updated 2:04 p.m. ET Aug. 13, 2008

LONDON - Alex Ferguson is confident that not even a World Cup winner will take his Premier League title away.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the coach who guided Brazil to its fifth World Cup triumph six years ago, is now in charge of Chelsea and will be out to stop Ferguson’s Red Devils from winning their third straight league title.

The Blues have finished runner-up to United for the last two seasons after winning their first title in 50 years under Jose Mourinho in 2005 and repeating in 2006. They fell two points short last season.

“I’m not concerned about Chelsea,” Ferguson said ahead of this weekend’s season openers. “There’s no one who can improve on Mourinho’s record, really. It would have to go beyond Mourinho’s performance to really worry us and that will be a challenge with the players they’ve got and the players they’ve added.”

Scolari, who took Portugal to the final of the 2004 European Championship, is now one of Ferguson’s biggest rivals in English football, along with Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger and Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez. If Ferguson is worried, the Scot who has been in charge at Old Trafford for 22 seasons doesn’t show it.

While United is pretty much unchanged since winning the EPL and European Champions League last season, Scolari has recruited talented Portuguese midfielder Deco and countryman Jose Bosingwa.

Ferguson, who is pursuing Tottenham forward Dimitar Berbatov, does have to worry about playing short-handed at the start. Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 42 goals last season, is out until October following ankle surgery, Wayne Rooney is recovering from a virus, Anderson is at the Olympics and Nani is suspended for the first two league matches.

Arsenal, which hasn’t won the title since 2004, has made few moves after finishing third. Wenger brought in Samir Nasri from Olympique Marseille and teenage Welshman Aaron Ramsey while losing Mathieu Flamini, Alexander Hleb, Jens Lehmann and Gilberto Silva.

“I believe we were very unlucky last season. ... We lost the Premier League by four points,” said Wenger, whose club has been hit by long-term injuries to Eduardo da Silva and Tomas Rosicky. “We got 14 more points than the season before, so this year we want to make another step forward, challenge even more and win the title. We feel there is no reason why, with a young squad, we should be less good this year than last year.”

After finishing fourth, 11 points back of United, Liverpool’s Benitez added Robbie Keane to link up with Fernando Torres in attack.

“Clearly we have confidence in ourselves and have the quality to try to win every game but you never know what can happen in any competition,” Benitez said. “We started really well and finished really well last season. If we can do the same this time then hopefully we will be better in the middle of the season.”

There’s a big dropoff after the big four, with Everton, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Manchester City figured to bunch together perhaps with Portsmouth, which is coming off an FA Cup triumph. Blackburn, which finished seventh, could slide after the departure of manager Mark Hughes to Man City.

Everton fans are unhappy that manager David Moyes has been unable to strengthen his team with some big signings.

Tottenham coach Juande Ramos lost Keane has a revamped midfield after adding Croatian star Luka Modric, Mexico’s Giovanni dos Santos and England winger David Bentley.

Villa fears it will lose English national team midfielder Gareth Barry but is hopeful of improving on last year’s sixth-place finish.

Hughes replaced Sven-Goran Eriksson at Manchester City and is looking for stability despite the legal problems facing the owner, former Thailand premier Thaksin Shinawatra. City hasn’t won the league since 1968 or the FA Cup since ’69.

Newcastle’s followers are also frustrated by a lack of title success although at least they went close to the title when Kevin Keegan was in charge the first time. He returned last season and the Magpies fans will demand something far better than a 12th-place finish and early elimination from the cup competitions.

West Ham, Middlesbrough and Sunderland are hoping to avoid getting near the relegation zone.

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Fulham avoided relegation by winning four of its last five games but, despite hiring striker Bobby Zamora and defender Fredrik Stoor, is likely to have a similar struggle this season. So will Bolton, which bought tough-tackling midfielder Fabrice Muamba and talented Swedish forward Johan Elmander but sold El-Hadji Diouf to Sunderland.

Wigan edged away from trouble near the end and finished 14th under Steve Bruce. The three promoted teams, West Bromwich Albion, Stoke and Hull City, are already the bookmakers’ favorites to go down.

Hull is in the top flight for the first time in its 104-year history and that should be reward enough for the Tigers fans. But coach Phil Brown has made some interesting signings such as the solid and experienced Dutch midfielder George Boateng and Brazilian midfielder Geovanni, once of Barcelona and Benfica.

Just six Americans are in the Premier League this season following the relegation of Reading and Derby, and the departures of Fulham goalkeeper Kasey Keller, forward Brian McBride and defender Carlos Bocanegra.

Brad Friedel shifted to Aston Villa following eight seasons with Blackburn and will be joined there by fellow goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who transferred from Major League Soccer. Returning players include Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, Fulham forwards Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson, and West Ham defender Jonathan Spector.

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