Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola believes Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham will all be in a position to compete for the Premier League title next season.
Liverpool are just five points shy of sealing their first league title in three decades, having run away at the top of the standings this season.
However, Jurgen Klopp's side could face a sterner battle next season with City expected to be in a stronger position - but Guardiola believes they won't be the only side going toe-to-toe with the Reds.
In his assessment, he named Chelsea, Leicester City, Manchester United, Spurs and Arsenal as sides who could close the gap next term.
"Hopefully we can learn from our beginning to the season. After winning the Community Shield against Liverpool, we dropped points maybe we didn’t expect. But I don’t know if it’s going to happen," Guardiola said.
"I think every season the opponents get stronger. Liverpool will remain the strong team they are, we are seeing how Chelsea are investing in this transfer market. We saw in the last period how Man United made a step forward.
"Tottenham are going to recover a lot of injured players, with Son, Harry Kane and other players and with an experienced manager like [Jose] Mourinho they are always going to be strong.
"Arsenal with more time with Mikel [Arteta] is going to happen - and Leicester you know. Every season the teams are stronger and stronger and it will be more difficult.
"When we retained the title we were the first for 10 years so you know how difficult it is to do that but at the same time it’s next season and I’m not thinking too much about this."
