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LONDON — Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is confident that not even a World Cup winner will take his Premier League title away.
Luiz Felipe Scolari, the coach who guided Brazil to its fifth World Cup triumph six years ago, is now in charge of Chelsea and will be out to stop the Red Devils winning the league three seasons in a row.
The Blues have finished runner-up to United for the last two seasons, having won the title for the previous two under Jose Mourinho. Now they have turned to the colourful, outspoken Brazilian to take the championship back to Stamford Bridge.
Scolari, who took Portugal to the final of the 2004 European Championship, is now one of Ferguson's biggest rivals in English soccer, along with Arsenal's Arsene Wenger and Liverpool's Rafa Benitez. If Ferguson is worried, the Scot who has been in charge at Old Trafford for 22 seasons doesn't show it.
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He has all but written Chelsea off already and doesn't think Scolari's appointment will make them as good as the side under Mourinho.
"I'm not concerned about Chelsea," Ferguson said during the buildup to the season, which kicks off Aug. 16.
"So there's no one who can improve on Mourinho's record really. It would have to go beyond Mourinho's performance to really worry us and that will be a challenge with the players they've got and the players they've added."
While United is relying on the squad that won the domestic league and the Champions League last season, Scolari has recruited talented Portuguese midfielder Deco and countryman Jose Bosingwa.
Ferguson's only real worry is possibly losing striker Wayne Rooney for the start of the season as he regains fitness following a virus, with midfielder Anderson also playing at the Olympics and Nani sidelined by suspension for the beginning of the campaign.
The decision not to make any big moves in the transfer market may rebound on Ferguson although he still wants to reinforce the strike force.
Without a title for three seasons, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has made few big transfer moves either. He hired Samir Nasri from Marseille and teenage Welshman Aaron Ramsey while losing Mathieu Flamini, Alexander Hleb, Jens Lehmann and Gilberto Silva and will again rely on his youngsters.
"I believe we were very unlucky last season ... we lost the Premier League by four points," said Wenger, whose third place team was also hit by long term injuries to Eduardo da Silva and Thomas Rosicky. "We got 14 more points than the season before so this year we want to make another step forward, challenge even more and win the title. We feel there is no reason why, with a young squad, we should be less good this year than last year."
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, who has hired Robbie Keane to link up with Fernando Torres in attack, hopes for more consistency in the league.
"Clearly we have confidence in ourselves and have the quality to try to win every game but you never know what can happen in any competition," said the Spaniard, whose team finished fourth.
"We started really well and finished really well last season. If we can do the same this time then hopefully we will be better in the middle of the season."
Once again the Premier League appears to be split into four different mini-leagues.
Behind the top four come clubs who say they are striving to break into them but realistically are after fifth place.
They are Everton, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Manchester City while Portsmouth also includes itself among that cluster after a ninth place finish and an FA Cup triumph. So does Blackburn, which finished seventh although its goal difference of only two suggests it over-achieved and is likely to slide after the departure of manager Mark Hughes to Man City.
Everton fans are unhappy that impressive manager David Moyes has been unable to strengthen his team with some big signings while Tottenham, by contrast, has been among the busiest.
Coach Juande Ramos has hired virtually a new midfield with Croatia star Luka Modric, Mexico's Giovanni dos Santos and England winger David Bentley arriving at White Hart Lane, while losing Keane in attack.
Despite Liverpool failing to match its asking price, Villa fears it will lose England midfielder Gareth Barry but is hopeful of improving on last year's impressive sixth place finish.
Manchester City now has Hughes in charge instead of Sven-Goran Eriksson and is looking for stability despite the legal problems facing wealthy former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra in his homeland.
City fans are tired that their team has struggled for so long in the shadow of United, failing to win the league since 1968 or the FA Cup since '69.
Newcastle's followers are also frustrated by a lack of title success although at least they went close to the title when Kevin Keegan was in charge the first time. He returned last season and the Magpies fans will demand something far better than a 12th place finish and early elimination from the cup competitions.
Behind these clubs are those who are unlikely to get anywhere near the top four but are more concerned that they won't go anywhere near the relegation zone. Count West Ham, Middlesbrough and Sunderland in this group.
Fulham avoided relegation by winning four of its last five games but, despite hiring striker Bobby Zamora and defender Fredrik Stoor, is likely to have the same struggle this season. So will Bolton, which has bought tough-tackling midfielder Fabrice Muamba and talented Swedish forward Johan Elmander but sold El-Hadji Diouf to Sunderland.
Wigan edged away from trouble near the end and finished 14th under Steve Bruce and that will be the target again.
The three promoted teams, West Bromwich Albion, Stoke and Hull City, are already the bookmakers favourites to go down.
Although West Brom went up as winner of the Championship and with the most goals of the top four division in English soccer — 88 — it also conceded 55. So did Stoke, which was runner-up. If they are letting in so many goals against low quality opponents, many wonder what chance the two will have when they run into top clubs in the Premier League.
West Brom has bought Scott Carson, a 23-year-old goalkeeper who is trying to get his England place back, while Stoke has a lineup of powerfully built players who could be tough to beat but may only win a few games.
Hull is in the top flight for the first time in its 104-year history and that should be reward enough for the Tigers fans. But coach Phil Brown has made some interesting signings such as the solid and experienced Dutch midfielder George Boateng and Brazilian midfielder Geovanni, once of Barcelona and Benfica.
