English elite cast about in Chelsea's wake

While Chelsea heads into the close season serene in the knowledge of its Premier League supremacy, the English summer holds weeks of recalibration for the teams seeking to topple the Londoners.

Can Manchester City, the usurped champion and runner-up this season, successfully rejuvenate a starting XI that has barely changed since the 2012 title triumph?

Will third-place Arsenal, newly streetwise in confrontations with its major rivals, finally shake off the fragility that has prevented the team from maintaining a sustained title challenge since 2004?

Is Manchester United, back in the Champions League after a season of uneven progress under Louis van Gaal and with millions to spend on new players, equipped to return to center-stage?   

And can Liverpool, shorn of Steven Gerrard and chastened by a 6-1 drubbing at Stoke City on the final day, rediscover the winning formula that took the club to the brink of the title 12 months ago?

Chelsea moved quickly and decisively in last year?s transfer window, recruiting Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa, and looked like champion in waiting from the moment it won 3-1 at Burnley on the season?s opening weekend.

Having seen his side finish the campaign eight points clear of City at the top of the pile, manager Jose Mourinho says his only priority during the close season will be making sure he keeps his squad together.

?The base last year was to sell some to buy some,? Mourinho said. ?The base this season (2015-16) is to keep my squad.?

Didier Drogba has already confirmed his departure and Mourinho is likely to lose second-choice goalkeeper Petr Cech, but he will approach next season with his armory fully intact, if not enhanced by supplementary signings.