Will it be first time lucky for Manchester City?

Football FanCast columnist Richard Smith rates Manchester City's chances of success this season.

The new Premier League season kicks off this weekend and it promises to be the most open for years with five teams holding claims of a tilt at the title! 

During the league's 17 seasons, only four teams have been lucky enough to get their hands of the title, sixteen of which have been shared between just three clubs. Eleven have gone the way of to Manchester United, three to Arsenal and twice to Chelsea. 

Blackburn Rovers are the only other club to be crowned champions. During the 1994/95 season, Rovers were the division's top spenders and their title success is largely attributed to them flexing their financial muscle, in a similar way to how Ambramovich's millions assisted Chelsea to back to back titles in 2005 and 2006.  

Manchester City will be hoping to emulate the achievement seen at Ewood Park and Stamford Bridge following the biggest summer spending spree ever seen by an English club. City have spent a total of £70 million in known transfer fees during the close season and that is believed to be closer to the £100 million mark if you account for the undisclosed transfer fee which saw Emmanuel Adebayor leave The Emirates for Eastlands. In turn, many pundits are tipping Mark Hughes's side to break the stronghold of the ‘Big Four' and challenge for a top four finish but few are predicting them to be crowned champions.  

One would expect that the minimum return on investment that City's Abu Dhabi based investors are expecting is a finishing position in the top four, which would see City play Champions League football and move some way to paying back the money spent. The Blues started the summer as the 50/1, best of the remaining teams outside of the top four, to win the title. However, a shopping spree from Mark Hughes that would have cleared the national debt of several third world countries has seen City slashed to a best price of 14/1 and as short as 10/1 in the Premiership betting. The signings of Carlos Tevez, Emmauel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Gareth Barry should be enough to see City win the extra games required to bridge the 22 point deficit between last season's 10^th place finish and knock on the door or the top four. Add to this the players already at the club, amongst which include, Robinho, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Craig Bellamy and City aren't short on fire power.  

Many will argue that City lack the same quality in defence but with arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League in Shay Given together with the signing of Kolo Toure from Arsenal they should improve on the 50 goals conceded last term. It is also worth remembering that with two weeks of the transfer window remaining, it is likely that at least one more big name defender will be putting pen to paper at Eastlands. 

The biggest problem City must overcome is that aspect of how long it will take for the team to ‘gel' together in addition to keeping so many superstars happy with only 11 starting places up for grabs. Mark Hughes has a tough job to get Manchester's version of ‘Los Galacticos' playing well enough to take the Premier League by storm but if they do hit the ground running then 2/1 about City finishing in the top four could be a great investment and even the title should not be ruled out, especially when considering that City haven't got the European commitments that the current big four have. 

If City are to break into the mix for a top four finish and even the title race, then the question is at the expense of which team? All of Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have questions to answer going in to the 2009/10 season. None more so that Manchester United who must prove that they can overcome the loss of the impact and goals of Ronaldo to Real Madrid and of fans favourite, Carlos Tevez, to the blue half of Manchester.   

Arsenal look the most likely of the current ‘big four' who could suffer at the expense of City. The Gunners have not won the league since 2004 and are trophyless since 2005. They have a young squad packed with talent but often inexperience has found them out at times in previous seasons and Arsene Wenger must prove that he can once again work his magic with a third generation of Arsenal players since taking over in 1996. 

Chelsea are the UK bookmakers favourites to win the league this season but new coach Carlo Ancelotti must prove he can repeat his achievement in Serie A in the Premier League and there is no room for slip ups as Phil Scolari found out twelve months ago.  

Liverpool is the other team who must prove that they are capable of challenging for the title and did so well last season. However, the burden of not having won the league championship for what will be twenty years in May does add pressure for the Merseyside club as does the notion that they rely too heavily on two players in Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. If Rafa Benitez can address the draws against teams Liverpool were expected  beat this season then the twenty year wait for title glory could well be over at Anfield.  

It remains to be seen whether Manchester City have what it takes to win the title at the first time of asking but they are certainly poised to take advantage if any of the big four slip up at any stage along the way. The only certainty is that the Premier League now has five teams capable of winning the title which only adds to the excitement of what should be the closest title race for many years!