It’s a two-horse race

MEANINGLESS? If you thought the champions might be underprepared for the new season through missing half their squad and being thwarted in the transfer market, think again.

In outclassing Chelsea on Sunday, Manchester City suggested that if they were thrown a ball as they stepped off their coach, still in civvies and with headsets dangling, they would still murder just about any team out there.

Big Six? On this evidence and what has happened (and not happened) in the fastclosing window, the coming title race looks to be a two-horse affair: City and bigspending, raring-to-go Liverpool (more of whom later).

The Community Shield showed that the World Cup and the woes of the market had taken a similar toll on both sides, with key men in key positions notable by their absence: neither team’s first-choice keepers nor midfield maestros took any part.

But where the FA Cup winners looked like they had only just been introduced, City reproduced the fluidity of movement and slick passing that took the title by 1,000 cuts last season. The frightening thing, not just for Chelsea but the rest, is that it was different dalang pulling the strings.

After a so-so debut campaign, Bernardo Silva looks as if he’s fed up with being a bitpart player while the precocious Phil Foden unveiled enough delightful touches and deft swivels to show he’s not called “the Stockport Iniesta” for nothing.

Riyad Mahrez may have appeared a luxury item but his silky skills are a perfect fit for the Pep template. And in Benjamin Mendy, there’s a major upgrade at leftback. As well as Fabian Delph and others coped in the Frenchman’s absence, City now boast a marauding powerhouse on that flank.

Where Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva were hardly missed, Chelsea were crying out for the non-stop running of N’Golo Kante and cutting edge of Eden Hazard. Jorginho was off the pace but City shouldn’t think they’ve had a near-miss – Kante will help him. And in Callum Hudson-Odoi, the Blues have a fantastic prospect even if he wasn’t as devastating as he was against Arsenal.

Continuing the comparisons, where Sergio Aguero appeared none the worse for Argentina’s car crash in Russia, Alvaro Morata looked like he’d just stepped out of one.

On the day, Chelsea had the better keeper but neither Willy Caballero nor Claudio Bravo are remotely good enough. If Thibaut Courtois decamps to Real Madrid, as seems increasingly likely, Chelsea would have a keeper crisis.

With 38-year-old Robert Green – remember him? – a curious choice as No.3, they’ll have to make a panic buy to bring in Jack Butland or Kaspar Schmeichel or even Petr Cech. The promising 18-year-old Pole Marcin Bulka would surely be a better back-up than Caballero or Green.

Despite the plaudits for his distribution, Bravo remains City’s Achilles Heel. If anything happens to Ederson, the Chilean clown just cannot be trusted with the day job.

No one knows the importance of the position more than Liverpool who have finally acted to solve the problem. It has taken a world-record fee to bring in Alisson from Roma but it is further evidence that Jurgen Klopp is really going for it this time around.

City have won the only pre-season trophy but Liverpool have dominated since the last one ended. The tears of the Champions League loss had not even dried when they snapped up Fabinho as a holding midfielder and with Naby Keita, Xherdan Shaqiri also added, the Reds have remedied their weaknesses decisively and impressively.

As well as doing their business early, the beauty of these buys is that, with the possible exception of Shaqiri, they are players Klopp really wanted – but at £13m (RM68.7m) the mercurial Swiss was too cheap to ignore.

Now the squad is just about complete, the holes that were exposed at the end of last season have been filled with such quality and character that Klopp’s biggest problem is dealing with expectation levels.

But the current optimism has not been built on names alone – fans have now had a look at these players in what has been an impressive pre-season. Indeed, Liverpool have seemed to be ahead of everyone else – both on and off the field.

Helped by having fewer players at the World Cup, they have played more matches of a gradually increasing difficulty and slotted new names and youngsters in relatively seamlessly.

Even Daniel Sturridge has reminded everyone that he remains a silky, speedy threat up front if he can keep himself in one piece. Even on one leg, he looks a more lethal threat than either Danny Ings or Dominic Solanke.

The only doubts are whether Mo Salah can have the same stellar impact, whether Dejan Lovren is still a liability and whether Alisson is actually that good.

Kopites may have to be prepared for one or two moments on crosses rather like David de Gea had in his first season at United. But the Brazilian has to be a massive improvement on Loris Karius whose position had become untenable.

Elsewhere, it looks as if Jose Mourinho has hoisted the white flag although there may be some last-minute, over-priced addition made to appease him. Don’t forget, though, that Fred is a decent capture in midfield.

United appear to have suffered the most from the Premier League clubs shooting themselves in the foot by closing the window early. But Spurs have signed no one at all and you don’t hear a peep out of Mauricio Pochettino.

With no new faces and a new home to get used to, you can’t see this being the year Spurs step up – unless they land one of the cups. If Chelsea hang on to Hazard, Willian and Courtois, Maurizio Sarri has something to work with – otherwise he could have a tough baptism.

Arsenal may surprise with a new-found resilience but you can’t see past City and Liverpool to win the thing. For all the moans and whinges elsewhere, it should be a riveting battle.