Premier League title race to the four

Still, there are some storylines you can see emerging. For a start, we may get a genuine four-horse race for the first time in years if the Manchester clubs continue to work during the window and buttress their weak points – Arsenal and Chelsea, who square off in the Charity Shield today, were arguably the best clubs in each half of the season last year.

For Manchester United, the obvious needs are help in central defence (don’t hold your breath for Sergio Ramos, but despite protestations to the contrary, someone ought to arrive), an alternative to Wayne Rooney up front and some resolution to the David de Gea situation (either the Spaniard staying and moving as a free agent next year or leaving with a reasonable replacement).

Elsewhere, they have done things right, adding the pace and creativity of Memphis Depay, the leadership and grit of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin and a proper right-back in Matteo Darmian. You would assume they won’t leave things half finished.

City are a tougher read. They needed less than United and have added less: Fabian Delph in midfield and Raheem Sterling somewhere along the frontline. The extra options provide Manuel Pellegrini more choice and make them better – they weren’t that far away last year – if they can find someone other than a 34-year-old post-Copa America Martin Demichelis or Eliaquim Mangala to partner Vincent Kompany at the back they will be stronger.

Some folks may be getting carried away with Arsenal’s signing of Petr Cech – he didn’t exactly pull up trees in 2013-14, his last year as a starter at Chelsea – but he is still an upgrade at goalkeeper. Like many Arsene Wenger teams, they are a side who took a while to find their feet but finished last season on a high, just three defeats since New Year’s Day, and boast a talented returning cast.

As for the champions, at least at this stage you are entitled to think they are due a blip or, at least, a correction. Jose Mourinho can say what he likes, but the focus from the top will inevitably shift to the Champ-ions League. Since retaining the title at Stamford Bridge in 2005-06, the Special One has won back-to-back titles just once, in Inter’s Treble-winning season, and even that was a bit of a smoke-and-mirrors affair, squandering a huge lead and regaining it with a desperate finish against a weak field.

Radamel Falcao will either be the redemption tale of the year or a boneheaded move to please a friendly agent, but the squad right now looks thin, much as it did last year when it hiccuped in the second half of the campaign and looked a different team to the one admired earlier.

All this points to a consolidated top four, in part because the sides behind them appear to be in transition. Tottenham were the by-word of inconsistency and finished fifth because Harry Kane’s heroics bailed them out. They have added some defensive pieces (Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld) but issues remain and few expect Kane to be operating as an 11 again. Liverpool moved early and with seven signings by early July, but with Brendan Rodgers it is anyone’s guess how the pieces fit.

What does Christian Benteke mean for Daniel Sturridge or Danny Ings? How do you get Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho to co-exist rationally? Is James Milner really going to fill Steven Gerrard’s boots? There is a lot of convincing yet to be done.

Across town, Everton are busy fending off John Stones’ suitors and have added Tom Cleverley to the mix, but as ever they will live or die by the Roberto Martinez mantra.

With Fraser Forster injured and Nathaniel Clyne and Schneiderlin gone, Southampton are scrambling to strengthen and it will likely take more than Jordy Clasie’s neat passing. Then again, we said the same about them last year and they wowed us. Plus, the conveyor belt of talent out of the Academy doesn’t seem to stop (Harrison Reed, you’re up next).

At Swansea, nobody expects Andre Ayew to replace Wilfried Bony, or that this season will be as kind as last year’s, but Garry Monk knows how to keep the Swans afloat, while Mark Hughes continues his quiet, but effective, reinvention of Stoke, albeit without Steven Nzonzi.

Yohan Cabaye was rightly seen as a coup for Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace, while West Ham weren’t shy about letting Slaven Bilic splash the cash (Manuel Lanzini, Angelo Ogbonna, Pedro Obiang, Dimitri Payet). That’s, roughly, where the mid-table expectations end and things get hairy.

Tim Sherwood’s job at Villa Park only gets tougher without Benteke and Delph, while Claudio Ranieri’s return to the Premier League at Leicester should at least ensure a more level-headed, though not necessarily more successful, campaign.

Mike Ashley finally spent some money on Georginio Wijnaldum and Chancel Mbemba, but folks forget how poor Steve McClaren has been in his recent gigs (or, indeed, how poor Newcastle were last year).

It is tough times for Dick Advocaat at Sunderland whose summer campaign seems to have been all about reclamation projects (Jeremain Lens, Sebastian Coates, Younes Kaboul). West Brom, too, are a work in progress and history suggests Tony Pulis tends to offer diminishing returns over time.

As for the promoted clubs, wunder-kinder Alex Neil and Eddie Howe are taking different approaches; the former has plenty from Norwich’s last stint in the top flight plus some exper-ienced veterans, while the latter has done some lateral thinking (Sylvain Distin, 38 years young in December), but both have limited budgets.

And then there is Watford, as ever digging deep into the scouting wonders of the Pozzo family and their triumvirate of clubs: 10 new faces and a new manager, Quique Sanchez Flores.

Yet given some of the dysfunctionality above them, maybe as many as two of the three might stay up. Then again, that is the view as August begins. Ask again when the window shuts, and the cast of characters is truly defined, and you may get an entirely different answer.