THIS WILL BE MOUR LIKE IT
Northern powerhouses back on top – it’s Jose v Pep for title
IT was supposed to happen last season – Jose Mourinho versus Pep Guardiola for the Premier League title.
The Special One, newly installed at Manchester United, against another master manager arriving across the city at The Etihad.
The title, surely, was destined for Manchester. It was just a question of whether the ribbons on the trophy would be red or light blue.
Mourinho taking on Guardiola again, the former colleagues who became bitter rivals in Spain when they were in charge of superclubs Real Madrid and Barcelona.
But things did not go according to plan as London started calling for the title.
Chelsea won it, under another new boss in Antonio Conte, with Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham finishing runners-up.
City finished third, but did not win a trophy. United were only sixth, but at least won three cups if you include the Community Shield.
And according to serial winner Mourinho, it is to sit alongside the League Cup and crucially the Europa League, which secured Champions League qualification for United.
But this WILL be the season that Manchester becomes the capital – in a football sense.
I do believe it will be United versus City for the title with both squads stronger than last season, with the Old Trafford giants adding Romelu Lukaku and Mourinho’s favoured midfield enforcer, Nemanja Matic.
And it would not be a leap too far to imagine United jumping from sixth to first.
After all, Chelsea won the league last season after being 10th the previous campaign.
And the season before that, Leicester became the most unlikely champions ever, after they had finished 14th a year earlier.
But it will not be a two-horse race – Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal all have title aspirations.
There is optimism, too, at both Everton and West Ham but that is more to do with trying to gatecrash the top six rather than ‘doing a Leicester’.
Chelsea have not enjoyed the smoothest of summers. It has been dominated by targetman Diego Costa’s fall-out with Conte.
The winner there, just as he was in the title race last season, was the Blues’ Italian boss.
But Chelsea will still miss the snarling but influential presence of Costa, 28, whose 120 league and cup appearances for the Stamford Bridge club produced 59 goals.
Conte’s squad will also have to contend with the high-profile demands of the Champions League.
It is perhaps significant that the last two Premier League champions – Leicester and Chelsea – have been Europe-free in those title-winning seasons.
Tottenham, the quiet club so far in the noisiest of transfer windows, will also be handicapped by having to play their home matches at Wembley while a new White Hart Lane is built.
It is almost like playing your home fixtures on neutral ground.
But what happens between now and the close of the transfer window at the end of this month will also be a major factor.
United, City, Chelsea and Arsenal look the most likely to produce a make-the-difference signing.
But as things stand, I’m going to go for Mourinho, 54, to pip Pep, 46, in the title race.
The United boss has won eight league titles in four countries. Guardiola has six in three.
At the end of this season, I’m backing Mourinho to be up to nine with his first for United in what will be a Manchester one-two.
Premier League winners: Manchester United Rest of top four: Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal Relegated: Burnley, Huddersfield, Brighton Surprise package: West Ham Best Prem player: Paul Pogba Top Prem scorer: Harry Kane Best signing: Bernardo Silva Worst signing: Mohamed Salah First sacking: Mauricio Pellegrino FA Cup winners: Chelsea League Cup winners: Man City Champions League winners: Real Madrid
Wish for the season: That England return from the World Cup with their heads held high – for a change.