Stubbs eyes the Premiership

Can Ipswich repeat last year's impressive form?

Ray Stubbs, presenter of Football Focus and Final Score, gives his views on the forthcoming Premiership season.

Here we go again. Non stop until the end of June when the World Cup final will signal the end of another football marathon.

When the season starts with someone saying that Manchester United are as close to unbeatable over a distance as any side in English history, you wonder where the challenge is going to come from.

You wonder because it's former Arsenal striker Alan Smith who gave that quote in Saturday's Telegraph.

But we're an optimistic lot in the Football Focus office, and Arsenal, Leeds and Liverpool will make it a much more competitive championship.

Of that there is no doubt.

O'Leary will relish the challenges that lie ahead

Chelsea seem an uncertain package.

I hear people telling me they will finish third - now that is optimism.

They need Hasselbaink to keep out of hassle - he has to repeat his goalscoring form of last season.

Ipswich may well find that everybody just ups the tempo against them and that's a compliment to what George Burley achieved last season.

Sunderland have quietly gone about the business of strengthening their squad - seventh, then seventh again.

Arsenal gunning for top spot

And Kevin Phillips won't have been happy with just 14 goals in the Premiership last season - is this the year Peter Reid's side will hit the top five?

You can talk all day about the Premiership - if you are an Everton or West Ham fan you are likely to be on your prayer mat.

But Tottenham will go well as Glenn Hoddle started to show what he's capable of at Southampton last year.

Spurs will definitely benefit from his arrival.

Phillips will look to build on last season's goal tally

The Saints may well be another contender for the prayer mat.

And then there's a whole host of other clubs who will be wondering whether they'll be playing in the top half or bottom half of the table.

The promoted clubs will look at Ipswich and wonder if they can emulate the Formula One tractor boys.

It's just so difficult to gauge who'll finish where.

But notice the avoidance of the question so far - will United be troubled?

Will Arsenal have the potential to do that? Liverpool perhaps?

Leeds boss David O'Leary loves it when you hint his team might not be able to do it because it winds him up even more to prove people wrong.

So, nice man that he is, I'll give Mr O'Leary a helping hand and politely ask him if they can overtake the top three and pinch the title.