Premier League / Ralph Ellis / 11 August 2008 / Leave a comment

Are rumours that Manchester United are monitoring Thierry Henry designed to hurry Tottenham back to the negotiating table? And could Kaka really be coming to Chelsea?

So the season has started the same way the last one ended - with Manchester United winning a trophy against a team in blue on penalties.

Okay so Portsmouth at Wembley managed to come up with even more comical ways to miss from 12 yards than John Terry's slip in Moscow. But the tone has still been set that Sir Alex Ferguson and his United players will still be the people to beat across the distance. And let's be real, it will be the boys in blue - and I don't mean Portsmouth, either - who will be the only real contenders to try to stop them.

The Community Shield might be billed as a friendly but it normally carries a bit of spice to give some pointers to the season. Most years it features two of the big four who are looking to score a few psychological points before the campaign gets going. And back in history it's been really quite feisty - modern fans will get a chance to see how much when the film of David Peace's brilliant book The Damned United comes out later this year. They have recreated the Wembley punch-up between Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan that led to them being the first players to be sent off in the traditional curtain raiser.

This time there was no danger of that, with hardly a tackle being made - even if Carlos Tevez and Herman Hreidarsson did get involved in some handbags. The only cards being shown were for dissent as referee Peter Walton did his best to get over the "Respect" message from the FA as quickly as possible.

The only thing Wembley proved of any lasting significance was that, without Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, United are still short of a goal threat and Sir Alex is planning to sort that out this week with his one major transfer move of the summer. Linked with Thierry Henry in the Sunday papers, Fergie has confirmed he does expect to make a signing this week.

He could well be encouraging the speculation over bringing Arsenal's great goalscorer back from Spain simply to push Spurs to the negotiating table to do a deal for Dimitar Berbatov. On the other hand he might be genuine in his efforts to bring the Frenchman back to England. If he adds either player to his squad it will greatly enhance United's chances of repeating last season's magnificent double. They are currently [2.94] for the Premier League, and [7.2] for success in Europe.

Chelsea are the same price for the Champions League, and slightly shorter at [2.84] for the domestic title. They've stayed out of the limelight as far as pre-season matches are concerned, running in goals in friendlies in the Far East that tell you little about their preparation under Luiz Felipe Scolari. They are also still in the market, and this morning comes word from Kaka's agent who says his client is likely to move to Stamford Bridge before the window closes.

It's hard to look outside United and Chelsea for the top two. The real issue is whether the year has come for anybody to break up the big four. And that's where there could be possibilities. Arsenal's squad is thin and news from their weekend tournament in Amsterdam was that Abou Diaby will be out for at least a month. Meanwhile Liverpool are back in a state of civil war over their failed summer transfer plans.

If Tottenham hang on to Berbatov they look decent value at [5.5] for a top four finish, especially after an impressive 5-0 romp over AS Roma at White Hart Lane yesterday. And Aston Villa's prospects won't be harmed by the fact they now look certain to hold on to Gareth Barry. Martin O'Neill's side are [10] to improve on last season by at least two places.

There's an old argument that you can't keep an unhappy player, but the transfer window has changed all that. Once August 31 has come and gone and both Barry and Berbatov have not moved, what choice do they have but to settle down and start performing? The Villa man especially has to protect his hard-won place in Fabio Capello's England squad.

No, nothing might change with United and Chelsea at the top - but below that it could just be the season when the big four cartel gets broken up.

Tags: Alex Ferguson, Aston Villa, Carlos Tevez, Chelsea, Dimitar Berbatov, Football Betting, Gareth Barry, Kaka, Liverpool, Manchester United, Premier League Betting, Scolari, Tottenham