Can Manchester City or Tottenham win the Premier League?
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini and his Tottenham Hotspur counterpart, Harry Redknapp, are both gunning to win their first Premier League title this season - an ambition which isn’t beyond the realms of possibility for either side.
City are the talk of the town right now, having added another £60million-worth of talent to their already bustling squad since the transfer window opened; while Spurs are aiming to improve on their impressive fourth-place finish from last season.
It’s little surprise that either manager has publicly stated their belief that their respective teams can win the title. Both sets of supporters will be confident of finishing inside the top four next May as a result of their clubs’ strengths.
Anything less than a finish inside the Champions League places would be deemed unacceptable by the City hierarchy, who have effectively provided Mancini with a blank cheque since arriving at the club last December. The likes of David Silva, Yaya Toure and Jerome Boateng have all been drafted into the squad in recent weeks – players that City fans wouldn’t have dared to dream of seeing at Eastlands several years ago.
Add this talented trio to the likes of Carlos Tévez, Robinho and Emmanuel Adebayor, all of whom ply their trade for the club already, not to mention the players poised to join including Aleksandar Kolarov and Mario Balotelli, and you have a squad with the undoubted potential to win the Premier League title for the first time.
However, possessing some of the best players in the world doesn’t guarantee success. Mancini’s biggest challenge will be to keep all of his star names content, mould them into a team, while also getting each and every one of them playing for the shirt instead of the hefty pay packet.
Mancini’s second season in charge of the Citizens will be make-or-break for the Italian. After keeping the job by the skin of his teeth at one or two points during last season, the former Inter Milan champion will be under immense pressure to deliver results – and silverware.
Meanwhile, Redknapp has been in the game for too long not to understand how demanding supporters are. A fourth-place finish last season was a fantastic achievement for everybody at White Hart Lane, but there’s now a small dose of added pressure to make a considerable leap forward and win the championship for the first time since 1961.
Next May will mark 50 years since Spurs last landed their hands on English football’s biggest prize; but it will take a monumental effort for the club to replicate that success over the course of the forthcoming campaign.
Unlike City, Tottenham have not yet spent money on strengthening their squad this summer. Missing out on the services of Joe Cole was a bitter pill to swallow for Redknapp, although it’s possible that he will offer Jamie O’Hara and Giovani dos Santos another chance to prove themselves following impressive spells since the turn of the year.
With Luka Modrić, Gareth Bale, Jermain Defoe and Heurelho Gomes all committed to the club, Spurs have both the individuals and, crucially, team ethic to beat any side in the division on their day – just as showed last season.
But money talks. And Manchester City will be tipped to finish above Tottenham this season because of the cash they’ve spent on genuine quality to take the club to the next level.
Everything is now in place for the big-spending outfit to mount a serious challenge on the league title and become the first side outside of the “big four” to win it since Blackburn Rovers in 1995.
As for Spurs, achieving a fourth place finish for a second consecutive year would be a phenomenal achievement given that Man City and Liverpool have both added to their ranks this summer. Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal are still expected to occupy the top three, but this season promises to spring a few surprises.
And that could quite conceivably mean Manchester City winning the Premier League title.
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