Wayne Rooney believes this season will be the toughest Premier League title (Man Utd 12/5 in Outright market) to win, with the English top flight becoming a more level playing field.
The Manchester United frontman has won three titles during his six years at Old Trafford and admits it gets harder and harder to lift the trophy.
Rooney (5/1 to be 2010-11 Premier League top scorer) thinks it will be harder than ever to take the crown back from Chelsea this season, having missed out to the Londoners by one point last term.
The England international insisted: “Since I signed for United I think the Premier League has got progressively harder to win. I know it’s a cliché, but there are no easy games in the Premier League.”
United are going in search of a 19th top flight title, which would see them overtake near rivals Liverpool, but Rooney is under no illusions as to how hard that will be.
He added: “The 2009/10 season was certainly the most competitive I’ve played in. Nowadays it’s hard to leave players out because every game is competitive and difficult.”
The former Everton man got his first run-out of pre-season on Wednesday night, as United demolished an Airtricity League of Ireland select team 7-1 in Dublin.
Rooney started the game up front alongside Michael Owen, playing 45 minutes but failing to get his name on the scoresheet.
Sir Alex Ferguson was happy though with Rooney’s display but admits that the striker needs to work on his fitness ahead of the new season.
Fergie stated: “He’s only been training for six days, but 45 minutes was fine for him. Six days training is not enough for a player to compete in big competitions.”
Park Ji-Sung bagged two goals for last season’s Premier League runners-up, before the fit-again Owen was on hand to double United’s advantage before half-time.
Rooney and Owen were replaced by summer signing Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov (11/2 to be Man Utd 2010-11 Top Scorer) at the break, with five more goals scored in the second half.
Korean star Park grabbed a second with Hernandez, Antonio Valencia, Jonny Evans and Nani also on target.
Ferguson says Michael Carrick will miss Sunday’s Community Shield (Chelsea 11/8, Draw 11/5, Man Utd 15/8 – Match Betting) having picked up an ankle injury on Wednesday night.
Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.
Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish expects Fernando Torres to stay at Anfield, despite intense speculation that the Spain striker will ask for a move away before the start of the season (Liverpool 12/1 – Premier League outright).
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes Wayne Rooney is still improving but feels the 24-year-old can become a ‘complete footballer‘ if he continues to work hard (Rooney 5/1 to be the Premier League’s top scorer in 2010/2011).
German champions Bayern Munich lock horns with their Italian counterparts Inter in the first UEFA Champions League final to be played on a Saturday and both sides are eagerly anticipating the biggest game of the season excluding the World Cup.