Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville both believe that Liverpool remain the team most likely to stop Manchester City's ongoing domination of the Premier League.
City retained their Premier League title after Nottingham Forest beat Arsenal at the City Ground on Saturday evening. The Etihad outfit are the first club to win the title for three seasons in succession since Manchester United in 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09.
However, the last team to wrestle the title from City was Liverpool back in 2020, and Carragher believes his old club, given they are set to invest in midfield and already have players who’ve won the biggest trophies before, could be one of only two clubs, along with United, who could challenge Pep Guardiola’s side next season.
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He said: "I’m gonna go with Liverpool and Manchester United. I think Liverpool will come back and I agree with Gary [Neville], the jump in terms of really challenging Man City may be a little bit too big - it might still be a little too big for Manchester United.
"But, I do see those two teams. Where Manchester United are going they look really solid. If they get a couple of attacking players and score more goals, that’s what they need to do.
"Liverpool will invest again in midfield players, and they’ve got players who’ve won the biggest trophies before, so I’d say Liverpool and Manchester United."
While Neville believes only Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool have proven they can challenge City, he has concerns that this season’s drop off may have been too much.
"The other day I was asked that who was the most likely challenger," the former Man United and England defender told Sky Sports.
"The only team that’s really proven that they can run them really close and that I could trust is Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, but I’m not sure about that because I think they dropped off way below than what they did last time they had a bad season.
"I hope that all the other teams are looking at Manchester City and not feeling sorry for themselves and thinking, how do we get to that level?
"Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have lived with them for three seasons, they’re the only team that have proven they can really do it. Arsenal lived with them for 30 games this season, so let’s hope it can happen, because I don’t buy into this doom and gloom that we might as well all pack up and go home.
"I think the other teams are spending enough money to be able to have a chance, but City have the most exceptional manager.
"However, I must say that Jurgen Klopp’s performance at Liverpool with their net spend of being like £200 million in five or six years compared to Pep Guardiola’s deserves a special mention; it’s equally as good."
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