A ball has not been kicked in anger and the verbal jousting has already begun.

Arsene Wenger boasts of a seismic shift in English football's balance of power.

Sir Alex Ferguson duly rises to the bait, treating the comment with the contempt one would expect from the country's most successful manager.

And everybody else thinks: if they're already fighting now, goodness knows how bad they'll be once the season starts.

It has been a strange Premiershp summer. The British transfer record has been smashed - yet elsewhere fees are falling.

And clubs like Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur, who are looking to splash the cash, can't buy a top player for love - never mind money.

Indeed, until Rio Ferdinand moved to Manchester United for £30m, the biggest players in the European transfer market were...Manchester City.

Old habits clearly die hard with Kevin Keegan, for as other clubs - even Arsenal - were tightening their belts, the City chequebook was being given no opportunity to gather dust in a Maine Road drawer.

But if you're expecting City, or any other club, to break into the Premiership elite, forget it.

The days of a side like Norwich City, in 1993, chasing the title are long since gone.

Yes, Newcastle United's sterling effort was richly rewarded by a place in this season's Champions League, and Ipswich Town finished fifth in their first Premiership campaign. But it will be the usual suspects - headed by Arsenal and United - who will be locking horns come the end of the season.

United, and Juan Sebastian Veron in particular, cannot afford another barren campaign.

But the likes of Fabien Barthez and Paul Scholes, plus Ferdinand of course, will also be under severe scrutiny as they strive to fill the Old Trafford trophy cabinet.

Can Ruud van Nistelrooy replicate his sparkling debut season? And can Diego Forlan score a goal for United?

Ferguson's decision to sign a new three-year contract will certainly have concentrated the minds of players he accused of complacency last season.

But for the first time in four years, United are - in the immortal words of Henry Kelly - playing catch-up.

Arsenal, all pace and panache, were simply too street-wise last season. A remarkable away record - they did not lose a single league game outside north London - was the bedrock of an assault on the Premiership title that steamrollered everything in its path in the second half of the campaign. With Robert Pires back to full fitness, their attacking armoury would intimidate any defence in Europe.

But it is their own backline that searching questions will be asked of this season.

Tony Adams and Lee Dixon have gone; Martin Keown and David Seaman won't be far behind them; and new signing Pascal Cygan could not get into a France team that contained Frank Leboeuf in the World Cup.

With Wenger keen to cut the Highbury wage bill - there are no takers for Kanu at just £1m - Arsenal, too, cannot be supremely confident as they begin the defence of their crown.

Liverpool, as usual, are top-heavy with midfielders, and with Nicolas Anelka gone one must wonder where the goals will come from if Michael Owen's dodgy hamstrings let him down.

Chelsea, for once, have not made wholesale changes to their squad in the close season.

That could work in their favour: if their talented players have the opportunity to bed in, maybe they can at last make a concerted attempt to win the league.

But, then again, they're looking to sell either Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink or Eidur Gudjohnsen, so all is clearly not well by the Bridge - despite Chairman Ken's bluster.

Leeds United have a new manager - well, Terry Venables is fairly old actually, but you get my drift - and hopefully a bright new future to embrace, free from trials and errors. But can the signing of a welter of players, and Venables's guile, compensate for the loss of Ferdinand?

Newcastle might be distracted by a Champions League campaign, and even Sir Bobby Robson's summer strengthening may not be sufficient once injuries start to bite.

Of the rest - well, Middlesbrough should continue their progress forward under Steve McClaren, though the new signings may take time to settle.

Sunderland's problems are well documented - both here and elsewhere - but a good manager cannot become a bad one overnight. Jean Tigana will be looking nervously over his shoulder if Fulham's strikers continue to be allergic to goalscoring, while Tottenham and Aston Villa will probably flatter to deceive - again.

And the collapse of ITV Digital means the relegation battle, which will no doubt involve West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City among others, will be more frenetic than ever.

But back to Wenger and Ferguson, and before the Frenchman gets too blase, he might be well served to recall the last time United finished a season without a trophy.

That was in 1998, and 12 months later United had won the treble.

But that can't happen again. Can it?