The favourites

Manchester City and Liverpool’s dominance of the Premier League will not last forever.

Manchester United and Arsenal’s rivalry felt inevitable right up until it wasn’t, while Jose Mourinho has twice been said to have been on the verge of a dynasty at Chelsea.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that either team will drop off this season, but naturally these dips come when nobody is expecting them. Jurgen Klopp, whose Borussia Dortmund team flirted with relegation in his last season in charge, knows that as well as anybody.

Of the two, Man City are probably the safer bet to go again this term. Erling Haaland, for all that he looks an awkward stylistic fit, is a world star at 22 years old and provides City with their first guarantee of goals since Sergio Aguero was in his pomp. Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish look ready to form a formidable supply line.

The sales of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus rob Pep Guardiola’s side of natural width and tenacity, though.

There is evidently plenty to like about Liverpool , too. Trent Alexander-Arnold is now one of the best players on the planet, Virgil Van Dijk shows little sign of slowing down and Mo Salah has signed a new long-term contract.

But Thiago and Jordan Henderson are 31 and 32 years old and the reliable Sadio Mane has gone. These are small issues for now, but could look like major ones as the season progresses.

A City-Liverpool 1-2 is clearly the most likely outcome, but with little money to be made there, it’s much more fun to look at some each-way long shots.

TIP: Tottenham (e/w)

Chelsea look more likely to implode than improve, and Arsenal’s ceiling is not yet high enough, but Tottenham are well worth considering.

Yves Bissouma and Ivan Perisic immediately upgrade the first XI, Richarlison adds depth, while we already know that Harry Kane and Son Heung-min are bankers to be among the best performers in the league.

Spurs have adopted a win-now policy to optimise Antonio Conte’s likely one- or two-year stint in north London and his track record suggests that it’s likely to pay off.

TIP: Manchester United (e/w)

As sure as City and Liverpool’s dynasty is to eventually end, Manchester United will eventually be back. It might seem unlikely to happen this season, but then it’s very unlikely to ever be a sure thing until it does.

United’s squad wasn’t as bad as their hopeless 2021/22 season suggested, with Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo capable of so much more. Plenty of the talent needed to take them back to the top already exists at the club if it can be managed and coached coherently, which it surely will be by Erik Ten Hag. He could do with a new central midfielder, too.

Things are never as bad as they seem. If Ten Hag can make the necessary tweaks, a 25/1 each-way bet on United – who finished second in 2020/21 – winning the race of the chasing pack holds some value.

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