Paul Merson is backing Manchester City to win a tightly contested Premier League title race this season.
The Sky Sports pundit believes there are only four main contenders for the crown, including the Citizens, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea, with Pep Guardiola’s the likeliest to come out on top:
“Some might say Manchester City winning the Premier League title isn’t exactly a bold prediction, but as I said earlier, four teams could win it and it’s almost impossible to predict the outcome at this point in time. There’s a big gulf of class between the top four sides in the Premier League and the rest, so the title race could boil down to who wins the mini-league between Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. We could witness one of the closest title races in ages, but I expect Manchester City to come out on top this season.”
As Merson says himself, backing City for the title is not a surprising claim to make. After winning the league comfortably last campaign, they will be favourites when the season begins next month.
If the Manchester club do snap up the likes of Harry Kane and Jack Grealish in the coming weeks, though, the battle for the top spot may not be as close as Merson is predicting.
Of course, at the moment, there are no signs that City will go ahead with a £200m+ double deal but the rest of the Premier League will be very worried if they do pull off the two transfers.
