John Terry believes Manchester United have opened the door for Leicester City to finally gatecrash the top four.
The Premier League got underway on Friday night as Arsenal lost 2-0 to newly promoted Brentford.
Saturday will see the likes of United, Chelsea, Leicester and Liverpool open their campaigns, while Manchester City face Tottenham on Sunday.
The race for a Champions League berth looks destined to be a closely contested, with a host of teams battling it out at the top of the division.
Asked who he thought could secure a top four place, five-time Premier League winner Terry, believes the Red Devils will miss out.
“I’d go Chelsea, Man City as first or second, I’d go Leicester fourth and I will go Liverpool third.”
Pressed on why United will miss out, the Chelsea legend feels that with Marcus Rashford sidelined by injury, they may be short in the striking department.
Edinson Cavani will miss their clash with Leeds, but is set to have an integral role within Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad.
However, Terry thinks that to truly compete they will need to splash out on an elite striker which can guarantee 25-30 goals.
“With Rashford out, I don’t know quite how long he’s going to be out for, but quite possibly (that could be the area that lets them down) but they’ve got strength in depth,” Terry told Stadium Astro.
“With Cavani, he’s older and he needs managing. I think with Solskjaer playing and the likes of Michael Carrick being there, they’ll know they can’t push him every single day.
“He’s one of those players that they maybe need to send in, or keep inside and let him have a massage or a kind of spa day.
“It’s all about managing him and I think Solskjaer does that very well with all of his players.
“If they need to get the best out of Cavani for the first two or three months while Marcus is injured I’m sure they’ll know the best way possible to do that.
“Again, it’s about managing that group of players but if Man United really want to go out and compete I think they need to go out and buy a big striker who is going to get you 25-30 goals.
“That’s difficult to do. It would probably cost £100 to £120million which isn’t always easy to do.”
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