Graphic: big four tighten belts in January sales

Supporters may have become accustomed to two teams battling it out for the Barclays Premier League crown, but Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, is convinced that the race for the title this season will be a four-way tussle to the bitter end.

Liverpool, Chelsea, United and Arsenal remain within touching distance of one another with more than a third of the season gone and Ferguson is expecting the most exciting and closely fought title chase since the inception of the Premier League 16 years ago.

Ferguson believes that the strength of the opposition in the league has improved to such an extent that the so-called “big four” are liable to drop more points away from home than has possibly been the case previously.

Although Ferguson's theory is contradicted by Chelsea, who have won all seven of their away matches in the league this season, three of Arsenal's five defeats have come on the road against Fulham, Stoke City and Manchester City, Liverpool's only loss came away to Tottenham Hotspur and United's two defeats have been away from Old Trafford, albeit against Liverpool and Arsenal. United have also drawn three times on their travels, against Chelsea, Everton and Aston Villa, and Liverpool and Arsenal once apiece, against Villa and Sunderland respectively.

“In the past, it's always come down to two teams, but I don't think that'll be the case this season - I expect the big four to take it right to the wire,” the United manager said. “The improvement by other teams has made it much harder to go away from home and pick up points.

“I think you saw evidence of that last season and it's continued this year, even more so, in fact.”

United expect to complete the signing of Zoran Tosic from Partizan Belgrade on January 1 in a deal that could be worth up to £8million after the Serbia winger was granted a work permit last week and although the club could follow that up with the capture of Adem Ljajic, a 17-year-old midfield player also with Partizan, Ferguson is adamant the club will not be doing any other business when the transfer window opens.

However, Ferguson believes the same cannot be said for Manchester City, whose billionaire Arab owner, Sheikh Mansour, is expected to flex his financial muscles. Kaká, the AC Milan forward, and Gianluigi Buffon, the Juventus goalkeeper, are thought to be in City's sights, although Mark Hughes, the manager, is also expected to move for more realistic targets in Roque Santa Cruz, Lassana Diarra and Wayne Bridge or Stephen Warnock.

“There definitely won't be anyone coming here but I'm pretty sure City will do some business,” Ferguson told the latest edition of Inside United, the club's official magazine. “You don't talk about having all this money and then not use it. They'll have plenty of ideas - the fact that they tried to buy four or five players in an hour on deadline day [on September 1] gives you an indication of what they want to do, but at the end of the day you can't buy them all.”

Ferguson may be forced to wrestle with a defensive headache over the coming weeks should Patrice Evra be found guilty of an FA charge of improper conduct when the two-day hearing into the post-match brawl at Stamford Bridge in April begins on Thursday. The France left back will already be missing for United's Premier League game away to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday week after picking up his fifth top-flight booking of the season in the 1-0 win against Manchester City on Sunday and may be sidelined for an additional three matches.

With Wes Brown out for another month after ankle surgery and with Gary Neville troubled by a groin problem and short of match fitness, United could be short of cover in both full-back positions.