Manchester City are favourites to defend their Premier League crown, according to Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
Despite running Pep Guardiola’s manne close last season, with the title race decided by one point on a dramatic final day, Klopp reckons City still have an edge and expects his team to fight hard for a top-four finish.
City have won four of the last five league campaigns with the Reds breaking their run with victory in the 2019/2020 season.
And Klopp says: “Everyone wants [to win] the Premier League but I have no idea who will make the race.
“It looks like City in the end will be champion, and if we hadn’t been champions in between then they’d have won it five times in a row, which is really crazy in this country.”
Klopp might just be downplaying his expectation, but he highlights a serious threat from the chasing pack.
With Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United all have looking to catch up with the top two, Klopp says: “In this league, the main target for all of us is to qualify for the Champions League - and that’s really difficult enough already
“The moment you reach that, and then there’s still time an opportunity to fight for the title, then you do that.
“When you’ve qualified for it four, five years in a row people may not appreciate that anymore like when we qualified for the first time after a long time [in 2017], but it’s still the main thing to do and that will be a massive fight this year…”
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Liverpool face Salzburg in their final pre-season friendly on Wednesday, before facing Guardiola and his Citizens in Saturday’s Community Shield at the King Power Stadium.
And while it might just be a friendly, Klopp will know that getting one over their rivals will send a serious message ahead of the start of the season next week.