Manchester City have every reason to enter the 2024/2025 Premier League season in high spirits.
Firstly, Pep Guardiola’s men should still feel confident considering they are the defending champions.
Having lifted four league titles in succession, the City players should also take confidence in the fact that in this historic winning run of theirs, while Arsenal and Liverpool have pushed them to the brink, they have come out on top.
As a result, if Manchester City remain as driven to succeed as they have been over these past four campaigns, they should be aware that the same level of motivation can push them to go the distance once again.
However, Arsenal do not look like they are ready to surrender in their pursuit of becoming Premier League champions this summer.
After signing Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna, Fabrizio Romano recently revealed that they are “closing in” on a move for Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino.
With the title fights between the Sky Blues and the Gunners’ title fights being separated by five and two points in 2023 and 2024 respectively, perhaps some might back Mikel Arteta’s to go all the way next season due to them summer business.
Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Manchester City could replace Julian Alvarez as their priority is the acquisition of a winger rather than a striker — which could explain their potential next signing after Savinho.
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Mills explains why Man City will beat Arsenal to the Premier League title
As things stand, opinions may be divided over which team will win the league title in the following campaign.
14 of City’s players partook at the European Championship in comparison to Arsenal’s 10.
In the Euro 2024 final between Spain and England, four of the Premier League winners’ players in Rodri, John Stones, Phil Foden and Kyle Walker started while only Bukayo Saka started for the North London side.
As a result, some might argue that Mikel Arteta and Co. might be at an advantage due to having a fresher squad which can start the league campaign on fire and form a lead over their title rivals.
However, Danny Mills firmly feels that Manchester City will retain their status as the best team in England over Arsenal.
Mills told talkSPORT: “I still think Manchester City are favourites. Liverpool, we don’t know yet, we don’t know how they’re going to be with the new manager.”
“We don’t know what Manchester United are going to do, we don’t know what Chelsea are going to do. Arsenal, we expect to be good but are they good enough to topple Manchester City? I don’t know and I don’t think so at this moment in time so I think City still have to be the favourites to win the title.”
Pep Guardiola will have to ensure Man City start the season well
Due to several of his Manchester City players missing their pre-season tour due to their extended summer break, Pep Guardiola could see some of his most reliable figures potentially fail to kickstart the campaign at their very best.
While a title race is a marathon and not a sprint, City cannot afford to drop excessive points even at the start of the campaign.
If Pep Guardiola can ensure that is the case, it is hard to look past their status as title favourites.
Guardiola’s primary aim will be to make sure that even if City’s early-season results are not flawless, they remain in a favourable position to remain in the title race after the first 10 to 15 league games.
