EPL Preview: Consistency the key to Liverpool's title hopes

Liverpool have cashed in on midfielder Xabi Alonso and their lack of financial muscle means they have been unable to compete for stellar signings like Valencia striker David Villa.

However, manager Rafa Benitez remains convinced he can end a three-season trophy drought at Anfield and deliver the prize the fans crave the most.

Next May will represent the 20th anniversary since the Merseyside club last won the league title, far too long for a team of Liverpool's traditions.

They lost only two league games last season yet were still forced to settle for runners-up spot.

"We are strong enough to beat anyone but we need to be consistent," said Benitez as he prepared for his sixth season in charge at Anfield.

"We got 86 points last season, a record for the club in the Premier League, but we still need to improve. We have a lot of confidence."

Consistency will be the key for Liverpool. Despite losing two fewer games than champions Manchester United, it was too many home draws that did for them last season and Benitez knows they cannot afford a repeat.

Ben Foster and Wes Brown are likely to be fit for champions Manchester United's opening Premier League game at home to Birmingham City after a close-season full of injuries and high-profile departures.

With first-choice goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar ruled out for several weeks with a broken finger, deputy Foster missed England's midweek friendly against Netherlands due to a knock.

However, Foster is set to return on Sunday, as is defender Brown following his thigh injury.

With Nemanja Vidic poised for another week out, Nani a doubt with a shoulder problem, Gary Neville struggling with a groin injury and Owen Hargreaves still some way off a return, the availability of Foster and Brown would be a significant boost for manager Alex Ferguson.

United are notoriously slow starters and have failed to win on the opening day in three of the past five seasons.

Ferguson knows that following a close-season in which Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee of 80 million pounds ($131.5 million) and Carlos Tevez left for Manchester City, United will be firmly in the spotlight.

The Scot has limited his spending, with winger Antonio Valencia arriving from Wigan Athletic, striker Michael Owen joining on a free transfer from Newcastle United and midfielder Gabriel Obertan signing from Girondins Bordeaux.

Chelsea captain John Terry is predicting a "fight to the death" as his team attempt to end Manchester United's three-year domination of the Premier League.

The big-spending Londoners won the title in 2005 and 2006 under former coach Jose Mourinho but since then have been runners-up twice and third last season.

Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink have all failed to emulate Mourinho's double triumph and this time the task of toppling United from top spot falls to former AC Milan supremo Carlo Ancelotti.

"It will be close, as it has been for the last four or five years," defender Terry told the club's website (www.chelseafc.com) as his team prepared for Saturday's home league game with Hull City.

"We have been pushing them (United) closely and when we won it, they were pushing us, so it will be a fight to the death.

"I am sure at the same time Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City will be pushing and upsetting a few good teams as well," added England skipper Terry who last month turned down a money-spinning move to City.

Chelsea ended their pre-season campaign in encouraging style, beating United 4-1 on penalties when the traditional Community Shield curtain-raiser at Wembley ended 2-2 after 90 minutes.

After agreeing more big-name departures, Arsene Wenger will hope the return to fitness of Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo da Silva can spur his young Arsenal side to silverware this season.

The desire of the fans for manager Wenger to end years of high-profile exits by making expensive close-season signings grew when defender Kolo Toure and striker Emmanuel Adebayor moved to Manchester City.

However, the Frenchman's only signing has been Ajax Amsterdam centre back Thomas Vermaelen and he will instead put his faith in Czech Republic midfielder Rosicky and Croatia striker Eduardo, who almost represent new players after injury-ravaged spells.

Rosicky has been sidelined by a troublesome hamstring injury while Eduardo is back after a groin problem that followed a horrific broken leg in February 2008.

A Champions League semi-final appearance last season was testament to the talent Wenger's teenage army possess but a fourth-placed Premier League finish indicates consistency remains an obstacle.

Rosicky's return alongside captain Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin will increase creativity in the midfield and the side will be helped further by having a classy partnership in Eduardo and Robin van Persie up front.

"I don't see why we should be scared ... I see the offensive potential we have," Rosicky told the club's website (www.arsenal.com).

"Of course we know we have to do better, we are not blind to that, but we can see it's positive."

Arsenal's last league title came in 2004 after an incredible unbeaten campaign. However, none of that squad remain at the club.

If newly rich Manchester City wanted to rile Manchester United during the close-season they certainly went about it the right way -- and not just by spending over 100 million pounds ($165 million) on new players.

The arrivals of Carlos Tevez from United, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn and Gareth Barry from Aston Villa should certainly see City improve in the new Premier League season starting this weekend.

However, it is not the signings themselves that have got under the skin of Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson, who is plotting a title defence without world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo, sold to Real Madrid, as well as Tevez.

What really rankles at Old Trafford is City's assertion that they are about to challenge for a place in the top four, and ultimately United's position as the biggest club in England.

City tweaked United's nose when a huge banner was erected in the city centre showing Tevez in a City shirt with the slogan "Welcome to Manchester" underneath his photograph -- a cheeky reference to the fact that United's home of Old Trafford is actually situated in Salford, outside Manchester city limits.

"They are a small club with a small mentality," responded Ferguson. "All they can talk about is Manchester United."

He continued: "It will not be easy for City this season, and for me they don't even come into the top four equation. For all the buying they have done, Mark Hughes still has to find the right balance, and what's he got -- 1O strikers?"

Since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan took control of City last year, manager Hughes has spent over 220 million pounds on new players, including the British record 32.5 million he paid for Brazilian Robinho at the start of last season.

Anything other than a top four finish will be regarded as a failure at City, who last mounted a realistic title bid in 1976-77 when they finished as runners-up to Liverpool.

They have not won a major trophy since the League Cup in 1976 and since returning to the Premier League in 2002, their best finishing position was eighth in 2005.

Burnley return to the top-flight on Saturday after a 33-year absence and aim to mark the 50th anniversary of their last title triumph by retaining Premier League status.

When the Lancashire club won the old first division in 1959-60 it was with a well-established side brimming with internationals such as Northern Ireland midfielder Jimmy McIlroy.

There are echoes of the past in the modern Burnley team which is largely made up of British players and plays attractive football, often using old-fashioned wingers.

However, financial realities mean avoiding relegation is the only realistic goal.

Burnley have a rich tradition but for the younger generation of fans recent times have been spent struggling their way up from the fourth tier of English football, evading extinction and gradually establishing themselves in the second tier before last season's promotion via the playoffs.

In 1987 the Clarets needed to win the final game of the season against Leyton Orient to survive in the professional ranks and avoid almost certain bankruptcy and possible oblivion.

Those dark days are well behind Burnley now though and they enter the Premier League quietly assured of themselves after beating several top-flight opponents last year, including Arsenal and Chelsea, in a run to the League Cup semi-finals.

Confidence has been instilled by Owen Coyle who, after a modest career as a player and starting his managerial career with Scottish clubs St Johnstone and Falkirk, has transformed Burnley.