Manchester City:
Another of the 'top four' clubs to have been affected by the managerial shuffle in summer, Manuel Pellegrini has been tasked with bringing 'holistic football' (I still have no clue either) to the blue half of Manchester. City seemed to go backwards last year and struggled to regain the title, finishing 11 points behind their bitter rivals Manchester United. In terms of signings the club reacted early in the transfer window, bringing in Jesus Navas and Fernandinho early in June and eventually brought in the forward pairing of Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. City's spending has come to a figure of £90m and Pellegrini has suggested he may not be done there, with the club supposedly in the market for another defender following the injury to Matija Nastasic during pre-season. These signings all bring different skill sets to the club and particularly in the case of Navas it seems that City now have a more balanced squad, with more options in terms of playing style. While some might feel that Pellegrini may take some time to find his feet in the Premier League, the same could be said for Moyes in Europe, and with the Chilean's pedigree in Europe the case could be made that this is City's main focus for the u
pcoming season, and it will certainly be interesting to see what effect this has on the league standings come the end of the season. Mourinho is seen as a positive for Chelsea, Moyes as something of a risk (at least for his first season or so) at United. Pellegrini seemingly slots in somewhere in the middle- a safe pair of hands, yet still in his first season in a new country.
Prediction: 2nd
Manchester United:
The red half of Manchester has arguably gone through the biggest structural change over the summer with Sir Alex Ferguson retiring after 26 years and former Everton boss David Moyes being given possibly the hardest job in football. The step from Merseyside to Manchester requires Moyes to be more than just a football manager, but a PR guru as well. This instability, exacerbated by the ongoing Wayne Rooney saga has seemingly had a detrimental effect of Man Utd's pre-season, winning only two games and conceding a whole host of goals. United fans are seemingly becoming more and more twitchy due to the lack of signings with only two days until the start of the season. The club have had bids for Cesc Fabregas and Leighton Baines rejected and have allowed the release clause in Marouane Fellaini's contract to expire. Moyes has however stated that the club are "getting closer to signings" and Wilfred Zaha has joined the club after signing in January and has been something of a bright spark for the title holders during pre-season. Other positives are the performances of youngsters Jesse Lingard and Adnan Januzaj, as well as the continued scoring form of Robin Van Persie during the Community Shield. Manchester United have a tough run of opening fixtures with Swansea (away) on the opening day, followed by Chelsea (home), Liverpool (away) and Manchester City (away) in their next four fixtures, with Premier League new boys Crystal Palace (home) sandwiched in between. If Moyes can come out of these unbeaten, his ambitions, and those of the club will be massively boosted, but pressure will surely start to build if the club face a poor start.
Prediction: 3rd