Chelsea (13/8 to win the Premier League) boss Carlo Ancelotti says the Premier League could be a five-horse race, and that the Blues will have to be better than last season to finish top of the pile again.
Ancelotti starts the new season with a home date against West Brom (Chelsea 1/7 to win) – and there is plenty to live up to after guiding Chelsea to the double last term.
The Italian insists that it will not be a straight fight with Manchester United at the top this year, and points to Liverpool’s potential under new manager Roy Hodgson as well as Manchester City’s big-budget squad as potential challengers.
“It will be more difficult to win the title this year,” Ancelotti told the Press Association.
“It is not enough to be like last year; we will need to work harder.
“Manchester United will be our biggest rivals.
“They have quality, tradition and history but I know that we have to pay attention to the other teams.
“Arsenal bought a fantastic striker in (Marouane) Chamakh, Liverpool have a new manager, they could be a strong opponent, and we have to look at Manchester City because they bought a lot of good players and they have to build a team. They could be involved in the title race.”
However, Ancelotti has done his level best to ensure Chelsea start the new campaign with the strongest squad possible, ensuring that Carvalho’s departure to Real Madrid this week was followed quickly by the capture of Brazil midfielder Ramires for around £18million.
The Benfica 23-year-old has joined on a four-year contract on the back of his involvement in the World Cup
“He is a fantastic player,” Ancelotti said.
“He will be the future of the Brazil national team and I hope he will be the future of Chelsea.
“He won’t have any problems adapting to the English game because he is not Brazilian 100%. Because usually a Brazilian doesn’t like to run, he likes to play football. He is a runner.”
Ancelotti said he was disappointed that Portuguese star Carvalho carried through on his agreement to leave this summer, after six years at Stamford Bridge.
But the Chelsea manager (Chelsea 4/11 to be top London club) insisted that the player’s exit did not mean he was in the market for a new centre half, despite being linked with Benfica centre half David Luiz.
Ancelotti said: “As a centre-back, we have (John) Terry, (Branislav) Ivanovic, Alex and (Jeffrey) Bruma. We are okay. We do not need anyone else.”
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