Per Mertesacker is in his fifth season at the club and has never seen stronger competition for places.

He said: "You can see we have a great squad, a deep squad. That means there will be some difficult questions for the manager to answer and for the team, how we can cope with the difficulties.

"There will be disappointment in the squad. At the moment it is easier to handle in pre-season because everyone gets his games but once it is into the season, everyone wants to play in their own position.

"There are other teams who have also brought a lot of good players in, so it is difficult to say [what will happen in the title race].

"But we have good form, can we keep that and start well is the key. We are confident, we have a great winning streak from Asia, the Emirates Cup and Wembley.

"We have had a great pre-season so far [100 per cent record] and the peak was winning the Community Shield."