ANALYSIS:THE REAL entertainment this summer has been watching the stream of new arrivals at Manchester City, the club's spending power almost beyond belief. Mark Hughes has an impressive squad now, but he also has some serious egos, and his management of those egos might be his biggest challenge.

The potential for tantrums is high; you’ve got some irascible characters there – Emmanuel Adebayor, Robinho, Craig Bellamy. A couple of poor results early on and it’ll be very interesting to see what happens.

And the problem for Hughes is he probably only has until Christmas – if they’re not there or thereabouts at that stage he’ll most likely be out of work.

But are City contenders now? Well, in my view, not for the title, but they should certainly be pushing for a top-four finish. It will, though, take Hughes a while to find his best team, to get the balance right – and they might even have another two or three big signings before the window closes. They need at least one new central defender – they’ll probably get Joleon Lescott in the end.

I really can’t see Liverpool or Arsenal finishing in the top two either. If Liverpool had kept Xabi Alonso and bought, say, David Villa then I would seriously have fancied them. But having sold Alonso their prospects have weakened.

His passing was as good as anybody’s in the Premier League, always forward, always positive. He was the team’s metronome, setting the pace and rhythm. He allowed Steven Gerrard to play off Fernando Torres, but now Gerrard will have to drop deeper to get hold of the ball, which will be to the detriment of the team.

There is no one from within who can step up to do that job. Lucas Leiva alongside Javier Mascherano will make you difficult to beat, but are you really going to threaten the better teams?

Alberto Aquilani, Alonso’s supposed replacement, has missed pre-season so you might not see any beneficial effects until the new year, which is too late. And even then we just don’t know whether he’ll be good enough.

As for Arsenal, well, you can’t sell Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure, only bringing in Thomas Vermaelen, and expect to win the league. Yes, they have superb footballers, they are fantastic to watch, but you can’t win the league on artistic impression. They don’t have strong personalities.

They don’t have a hard edge or a bloody-mindedness that you need if you’re going to win the League. And, for me, William Gallas remains a weak link; at some stage he will let you down.

So I can’t see beyond a Manchester United v Chelsea battle for the title – and if United make one more signing, a forward of quality, they would be my pick.

I would be very surprised if they didn’t bring another player in; they will be short if they don’t. It would represent a gamble not to buy another striker, and why would you want to gamble if you’re Manchester United?

They were right not to sign Carlos Tevez. His wages and transfer fee made him overpriced – he doesn’t score enough.

Michael Owen isn’t a major gamble, he’ll get them goals, but I don’t see him playing twice a week or starting against the top teams. Dimitar Berbatov has to wake from his slumber, but even if he does they still need an extra forward.

Chelsea need strengthening in that department too – you just never know what you’re going to get from Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba, or whether they’ll decide halfway through the season they want to leave.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Franck Ribery arrive, as they’ve spent modestly enough so far.

For me, the Premier League is like four mini-leagues this season, the usual suspects in the first; City, Aston Villa, Spurs and Everton in the next; West Ham, Fulham, Sunderland and maybe one other in the third, with the rest down among the dead men.

I’d go for Burnley, Hull and Birmingham to be relegated, with Portsmouth likely to be in trouble.

Of the newly promoted sides I think Wolves have the best chance. They’ve got width and pace and they’re decent up front, especially since buying Kevin Doyle. They all could do, though, with even a fraction of City’s funds. Crazy times.