Guardiola: Six clubs in race for title

PEP GUARDIOLA has warned his players not to expect another title procession as Manchester City begin their attempt to become the first back-to-back Premier League champions for a decade.

Guardiola, who successfully retained league titles at Barcelona By Joe Bernstein and Bayern Munich, highlighted the virtues of City’s rivals ahead of the opening match of their title defence at Arsenal.

‘Here in England, there are many good teams,’ he said. ‘Forget how much Liverpool have spent, they were already a good team last season as well.

‘There is Chelsea with Jorginho, Kovacic and Kante in the middle, and Hazard, Willian, Pedro and Morata up front, so you can not say they are not contenders.

‘Or Manchester United. People ask how they will do, but I know a little bit about their manager and how good they will handle that.

‘What we have done last season doesn’t mean that now we are going to win this.’

Guardiola added: ‘If we do our job, we will be there but others can be too — there can be six contenders.’