As the drama of the Premier League begins, few changes in the status quo are expected, writes EMMET MALONE

TOWARDS THE end of the season a few years back, Alex Ferguson was asked by a member of the press corps that follows Manchester United whether he would be passing a part of his summer break at the approaching World Cup. “None of your business,” he barked back. “Do I ask if you’re still going to those f*****g gay clubs?”

Despite the weeks away from each other, there may not have been much more love in the air yesterday, but the hacks were still back at the club’s Carrington training ground around lunchtime for the first of this year’s regular pre-match press conferences.

Barcelona have taken their European crown and the team’s most bankable star has been cashed in but as they set off in pursuit of what would be a historic fourth consecutive title, United are still the team to beat in the English Premier League.

The line-up of rivals is pretty much unchanged. The bookies actually make Chelsea slight favourites for the title on the basis of them not having lost any of last year’s squad while Liverpool and Arsenal are also viewed as potential champions.

Considerable interest is also focused on Manchester City, who have spent a great deal of money in the hope of mounting a challenge while Aston Villa and Everton might fancy their chances of nicking a top-four finish in the event that one of the usual contenders come up short.

The obvious candidate on that front is Arsenal who, hampered by injuries last year, finished some 11 points behind third-placed Chelsea but still nine ahead of the chasing pack with Villa, their most menacing challengers through most of the campaign, pretty much collapsing in the run-in and obliged to settle in the end for sixth place behind David Moyes’s side.

Three months on, the managers of the top four all make reasonable cases for their own side’s title credentials. United’s scarcely needs restating and the hopes of their rivals appear to hinge to a significant extent on how adversely the champions are affected by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Supporters might wish that Ferguson had reinvested more of the world record fee but picking up Michael Owen on a free transfer is still potentially the summer’s best bit of business and the wily Scot seems set to adjust his side’s style of play again to maximise its altered resources.

Liverpool must hope that Alberto Aquilani proves an able replacement for Xabi Alonso but the wisdom of spending some €20 million on Glen Johnson also remains open to question at this point. Benitez and his backers will, however, contend that Fernando Torres staying fit for the entirety of this campaign could prove the difference between last year’s runners-up spot and a precious first league title since 1990.

Michael Essien this week became the latest Chelsea player to claim the good times are about to return to Stamford Bridge but it is noticeable that only the club’s English players have tended to identify the Premier League as being as coveted these days as a first Champions League crown.

The club’s squad is older than that of any of its rivals and new manager Carlo Ancelotti will have to cope without Essien, Didier Drogba and Saloman Kalou for a month or so after Christmas while the African Cup of Nations takes place.

Some of the Italian’s predecessors might argue they could have won the domestic title themselves had it not been for long-term injuries and the like over the last few seasons. Still, the recruitment by Roman Abramovich of Ancelotti from Milan must be taken as a clear sign that Europe is the Chelsea owner’s priority for the delivery of Scudettos was not the newly arrived coach’s speciality during his years at the San Siro.

The anticipated fitness of players like Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Rosicky and Eduardo for pretty much the whole of this season provides the basis for Wenger’s claim that his side can mount a serious challenge again but the Londoners still look the most likely to be fending off City and the rest for the last Champions League position.

How the campaign unfolds for Mark Hughes and the Eastlands outfit promises to be one of great dramas of the coming months but, somewhat inevitably, Ferguson was withering yesterday.

“Manchester City have taken us off the back pages, he said, “but I’m quite happy about that because sometimes you get fed up reading about yourself.”

At the other end of the table it will be the usual scramble to avoid the increasingly perilous fate of relegation. Hull and Sunderland had particularly narrow escapes last time out and Phil Brown will have his work cut out to recapture the spirit that sent his side soaring into the top half of the table immediately after their promotion. Steve Bruce, on the other hand, has both a stronger squad and, one suspects, a greater ability to squeeze more out of members of the one he inherited in the first place.

The three newly promoted sides will be among the favourites to go straight back down while Stoke might be the latest club to find it difficult to consolidate their success in what Ferguson insists is the strongest league around.

“Some people have said the power has gone back to Barcelona and Real Madrid. I don’t know how they can say that. There is no evidence,” he said yesterday. “Over the years the Premier League has become the most competitive in Europe. I have no doubt in my mind about that.

“Barcelona deservedly won the European Cup last season but if you look over the last four or five years, the English teams have shared the real glory of Europe. I still feel the Premier League is the toughest in Europe.”

The target for the Scot and his United side, will be another double: the maintenance of their dominance at home by becoming the first team ever to win four successive titles while also regaining top spot in Europe.

It would seem foolhardy to bet against them completing the first leg and clearly Ferguson feels he still has the players to see off his domestic rivals. The manager might well believe his players will be in Madrid on May 22nd next year too but yesterday, at least, none of the journalists at Carrington thought to ask.