5 Reasons Manchester City Are Manchester United's Biggest Threat

5 Reasons Manchester City Are Manchester United's Biggest Threat......

Upgrade from Europa League to Champions League

City's start to last season was disrupted by a Europa League glamour qualifier with FCU Politehnica Timisoara, which incurred an extra game at Eastlands and a trip to Romania before August was even through. 

In all, they played 12 matches in Europe's second-tier competition. In addition to the qualifiers they also played six group matches and two knockout ties played over two legs, and still they suffered an ignominious exit to Dynamo Kiev in the last 16. If you enter the Champions League at the group stage, a dozen matches puts you just one game away from the final.

That is not to say that the campaign was a total bust - they drew twice with Juventus, eventually signed reserve goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon from Politehnica and the fans picked up that nifty 'Poznan' celebration from their trip to Poland.

Still, the Champions League is truly where they want to be. After finishing third last term despite playing their European fixtures later in the week than their top-table rivals, this season they will be in step with the other title contenders' midweek schedules. As a result they will not have to worry about Europe until mid-September or have too many domestic fixtures shunted to Sundays, both factors that will aid them in their title chase.

Roberto Mancini can be bolder now

City manager Roberto Mancini came in for much criticism last season for his team's negative tactics, and not entirely without justification. Watching 'Bobby Manc' send out a team intent on stifling their way into the top four has at times been like pulling teeth.

Still, his dual approach of blitzing lesser sides early before shutting up shop and slowly suffocating top opposition into submission has paid off. Nowhere in his City contract is there a clause offering bonuses for style and aesthetics.

This season, however, his brief has been amended to include at least a serious assault on the title, which will require him to abandon his inferiority complex and be more ambitious against the top sides. City only claimed one win from six league meetings with Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea last season. More points need to be taken from the teams around them, something City can feel more confident about doing this term.

City beat their neighbours in last season's FA Cup semi-final and have generally been competitive against them in Mancini's seven Manchester derbies, but United's recent habit of snatching victory in the dying moments against them continued in last weekend's Community Shield. Playing Catenaccio against the best teams is not a formula for repeated success in the Premier League. 

If Mancini can adopt a bolder approach against his team's main rivals this season, he may well be rewarded.

The revolving door at Eastlands is slowing down

There have been three key signings made this summer - Sergio Aguero, Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic. Meanwhile Jerome Boateng, Shay Given and Jo have all been sold and a clutch of over-priced under-performers from Mark Hughes's time in charge look destined for the scrap heap.

In spite of that, there is definitely are more settled look to about this City squad than at any time since Thaksin Shinawatra's takeover in 2007 kicked off the City revolution. 

A handful of the current squad's English contingent are the only ones who can remember life at the club before the Thai despot and Sven-Goran Eriksson's single-season stint at the helm in 2007-08. The rest of the playing staff were all plying their trade elsewhere when the Beijing Olympics began. Today, not a single one of Eriksson's myriad signings remains at the club, making Nigel de Jong, Pablo Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany all elder statesmen within the squad.

But the general upheaval has abated significantly during Mancini's year-and-a-half in charge, with the Italian overseeing around half the ins and outs of his predecessor in a similar time period. 

The revolving door may still be turning but it is certainly slowing down, and that makes for the most settled Man City roster seen during this new era of wealth.

They just might be the best of the rest

Disregarding City themselves for a moment, it is worth taking stock of where the other two clubs expected to be United's main title rivals are at going into the new campaign.

Chelsea deservedly finished second last term, but they committed themselves to a transitional year as soon as Carlo Ancelotti was relieved of his duties in a Goodison Park corridor on the final day of last season. It is perfectly conceivable that Andre Villas-Boas will emulate compatriot Jose Mourinho by bringing the league title to Stamford Bridge in his first year in England, but there are plenty of factors working against him. 

Much as most neutrals would like to see it happen, there are no guarantees that Fernando Torres will recover his best form after having more than six months to bed in at his new club. The words of calm repeated ad nauseum that he will come good in the end are eerily reminiscent of the mantra of not so long ago that Andriy Shevchenko was simply too good a player to end up a flop.  

The Blues again have to go through a big chunk of a season without the services of Michael Essien, who is expected to be out until after Christmas with a knee injury. Concerns that the club's ageing stars like Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and even John Terry are on the wane must be taken more seriously with each ensuing year.

At Arsenal, the much-needed improvements in the areas where they are needed most are conspicuous by their absence. 

Wojciech Szczesny does have the look of being the Gunners' number one for years to come, but scratch the surface and it is still maligned pair Lukasz Fabianski and Manuel Almunia providing cover. They cannot even call Jens Lehmann out of retirement in desperation any more. Had the Gunners reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season then it could well have been Lehmann in goal for them, as the second legs of the last eight came just days after the German veteran's injury-enforced appearance at Blackpool. These are the slim margins by which Arsene Wenger is currently operating.

The signings of attacking duo Gervinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are both exciting ones, but they may well be offset by the departure of Cesc Fabregas and/or Samir Nasri. Reports of the Gunners' demise may be exaggerated (they were just three points off an automatic Champions League spot, after all) but they are yet to make the strides forward that would see them catch their rivals. 

A title-winning spine is already in place

It is one of football's old cliches that a team is not championship material if it does not boast top-drawer personnel right down the centre of the first XI. That is certainly not an accusation that can be levelled at City. 

Over the past year goalkeeper Joe Hart had become established as England's number one - even if, admittedly, that was a little bit by default due to David James's age and Robert Green's butter fingers. The 24-year-old has now seen off the threat of Shay Given and this week was rewarded with a new, five-year contract, indicating just how highly he is rated by a club that could buy another first-class custodian with ease.

Vincent Kompany was undoubtedly one of last season's top performers across all clubs and positions, so much so that he was selected alongside Nemanja Vidic in the PFA Team of the Year and beat Carlos Tevez and David Silva to City supporter's own end-of-season award.

The misconception doing the rounds that City had signed yet another defensive midfielder last summer has now well and truly been dispelled by a sensational debut season from Yaya Toure. The rangy Ivorian has shown what he can do when freed from the constraints of supporting Xavi and Andres Iniesta, and he capped a great first year running box-to-box across England by scoring winners at Wembley twice to add the FA Cup to his haul of everything there was to win in Spain and Europe for Barcelona.

As for the very top vertebrae of this metaphorical spine, even if Tevez does leave then at least the Citizens can take comfort in the club-record acquisition of Sergio Aguero.  

Add to that Nigel de Jong screening the back four supremely and a fully acclimatised Silva, City's strong spine should present a full-bodied title threat.