Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes this year’s title race could be one of the closest in recent history of the Premier League as three of the top four club’s all have new managers at the helm.

Champions Manchester United, runners-up Manchester City and third-placed Chelsea have all made changes to their staff and have all got new faces at the helm after Sir Alex Ferguson retired, Roberto Mancini was sacked and Rafael Benitez’s time at Chelsea came to an expected end.

The hotseats at the top-three clubs are now taken up by David Moyes, who is at United, Manuel Pelligrini, who is at City and the returning Jose Mourinho, who is back at Chelsea.

One thing that has stayed the same is Arsene Wenger being the manager at the Emirates Stadium and he believes the manager changes make this year’s title race as unpredictable as ever.

“The fact that of the four top teams last year, three have changed manager will certainly create the most interest to see how they all respond to that,” the manager told Arsenal Player.

“You have less questions about Mourinho returning to Chelsea because he already knows the club and they are a stable team.

“These teams changed managers but there is a stability there [in terms of the players] so that shouldn’t create too much uncertainty.

“Pellegrini has a lot of experience, David Moyes has a lot of experience and Mourinho as well, so they will handle it very well.

“Let’s not expect presents from these clubs because that would be the wrong way to go into the championship. Let’s just think they will be as strong as ever and make sure that we are strong.”

As for Wenger, his season starts at home as his side host Aston Villa, but he believes nothing will be decided early on in the 2013/2014 campaign.

“Recently I spoke with some managers and they think it will be more open than ever,” he said. “Maybe they are right because it is difficult to make any predictions.

“One of the interests in the Premier League is that compared to all the other championships – Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Scotland, where you can predict with a 50 per cent chance of success of who will win the league – in England what makes it great is that it is unpredictable.

“Maybe that is why everyone loves it.”

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt