"Will this be the greatest season ever?" demanded one sports page pull-out this week, full of the strident rhetoric which greets the onset of each new Premier League season.

It may turn out that way - who knows? - but most would settle for a tighter contest than last time, even if this amounts to nothing more than Manchester United being given a better run for their fortunes than last season's indifferent canter.

When United, in mid-April, won their seventh title in nine seasons and completed a championship hat-trick the feat was diminished by the fact that their challengers, happy to settle for the two spare places in this season's Champions League, had given up the pursuit by the New Year.

Manchester United could hardly be blamed for this, yet the most consistent criticism of the team's failure to maintain previous high standards of performance came from within Old Trafford - notably from the captain Roy Keane. Even Alex Ferguson confessed that his side had become a mite predictable.

At least that should change this season. In Juan Veron, the Argentine midfielder whose arrival from Lazio cost £28.1million but who has generously taken a pay cut to a paltry £80,000 a week, United have a footballer of genuine world class. Ruud van Nistelrooy, a relative snip at £19million from PSV Eindhoven, does indeed have the look of Marco van Basten about him.

Fabien Barthez's gifted eccentricity in goal, the stolid defending of Jaap Stam, Keane's midfield omnipotence and the keen footballing brain of Paul Scholes will continue to form the bedrock of the United team. Add in the consistent quality of David Beckham's crosses, the speed of Ryan Giggs and contributions from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Andy Cole and Nicky Butt and the options available to Ferguson look more daunting than ever.

Once more much will depend on how well United's potential rivals, who are again Arsenal, Liverpool and Leeds, can establish some parity at the top with the perennial champions. This will be decided on the extent to which they can balance their European ambitions with the need to keep up in the Premiership.

At least Leeds, who are in the UEFA Cup this season, will have more room in the fixture list in which to get their act together. Arsenal and Liverpool will know more about their respective tasks when the draw for the first group phase of the Champions League is made next week. Certainly Leeds look a settled side, David O'Leary's only major summer outlay being the £11million which keeps Robbie Keane at Elland Road on a regular basis. Yet, at Anfield, Gerard Houllier will have more opportunities to rotate his resources, even if Robbie Fowler goes. Liverpool, moreover, have bought a left wing-back of no mean quality in the Norwegian John Arne Riise, who should be an improvement on a declining, disaffected Christian Ziege and the right-footed Jamie Carragher.

At Arsenal, the signing of Francis Jeffers in attack, Giovanni van Bronckhorst in midfield, Sol Campbell in defence and Richard Wright as David Seaman's eventual successor in goal represents a busy summer of transfer activity by Arsene Wenger but will add up to a bigger title challenge only if it gives Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry a stronger team framework in which they can operate.

Runners-up for the last three seasons, Arsenal appear to have taken Old Trafford's monopoly of the title too much for granted. The Premier League could really not stand another championship concession by Wenger in mid-season, a piece of kidology which has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The minority of impartial observers can only hope that whoever wins the championship does so in style and, if the title is to stay with Manchester United, there will at least be some intriguing nuances along the way. Maybe Fulham can provide the sort of entertaining diversion that Ipswich did last season.

A greater depth of quality is urgently needed and probable also-rans like Chelsea, Charlton, Tottenham and Sunderland should be capable of providing it.

But only Liverpool, who must surely want the title back more than they want Champions League football, are likely to end United's present monopoly and spoil Fergie's retirement.