Ex-Liverpool and Manchester United striker Michael Owen says Manchester City may only finish fourth this season.
The Premier League’s official website published an article listing the predictions of nine pundits, with Owen backing the Cityzens to finish behind Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa in the table.
The reigning champions haven’t finished as low as that during Guardiola’s eight years in charge at the Etihad Stadium.
Even during the Spaniard’s first year at the helm, City ended up in 3rd place, and they haven’t been outside of the top two since then, having won six of the last seven league titles.
City haven’t lost any key players since last season
While the impending departure of Julian Alvarez will impact the team’s squad depth, the Cityzens have managed to keep hold of some important players over the summer.
The likes of Ederson, Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva were all linked with moves away from Manchester, but they all ultimately ended up staying.
Ederson was undoubtedly the closest to leaving, having admitted at the weekend that he did receive offers from other clubs, but he has now committed his future to City.
Many other pundits disagree with Owen
Out of the nine pundits that the Premier League asked for their season predictions, six of them (including Karen Carney, Shay Given, Tim Sherwood, Don Hutchison, Mark Schwarzer and Matt Holland), picked City to retain their title. Three (Darren Bent, Leon Osman and Owen) chose Arsenal.
In terms of the top 4 predictions, Owen was the only pundit to say that City would finish outside of the top 2. In fact, he was the only one to put Aston Villa in his top four, let alone place them ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side. Fans will be hoping that his forecast proves to be very wide of the mark.
