Former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie is backing Bristol City to be one of the three teams to be relegated this season.
The Robins are the fourth favourite to face the drop into the League One according to the bookies ahead of Rotherham, Reading and Birmingham City.
City finished 17th last season following a decent run of form towards the end of the campaign that included three wins in their final six matches. They finished 18 points clear of Peterborough who occupied the final relegation spot.
Despite three promising new additions in Mark Sykes, Kal Naismith and Kane Wilson, Hendrie believes another difficult season remains in store. He also believes both Birmingham and Reading will also struggle to stay up.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: "I've looked at the league table from last season and we've touched on the point deductions for Derby, Barnsley. You feel it's one of those situations where some of those teams that finished just above (relegation) at the end of the season, I think they were quite lucky at times.
"I think Birmingham certainly will be amongst it this season. If they don't resolve the situation in the background quite quickly, I do think they will find themselves in all sorts of trouble. Lee Bowyer's done a brilliant job, his hands have been tied.
"There's talk of him possibly leaving the football club. Well, try and resolve the situation first. It's a massive football club they shouldn't be near relegation but if they don't get that structure right early on, I think they could find themselves in all sorts of trouble.
"I think Wigan will stay and I think they have every chance. I feel they will be in the mix of the relegation battle but I do fear for Reading this season. I think that's a massive job. Paul Ince did a brilliant job to keep them afloat last season.
"And I think Bristol City might be among that bottom three. I feel those three sides will be my relegation ones that could go down."
City are expected to climb higher up the league and manager Nigel Pearson believes his side can mount a surprise promotion push, if they achieve a good pre-season.
Speaking in his first interview ahead of the new campaign, he told Robins TV: "It's always very important to try and make the right changes and we just feel the squad needs freshening up. The players that have come in will definitely make us a better team this year.
"We are not going to set the bar low in terms of expectations this year, we want to be in the promotion race. That's the aim every year regardless of how it pans out. I don't believe in setting low targets, let's try and achieve what everybody wants to do and that's to achieve promotion."
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