured.

This time around, Wenger has increased the squad depth by signing World Cup stars such as Alexis Sanchez and David Ospina. In addition to that Wenger, signed Mathieu Debuchy as a direct replacement for Bacary Sagna, and Calum Chambers who can also play as a centre back. Arsenal looked pretty solid on Sunday, beating Manchester City 3-0, that too without the Germans who are such an integral part of the squad.

Arsenal seriously need to resolve their issues at the back. Their full backs play really high which adds two more players to their attack, but leaves them weak at the back. This void showed when Arsenal conceded six at the Ethiad, five at Anfield and six again at Stamford Bridge. Don’t get me wrong, Arsenal have a great attack, it’s just at the back where they fall short.

If Wenger can resolve this issue, I foresee big things for Arsenal this season and it looks like they can finally say goodbye to fourth place.

#2 Chelsea

Chelsea came very close to winning the league last season, but a lack of a proper striker ensured that Chelsea missed out on the title yet again.

Since Didier Drogba left in 2012, Chelsea never found a proper striker who could score 30 goals a season. Fans thought Fernando Torres was the answer when he led Chelsea to the Europa League title, finishing as the top scorer of the competition, but last season was again an enduring one for Torres. Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba showed glimpses of form, but never looked like scoring week in week out.

This season, Mourinho looks to have solved the problem up front, with Diego Costa looking impressive in pre-season. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it’s only pre-season where the oppositions are much weaker. Costa is yet to experience the aggressiveness of the Premier League, which will be intriguing to watch.

Chelsea have strengthened in other areas as well, signing Costa’s teammate Felipe Luis from Atletico Madrid to fill the void left by Ashley Cole’s departure. Getting back to Chelsea’s new signings, former Arsenal player Cesc Fabregas has had a decent pre-season as well, scoring twice.

Just a couple of days back, Mourinho regarded Fabregas as the perfect replacement for Frank Lampard and also said he’s ready for the Premier League to begin. With plenty of squad depth, Chelsea are another club going upwards this season.

#3 Manchester City

Manchester City are another club with a fantastic squad depth. Despite having this kind of depth, Pellegrini has said that City won’t be ready when the Premier League begins as his key players have only just returned from their respective vacations.

Looking to make amends from their shock loss to Arsenal, Manchester City responded by signing Eliaquim Mangala, making him the most expensive defender in British Football at £31.9 million pounds. .

Other signings include Bacary Sagna from Arsenal, which I think is completely needless as Pablo Zabaleta and Micah Richards have that position covered. Another needless signing I think is Fernando, with four players already in the defensive midfield position, making Fernando the fifth. The loss to Liverpool on penalties last month in the International Champions Cup didn’t help their confidence either.

They won the Premier League last season and did really well to deservedly win it. They can do it this season as well, given the players in their squad. All they need is a few wins on the bounce to get them that momentum with which they destroyed teams last season.

#4 Manchester United

Last season with “The Chosen One” didn’t quite go as planned with Manchester United finishing seventh – way off their record of a top three finish since the inception of the Premier League. As expected, David Moyes was sacked before the season had even ended, bringing grief to the rival Premier League fans.

This season, with the arrival of former Dutch boss Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United have looked like the Manchester United of the Sir Alex Ferguson era, winning each and every pre-season game, including the International Champions Cup final against Reál Madrid.

Van Gaal has brought his 3-5-2 system into the Manchester United side and so far everything has worked out perfectly. Juan Mata is back with his goals and assists after a horrific first half of the last season at Chelsea. Wayne Rooney too doesn’t look like he’ll stop scoring anytime soon.

Meanwhile, new signings Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera have blended in well at their new club. But Louis Van Gaal doesn’t want to stop here and is targeting a number of players more, few of them being Juan Cuadrado, Arturo Vidal and Mats Hummels. But the main reason for Manchester United not having any transfer activity since a month now is not qualifying for any UEFA competition this season, due to which getting new players to Old Trafford has become an uphill task.

Even if no further signings are made, I think this squad is just about enough for Manchester United to challenge for the title this season.

#5 Liverpool

Liverpool are another club who have impressed in pre-season, their latest result being the demolition of Borussia Dortmund at Anfield, winning 4-0. The first of those goals was scored by former Southampton player, Dejan Lovren. Other Southampton players who have moved to Liverpool this transfer window are Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert, but have not quite made an impression yet at their new club.

Other signings include Divock Origi who caught the eye of everyone at the World Cup. Origi was however loaned back immediately to Lille for the whole of the season. Emre Can, who signed from Bayer Leverkusen last month, has been branded as an inspirational young talent by Brendan Rodgers.

Finally, Serbian winger Lazar Markovi also joined Liverpool from Benfica last month. However, Markovic has featured in only 45 minutes of pre-season action due to an injury which has kept him out. He does look a promising young player.

Coming to Liverpool’s title chances, if Sturridge can replicate his form from last season I think Liverpool can definitely challenge for the title this season.