Glen Johnson has named Manchester City’s biggest rival for the Premier League title next campaign – and snubbed Arsenal and Man United.
Pep Guardiola’s Man City will go for a fourth consecutive league title and sixth in seven years next season.
Manchester City enjoyed an incredible second-half to the 2022-23 campaign to chase down Arsenal and win the league title by five points.
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City lifted the FA Cup and won their first UEFA Champions League to complete a superb treble – the first by an English team since 1998-99.
Former England defender Johnson expects City’s dominance to continue next campaign and claims their biggest competition will come from Chelsea.
The West London side endured a disappointing previous campaign, finishing just 12th – but Johnson says they will be the ‘surprise package’ under Mauricio Pochettino.
‘I obviously believe that Liverpool are going to improve next season, but I believe there’s a big gap between Manchester City and everybody else,’ he told Betfred.
‘I don’t believe they’ll challenge for the Premier League title next season, but I do believe that Chelsea will be the surprise package if I’m being honest.
‘Chelsea have a fantastic squad but they weren’t firing at all last season, but now they have a good manager and a good squad, I believe they’ll have a point to prove and they’ll be challenging more than anybody expected.
‘I don’t believe they’ll be good enough to take Manchester City all the way, but I believe Chelsea will be their closest rivals.’
Meanwhile, former Premier League defender Jonathan Woodgate believes there is still room for improvement for Manchester City and says they could win the quadruple next season.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, former Premier League defender Jonathan Woodgate said: ‘There are always ways for football teams to improve. Every player in that squad will think to themselves that they want to get better next year. What can they do next year? They can win the quadruple.
‘That’ll be one thing they’ll be thinking about, can they won four trophies next season? That’s your mentality of wanting to get better and wanting to improve, and I’m sure they will.’
