Mark Lawrenson doesn't expect England's young stars to change the shape of things

To be quite honest, last season's Premiership preview would probably do the job this time around: once again it's all about whether Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal can put up a serious challenge to Chelsea. I really don't see anyone else joining that group. Spurs will probably come the closest, but beyond that the Premiership looks much of a muchness to me.

It's been a positive summer for Liverpool; they've bought well and should be able to get closer this season. But, meantime, Chelsea bring in Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack and Salomon Kalou, with Ashley Cole probably to come, so that's what the others are up against. It's relentless.

The only question for Chelsea this season is how Jose Mourinho is going to fit the players he wants into his team. Yes, Ballack, Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele can play together, but you can't ask one of them to play right or left midfield; they've got to be central if you're going to play them to their strengths.

So what does that mean? Shevchenko up front on his own, with two either side of him? Probably not, because Shevchenko needs to play up there with somebody. So does that mean Didier Drogba alongside him? And if it does, what happens Arjen Robben? Who drops out? Michael Essien? What about Joe Cole when he's back?

That is the conundrum for Mourinho, managing to fit in the players to make the system work. But they'll still be favourites because defensively they're outstanding; that will buy them time while they're working out the best way to play for the rest of the season.

But to a large extent this season is about the Champions League for Chelsea. It would be a fantastic achievement to win the Premiership three years running, but they expect to do that - it's what's demanded of them.

Interestingly, the theory doing the rounds is that if Chelsea don't win the Champions League this season, Mourinho will step aside and Guus Hiddink will be brought from Russia, who, apparently, got him with the help of Roman Abramovich's money.

Who knows, but it's bizarre to think that not even three Premiership titles in a row would guarantee Mourinho his job.

I think Liverpool can narrow the gap between themselves and Chelsea because they have, largely, addressed the weaknesses they had last season by bringing in Craig Bellamy, Jermaine Pennant and Dirk Kuyt. I don't think Pennant's the best player in the world by any stretch of the imagination, and they massively overpaid for him, but he has pace, and he'll fill that role on the right side of midfield, allowing Steven Gerrard to stay in the centre.

Bellamy will give them pace up front and the ability to drop into wide areas and create chances - Djibril Cisse had the pace but nothing else. The key for Liverpool will be to get Bellamy to play enough games; he's struggled on that front before.

Given their defensive doggedness, which is very much a trait of Benitez teams, I think they'll be closer to Chelsea than anyone. My reservation before the signing of Kuyt was who would score enough goals for them to seriously push Chelsea; he may well do that now.

If United can sign Owen Hargreaves, then he and Michael Carrick combined should, at last, solve the midfield problem. Carrick's a good player who will only get better in a team like United, and Hargreaves would be a good signing too.

One thing about him is he is extremely well coached, as you would expect from a Bayern Munich player. He's blossomed for England now; he'll probably be one of the first names on the team-sheet for Steve McClaren - what a transformation that is for him.

The big question for Manchester United is whether Louis Saha will play enough games. And Wayne Rooney too - can he avoid suspensions? That's really all Alex Ferguson has up front, apart from young Giuseppe Rossi.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer just hasn't played that level of football for a long time, and although they'll have Alan Smith back you can't see him being someone who'll get them 25 or 30 goals in a season, as Ruud van Nistelrooy often did. He definitely needs another striker.

Arsenal's squad, for me, is just a little bit light. And you worry about them if anything should happen to Thierry Henry, the best player in the Premiership for the past four or five years. If he gets injured, it's just not the same team. When they play well there's no finer side - they're the most attractive footballing team in Britain - but I just don't think they're ready yet to put up a big challenge.

I like Spurs, but I don't see a real authentic challenge to the top four from them this year because I don't think they've addressed their problem areas, which are on the left side of midfield and left back. They're weaknesses that are very evident, and with two weeks to go to the transfer deadline they haven't been addressed.

I was surprised they sold Andy Reid. He played only 20 odd games for them so wasn't given much of a chance. I think he was a little unfortunate; if Spurs had a real strong left back, and not Lee Yong-Pyo, it might have made all the difference to him when he played.

So I think ultimately that will let Spurs down, and Ledley King (knee injury) is a big, big loss. For me they are very much the fifth-best team in England.

Beyond that, well, below the top five or six, there's an awful lot of mediocrity. Everyone bangs on about the Premiership, about the quality of the "product", but would you swap the top 10 in Spain for the top 10 in England?

No. I'm not beating our own drum here, but the best thing about the Premiership is the highlights on Match of the Day; it hides an awful lot of dross. Those five-minute edits make it look like the best match you've ever seen.

Of the three promoted clubs, I'd put more money on Watford than the others to survive. Watford might just spring a surprise; they're tough, pacy, have an enthusiastic manager, and will play in the opposition's faces.

Sheffield United will be aggressive and resilient without great quality, and I think Reading will be asking too much of too many young players.

I think Fulham could be in trouble too. I feel sorry for Chris Coleman. Basically, Mohamed Al Fayed has lost interest; they're just a selling club and it's very difficult for him. They had a very good finish to last season, ending up in 12th place, but I think they could get sucked into trouble this time around.

Manchester City, if they get a bad start, could be drawn into trouble too, and I wouldn't be convinced about Portsmouth either.

The rest should be okay.