Jose Mourinho claims there will be five clubs in
contention for the title in the new season and the cost of
success has never been higher.
Everyone knows about the top flights big four champions Man
United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.
But Mourinho predicts Spurs are ready to come to the party as
well.
With the Premier League contenders all spending a small fortune on
new signings, the pressure to deliver is immense.
And no one will be feeling the heat more than the men whose job it
will be to deliver the goals.
Here, SunSports MARK IRWIN analyses the striking power of the
Famous Five.
MANCHESTER
UNITED
WAYNE ROONEY (Goals last season 23, Dream Team value £8m)
LOUIS SAHA (13, £4.5m)
CRISTIANO RONALDO (23, £8m)
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER (11, £3m)
VERDICT
IT is not hard to see why boss Alex Ferguson is so determined to
sign Carlos Tevez.
Solskjaer and Saha are injury prone and, with the best will in the
world, Ronaldo will struggle to score so many goals again from out
wide.
That leaves Rooney as Uniteds only true world-class striker and he
spends much of his time outside the penalty area.
Argentinian Tevez would be the perfect addition to the United
strikeforce, judging by his superlative efforts in keeping West Ham
up last season.
But the red tape shows no sign of being sorted, so Fergie may be
left a little short.
CHELSEA
DIDIER DROGBA (Goals last season 32, Dream Team value £8.5m)
ANDRIY SHEVCHENKO (14, £5m)
CLAUDIO PIZARRO (12, £3m)
SALOMON KALOU (9, £3m)
VERDICT
IF Jose Mourinho plays with only one up front next season, the
prolific Drogba is in for a busy season.
If he plays with two, then Ukrainian hitman Shevchenko is going to
have to show a major improvement on his first disappointing
campaign in the Premier League.
Despite the arrival of free transfer Pizarro from Italy, Chelsea
still look short of attacking options.
LIVERPOOL
FERNANDO TORRES (Goals last season 15, Dream Team Value
£5.5m)
DIRK KUYT (14, £5m)
PETER CROUCH (18, £4.5m)
ANDRIY VORONIN (10, £3m)
VERDICT
ITS all change again in the striker department at Anfield where
£21.5m new-boy Torres will lead the attack while the rest battle
for the right to partner the Spaniard up front.
Yet in spite of his glowing reputation, Torres has never been a
25-goals-a-season marksman and Rafa Benitez could have cause to
regret edging Crouch towards the sidelines.
Craig Bellamy has also been moved on to West Ham so expect more
squad harmony.
ARSENAL
ROBIN VAN PERSIE (Goals last season 13, Dream Team value
£5.5m)
EDUARDO DA SILVA (34, £3.5m)
EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR (12, £5m)
THEO WALCOTT (1, £4m)
VERDICT
THE giant shadow of Thierry Henry still looms over Arsenal and
there is huge pressure on Arsene Wengers young strikers to
deliver.
New £10m signing Da Silva will find goals a lot harder to come by
in England than they were in Croatia.
So Van Persie will carry a hefty burden after finally recovering
from a six-month injury. Adebayor will give a more muscular
option.
TOTTENHAM
DIMITAR BERBATOV (Goals last season 22, Dream Team value
£7.5m)
DARREN BENT (15, £4.5m)
ROBBIE KEANE (22, £5m)
JERMAIN DEFOE (18, £4m)
VERDICT
SPURS have more natural finishers than any other club in the
country and the arrival of £17m Darren Bent leaves Martin Jol with
an embarrassment of attacking riches.
Bulgarian Berbatov remains his main man but whether Bent can become
an effective partner remains to be seen.
Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe are also established internationals
so keeping them all happy will be Jols biggest problem in the
months ahead.
