Premier League: Can anybody stop Manchester City from lifting a fifth straight title?
By Matias Grez, CNN
(CNN) — Since joining Manchester City in 2016, Pep Guardiola has won everything.
There is little else for him and his team to achieve and questions around whether or not this is Guardiola’s last season at the club will likely persist all season.
The Spaniard revealed earlier this year that he even had doubts about returning for last season’s record-breaking fourth consecutive Premier League title, asking himself after securing the treble a season earlier: “What am I doing here?”
In the end, the thought of becoming the first team to win four Premier League titles in a row was enough for Guardiola to muster his intensity and motivation, but what next?
“I don’t know right now,” Guardiola, whose contract runs until the end of this upcoming season, admitted back in May.
But having one of, if not the greatest team in Premier League history to return to after a summer holiday must help to counteract the doubts.
After questions surrounding the futures of captain Kevin de Bruyne and goalkeeper Ederson, the core of the squad remains intact. The sale of Julián Álvarez, who was mainly used as back up to Erling Haaland, to Atlético Madrid is the only departure of note but one City will likely not lose much sleep over.
The signing of 20-year-old forward Savinho from Troyes for a reported $27.5 million is the only piece of incoming business City has done so far in this transfer window, but the news that promising youngster Oscar Bobb has suffered a leg fracture will likely mean another dip into the transfer market.
With a settled squad that knows how to win and one of the greatest managers of all time, City will unsurprisingly enter another season as the favorite to win the Premier League.
With Liverpool facing a transition from Jurgen Klopp – who left Anfield over the summer – to Arne Slot, Arsenal likely remains the only realistic title contender.
Mikel Arteta’s side has pushed City all the way over the past two seasons but has so far come up short.
Detractors said the near miss in 2022-23 was a one-off and that the Gunners had overachieved. Last season proved them wrong.
Not only did Arsenal hang onto City’s coattails again, but the team improved and forced Guardiola’s side to improve.
As last season showed, this Arsenal team has the mettle for a title challenge and it will certainly not be short on motivation after coming agonizingly close to winning a first Premier League title since 2004 last season.
The team has made the loan signing of goalkeeper David Raya permanent and added Italian central defender Riccardo Calafiori, one of the best players of Euro 2024, for the relatively modest sum of $49.5 million from Bologna.
That Arteta is Guardiola’s former assistant manager at City and considered something of a protégé only adds to the intrigue of the battle between these two clubs.
Such is Arteta’s desire to get one over on his former mentor that he recently employed an unusual technique with the squad in the hope of making sure his players are ready for the upcoming season.
The former Arsenal captain hired pickpockets to steal valuable items out of the players’ pockets while they ate dinner, only revealing to them afterwards what had happened.
The lesson? To always be alert and aware, apparently.
Outside of Arsenal, though, you would struggle to convince yourself there is another title contender out there.
Liverpool, after parting ways with Klopp, will naturally enter a transitional period as new manager Slot tries to put his mark on the team.
There is also the emotional toll that the departure of a club legend like Klopp has on players and fans, and Slot certainly has a job on his hands to try and reinstill the same level of enthusiasm and belief that came to define the German’s time at the club.
The squad remains largely the same, however, and that continuity will no doubt help Slot settle into his new job.
Manchester United inexplicably decided to extend Erik ten Hag’s contract after another difficult season, with the FA Cup victory on the last day seemingly enough to convince the new owners the past two underwhelming seasons didn’t happen.
The team has also made a splash in the transfer market, signing Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui from Bayern Munich, while also securing the signatures of highly rated youngsters Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro.
However, questions have been asked about the reported $68.5 million fee paid for Yoro, a player who only had one year left on his contract at former club Lille.
Chelsea’s transfer activity, meanwhile, is bewildering many pundits and fans.
The club now has a staggering 44 players contracted in its bloated first-team squad and, despite this vast number, fans have been left underwhelmed by roster the club has assembled.
Mauricio Pochettino was somewhat surprisingly sacked at the end of last season after the team ended the campaign well and new manager Enzo Maresca, who led Leicester City to promotion from the Championship last season, looks to have quite the job on his hand to not only choose his squad, but develop some chemistry between the players.
Aston Villa, which finished fourth last season and qualified for the Champions League, will no doubt be a threat for the top four again. However, juggling the Champions League with the Premier League will be a far more difficult task than it was with the Conference League, though Villa’s semifinal run last season proves this team has the steam to compete on two fronts.
Tottenham Hotspur, which Villa pipped to fourth last season, will surely be expecting significant improvements on last season’s transition under new manager Ange Postecoglou.
The club spent an eye-watering $71 million on Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke and $45.5 million on promising 18-year-old Archie Gray from Leeds. Now, as Postecoglou goes into his second season in charge, expectations will rightfully be higher than they were last campaign.
At the other end of the table, arriving in the Premier League is as daunting as it ever has been for newly promoted clubs. Last season, all three promoted teams were relegated immediately as the gulf between the Championship and Premier League increases every year.
This season, Leicester City looks to have constructed a competitive squad but was dealt the double blow in the offseason of losing both manager Maresca and star player Kiernan Frank Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea.
Ipswich, which was playing in the third tier of England football only two years ago before back-to-back promotions, was buoyed by manager Kieran McKenna staying on for the upcoming season despite interest from Chelsea and Brighton, eventually signing a new four-year deal.
Southampton is naturally the favorite to be relegated after arriving in the Premier League via the Play-off final, but managed to finish an impressive 14th the last time it happened in 2013. Manager Russell Martin is dedicated to his possession-based style of football and passing it out of defense, always a risky tactic for a newly promoted side.
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