Arsene Wenger expects as many as six teams to battle it out for the Premier League crown this season.
The 2013/14 campaign was one of the most competitive in recent memory with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool all topping the table before Manchester City's fine late-season form won them the title.
Wenger expects the usual suspects to be up there again in 2014/15 - with one notable addition.
"It could be more competitive, yes," he said. "Man United will certainly come back into it, so if you have six teams to fight for the championship that would mean that every other game will be of a huge importance.
"If you have six teams to fight for the championship that would mean that every other game will be of a huge importance"
"It means there could be even more importance not to drop points against the teams who don’t compete for the championships.
"When you look at the Premier League last year, it was down to one or two games won or lost and nobody can predict it. I think there were four teams in the race last year and there could be five or six this season."
Arsenal led the way in the Premier League for 128 days last season - more than any other team - and Wenger believes the club's increasing financial potential will help them challenge again.
"We were never really far [away last season]," he said. "The new era is that we have more money available to buy today than we had five years ago.
"We can compete better today to buy the top players who are on the market and for years we have lost top players without being capable of buying top players because we were in financial management.
"Today we are in a more comfortable situation but, let’s be honest as well, there are still more people out there who have more financial potential."
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