Premier League legend and former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer believes that Chelsea are still the team to beat in the League coming into the new season, despite their rivals spending big.

Speaking to the BBC, ex-England captain Shearer confirmed that he believes Chelsea will go onto win the league for a second time if things remain as they are.

The Blues won their fifth league title last season by an 8 point margin, and Shearer still thinks Chelsea have too much over their rivals.

“Chelsea won at a canter last season, certainly from February on, but it will be tighter.” Shearer told BBC Sport.

The 44-year-old also believes Manchester United, who have spent £80 million so far this window, still have “work to do”, while Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is under “huge pressure”.

Manchester United have brought in a flurry of new players, including German legend Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich.

However Shearer, the Premier League’s all time top scorer with 260 goals, predicts the top 4 in the league will end the same as it did last season, but adds that the 4 may not necessarily end in that order.

The Englishman also gave his views on the transfer business done by Chelsea’s rivals:

“You cannot tell me Raheem is worth £49m,” said Shearer.

“He’s a good player, he’s got potential, he’s lightning quick, but I still think he needs to improve on a lot of aspects. Will he improve Manchester City? Yes. For £49m? No.”

“Cech will be very, very good and improve Arsenal by a number of points, but I think they still need a top-class centre forward at least to go that one step further and win the title.”

“I still think there’s work to be done for United. I don’t think there’s a lot between City and United, they’ll be pushing Chelsea all the way. I still think they might lack just one or two players.”

[Via BBC Sport]

Although Chelsea haven’t done an awful lot this summer, Shearer’s comments show just how strong the Blues are going into the new campaign.