The 2018-19 Premier League season will go down in history as having one of the best title races of all-time. Manchester City and Liverpool had two of the three greatest seasons in Premier League history points-wise, and their fight for the championship went right down to the wire.
In the end, though, Man City did enough to hold off Liverpool in the final few weeks of the season to successfully defend their crown.
This season, City will have their sights set on a third consecutive title, which only their neighbours Manchester United have accomplished in the Premier League era.
The Premier League 2019 betting odds have the Citizens as significant favoured to complete that hat-trick, but will they actually do it? Allow SBOBET to break down the challenges City face to hold on to their throne this upcoming season.
City can’t keep this up, can they?
Manchester City have now put together back-to-back all-time great seasons. After setting a new record with 100 points in 2017-18, they were just two points shy of that mark last year. And that was despite missing star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne for almost a quarter of the season.
But the big question now is whether they are capable of maintaining that incredible pace for the third year running. Aside from the physical toll of playing such long seasons, it also has to be very mentally taxing to try and maintain such a high level of play for so long. It’s also possible that complacency could finally start to creep in to the City squad.
One would think that at some point, City should finally start to slow down and regress to the mean after their two amazing seasons.
Having said all of that, though, City still possess the best squad in the entire league. They are just so deep at every position. If Sergio Aguero finally starts slipping at age 31, Gabriel Jesus is ready to take over. If Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva get into a slump, Riyad Mahrez and Leroy Sane are waiting in the wings. And so on and so forth.
It’s quite possible that Man City won’t be able to come up with another all-time great season. It’s just too hard to do, especially in a league as tough as England. But even if they do take a step back, that could still be more than good enough to secure another title.
City as currently constructed aren’t likely to throw the title away; someone will have to take it from them. And that leads us to Liverpool.
Liverpool are lurking
Without question, the biggest rivals to City’s crown this season are once again Liverpool. The Reds went agonisingly close to claiming that long-awaited title last season as they pushed City all the way. And after winning the Champions League for the sixth time, their goal this term will be firmly fixed on the Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp hasn’t made any notable signings this summer and has decided instead to lean on the continuity he’s built for the past few years.
But they will have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain back after he missed most of last season with a knee injury. They will also expect some growth from Naby Keita in his second season after an underwhelming debut campaign.
Although, it’s not out of the question that Liverpool could also fall back down to earth after their remarkable season, which could prove to be more of an outlier. Their attack, in particular, remains highly reliant on the front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino.
Should one of those three go down, they will once again need to rely on the likes of Divock Origi, Xherdan Shaqiri, and Adam Lallana to play significant roles. They certainly don’t inspire much confidence, especially compared to City’s amazing reserve options.
Liverpool are by far the side best-equipped to offer any sort of challenge to City this season. If they fall off from last year’s amazing pace, though, it will be hard to see anyone else giving the champions a fight.
Rodri, the Fernandinho replacement
Manchester City did not look vulnerable all that often last year, but when they did, it was because Fernandinho was out of the line-up.
The Brazilian midfielder was seemingly the team’s most indispensable player. He did his crucial role of shielding the defence and building up attacks expertly, and City didn’t have another player capable of playing that position as well.
Ilkay Gundogan did his best to fill in when necessary, but Fernandinho just took the team to another level when he was healthy and playing.
At 34 years of age, though, Fernandinho is at a point in his career where he is unlikely to play every single week. That’s why City made Premier League 2019 news and spent a club-record £63 million to sign Rodri from Atletico Madrid. The young Spaniard will now be available to play the Fernandinho role on the team when the Brazilian is unavailable.
Rodri displayed his strong defensive abilities at Atletico, but he was not able to showcase his passing skills too often for an Atleti side that played so conservatively in attack. Guardiola has seen something in him, though, and believes he has all the tools to thrive in City’s system.
Despite his price tag, Rodri is by no means a sure thing. But if he does prove to be a more than capable Fernandinho replacement, one of City’s biggest areas of concern is suddenly addressed — and their road toward a third successive crown gets that much clearer.
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