Former England midfielder Steve McManaman believes Manchester City, along with Liverpool, remain the favourites to win the Premier League title this season.
After a busy summer of spending at the top-end of the Premier League, the title race, in the eyes of many, is the most wide-open it has been in recent years, with the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and City all bolstering their squads.
The business conducted by Chelsea and United has probably been the most eye-catching, with the Londoners landing Romelu Lukaku and United bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back to the club.
Chelsea currently top the Premier League table on goal-difference ahead of Liverpool and United, with City three points behind them. Nevertheless, McManaman believes City still have the edge on Chelsea because of the standard they have set in recent seasons.
"At the start of the season I thought Liverpool were favourites for the Premier League title this year," McManaman told HorseRacing.net.
"If everybody remains fit and well then Liverpool, as well as Manchester City, will be the favourites as they’ve set the standard over the last few seasons
"Chelsea have improved their starting XI by signing Romelu Lukaku and his signing can take them up a level. The way that they’ve played, especially how difficult they’ve made themselves to break down and beat means that they’re going to do a lot better than they did last season.
"However, they’re going to find it difficult to get ahead of Liverpool and Manchester City. Those two sides do it consistently over the last couple of years, whereas I haven’t seen Chelsea be at that level for a good while.
"They play Manchester City this Saturday which will be a great game and will give everybody the opportunity to see whether Chelsea are actually good enough to compete with Liverpool and City."
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