SOCCER: EMMET MALONEargues that although Roberto Mancini's side could provide Manchester United's toughest challenge, it is still likely to fall short

FOR THE portion of Manchester’s population that resides in its Chinatown life goes on as normal; 2012 will be the year of the Dragon. The question on the minds of the city’s two main football tribes, however, is whether it might also go down as the year of the noisy neighbour.

City have continued to spend heavily in a determined attempt to close the gap on their cross-town rivals and have at least earned the right to be considered serious contenders for United’s Premier League crown this time around.

As they were reminded rather rudely at Wembley last weekend, though, if you really are the type to cause a rumpus at three o’clock in the morning then Alex Ferguson is probably not the man you want popping around to have the volume turned down.

For the Scot, the challenge posed by Roberto Mancini’s upstarts as well as the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool must seem at times like a slightly unwelcome distraction from the greater test – perhaps the last major one of his great management career – of building a side capable of beating Barcelona in the Champions League.

Claims over the past couple of days that the Old Trafford outfit have lost interest in signing Wesley Sneijder from Inter Milan on the basis of cost suggest that the latter goal may prove elusive for a while yet, but Ferguson already has enough talent at his disposal to ensure that United stay at the top of the pile back at home.

Still, there are a few uncertainties for the champions as their latest title defence gets under way.

Ferguson knows well the cost of recruiting the wrong goalkeeper and David de Gea, though highly promising, has some pretty big boots to fill. Similarly, Phil Jones looked good at Blackburn but it will be interesting to see how he shapes up when surrounded by much better players.

And Wayne Rooney sparkled for only a small portion of last season; the manager could do with the England striker, who he will hope has benefited from a rather quieter summer, hitting the ground running this time out.

Sneijder would have added enormous quality where United may well be weakest this year, central midfield, but even without the 27-year-old Dutchman or an attractive alternative it would seem that things have to go wrong in terms of injuries and the like for Ferguson and co if they are not to be celebrating a 20th top-flight title come next May. For any of their rivals to finish above them an awful lot, one suspects, has to go right.

City are probably best placed to topple the champions but for all the money they have spent there is still something unconvincing about Mancini’s boys in blue. There was, of course, little of consequence at stake in last week’s Community Shield and yet the manner of his side’s defeat served to highlight some of the ongoing doubts about their title credentials.

Chief amongst them is that Mancini has put together a squad that looks much better equipped to attack than to defend and yet the Italian continues to be deeply conservative in his approach.

Becoming hard to beat is a pretty decent starting point for any side with hopes of scaling the heights, but really City need to be more unstoppable force than immovable object if they want to leapfrog Chelsea and, in particular, United during the months ahead.

Adding Sergio Aguero, Gael Clichy and, most likely, Samir Nasri to the group that finished third last year is certainly all positive but there must still be a concern that losing Carlos Tevez, as they seem likely to over the coming weeks, will be a significant blow to their ambitions.

Chelsea, meanwhile, look at this stage to be the one other side with genuine prospects of finishing first, although new manager Andre Villas-Boas needs a hefty list of boxes to be ticked if he is to continue emulating former boss Jose Mourinho’s remarkable run of early career successes.

One of the few real positives of last year was that Petr Cech looked to be back to something approaching his best and if the same can be said this time next year about the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba then the Londoners may well be about to start the 2012/13 campaign as champions again.

On the face of it, there’s no reason why the trio can’t raise their respective games again but Villas-Boas will do very well indeed to coax a serious improvement out all three, especially Drogba whose very place in the team is uncertain given the presence of Fernando Torres.

Making Torres tick again is, of course, a major priority and that is why the signing of Luka Modric has been so high on the club’s summer wish list. Like most of the other items on the list, however, it remains an unfulfilled ambition and if the squad remains as it is then the new manager will most likely have to look to fit-again Yossi Benayoun and David Luiz, possibly playing in a holding midfield role, for a little extra creative spark.

Arsenal’s fortunes may depend on how well they spend the €60 million or so they look set to pick up for the departing Cesc Fabregas and Nasri but it seems almost unthinkable that they could improve on last year’s fourth position without two such key players.

If Robin van Persie stays fit, Gervinho proves a hit, they successfully replace their skipper and manage to buy at least one quality defender (Phil Jagielka remains a target) then Arsene Wenger will not look too deluded when he says in an interview that his team is good enough to win the league.

His real challenge, though, may be to ensure that his side keeps its collective nose ahead of Liverpool while he looks to rebuild, as Kenny Dalglish has restored a real sense of drive up at Anfield where, if nothing else, the scraps over who gets to take the free-kicks will certainly be interesting.

Tottenham, it seems reasonably safe to assume at this stage, will complete the top six and their ability to retain Modric will play a part in determining where it is in the group they finish.

Sunderland, who have signed 10 players, three of them Irish, Aston Villa, as well, of course, as Wolves, will attract a fair bit of attention from these parts, while Norwich, for whom Wes Hoolahan will finally get the opportunity to play top-flight football, could prove to be this season’s Blackpool.

Having spent so modestly, survival would be something of a triumph for Paul Lambert and his men.

As usual, though, the real interest will be at the other end of the table and whether those who have written the fattest cheques can live up to the inevitable expectations.

City might just come up short again this time but much as Ferguson may have disliked them before, they certainly seem set to cause a louder racket.