United preview: Tevez role crucial as Reds stars sit it out

MANCHESTER United begin their quest for a third successive Premier League crown when they take on Newcastle at home on Sunday (4pm).

Despite a hugely-successful season last time around, it has been something of a frustrating summer for the champions.

The ongoing saga regarding Cristiano Ronaldo's desired move to Real Madrid clearly irked manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the United boss also became embroiled in a war of words with Tottenham over transfer target Dimitar Berbatov.

Ronaldo, scorer of a barely-believable 42 goals for the Reds last year, has since declared his willingness to stick around and that has lifted some of the pressure on Ferguson to land a top European striker.

However, there remains a feeling that the consistently outstanding efforts of the Portuguese star – who resumes training in a month's time following an ankle operation – masked the need for the club to recruit an old-fashioned predator in the Ruud van Nistelrooy mould.

With Wayne Rooney likely to be missing with a virus this weekend and Louis Saha out of the first-team picture, a lot of responsibility up front will rest on Carlos Tevez.

The Argentina international, said to be in excellent condition, will aim to at least emulate the 19 goals he claimed last season.

At the other end of the field, the problem right-back slot remains, but all is strictly relative when you consider that this is a defence which conceded only 22 league goals all last season.

Much of that was down to the rock-solid partnership in the centre of Rio Ferdinand – surely now the finest centre-half on the continent – and Nemanja Vidic.

This pairing, along with dynamic left-back Patrice Evra, played in at least 32 Premier League games each.

If Ferguson is to have a good shot at landing another title, drawing level with Liverpool's record of 18 in doing so, a similar level of consistency will be needed.

In midfield, a big season is expected of Portuguese-speaking duo Anderson and Nani, both of whom should grow into their roles in England despite the loss of mentor and assistant coach Carlos Queiroz, who is now managing Portugal's national side.

As for the likely challengers domestically, even with Robbie Keane on board it is difficult to envisage a serious bid from Liverpool, while Arsenal still seem short of a dominant centre-half and ball-winning midfielder.

That leaves Chelsea as United's main rivals for the crown. Having finally nailed Frank Lampard in a five-year deal, new boss Felipe Scolari will be hoping to stamp his authority on the competition following his return to club football.

The South London outfit kick off their campaign with a home game against Portsmouth, the FA Cup holders who were conquered by the Reds last weekend on penalties in the Community Shield.

Newcastle, who rallied to finish 12th in the Premier League following the mid-season return of former manager Kevin Keegan, could field new signings Danny Guthrie and Jonas Gutierrez in their bid to win at Old Trafford for the first time in 36 years.

And Keegan also hopes to tie up a £10million deal with Deportivo La Coruna for centre-half Fabricio Coloccini.