Chelsea the team everyone has to beat
Carlo Ancelotti has been relatively quiet in the transfer market this summer. So far, only, Yossi Benayoun has arrived at Stamford Bridge – although Benfica’s Ramires looks set to follow – while Michael Ballack, Joe Cole and Juliano Belletti have all departed southwest London.
Deco, too, looks likely to cut his ties with the Premier League holders but Sky analyst and former Scottish international Gray believes that the four-time English champions remain in pole position for the latest race.
“If anyone beats Chelsea this year they will win the title,’’ said Gray.
“I think those players were all surplus to them. Deco was a bit-part player. Joe for his own reasons decided to leave and they have brought Benayoun in who is the same type of player.
“They have got some good young talent as well, Chelsea, and they are keen to get them in and give them some games. Having got back the title last year I think they will take some shifting.”
Manchester City aside, there has been a lack of purchasing going on among the rest of the Premier League’s elite but Gray believes that, like Ancelotti, Alex Ferguson at least is largely content with the squad at his disposal as the new season approaches.
The comparison with his cross-city rival, Roberto Mancini, has been astonishing. The City manager has already spent lavishly on prising David Silva away from Valencia, Yaya Toure from Barcelona and Jerome Boateng from Hamburg.
Money does not automatically equal success, however, even if Mancini has promised to deliver silverware this season and Gray pointed to Kevin Keegan’s experiences at Newcastle United as well as David O’Leary’s tenure at Leeds United as proof of that.
“They have had a poor pre-season but I have never paid much attention to those. If they get going and Mancini manages to sort it out there is no doubt in my mind that they can be right in the shake but they have to put it together early on.
“It’s a big job for Mancini. It is one thing to be given all that money but it comes with its own pressure.”
Whatever about their title ambitions, it would be a brave man to bet against City breaking into the top four for the first time this season even if the competition for those coveted spots is greater now than it has ever been.
With the likes of Everton and Aston Villa hoping to join that elite, Tottenham hoping to remain in it and Liverpool desperate to renew their membership, the days of an untouchable top tier within the top tier are hopefully at an end.
“If there has been a downside on the Premier League it has been the repetitive top four we have had year in, year out,” said Gray. “The only people who were getting any experience of playing Champions League were Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
“I want to see other teams get the opportunity to do what Tottenham are going to do, hopefully, this year and that is get some Champions League experience and spread the wealth of talent a bit more.”
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