BBC’s chief football writer predicts where Liverpool and City will finish this season

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Phil McNulty has backed Manchester City to retain their Premier League title once again, predicting that Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool will fall short this term finishing second.

The Merseysiders came to within a point of league glory in the prior campaign in a season that came close to fulfilling fans’ hopes of a famous quadruple haul of silverware.

“Manchester City have been Premier League champions four of the past five seasons and I expect another straight fight with Liverpool to end with them on top again,” the Englishman wrote in his column for BBC Sport.

Still, it would be foolish to count the Merseysiders out of any fight for silverware with Bobby Firmino having confirmed the club’s ambitions remain high ahead of the start of the 2022/23 season.

A truly outstanding season last time out ended with them missing out on the title on the final day, losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid but winning the FA Cup and League Cup, both on penalties against Chelsea,” McNulty continued. Expect them to fight on all fronts again this term and challenge City all the way, securing at least one trophy.”

READ MORE: Firmino’s latest Liverpool claim will have Manchester City nervous after Community Shield defeat

It’s unsurprising to a certain extent that Liverpool have once again been underrated in comparison to our domestic rivals once more.

To give credit where credit is due, we will be coming up against a force of nature in the Sky Blues who have since added a generational talent in the form of Erling Haaland to their ranks.

Still, whilst we can’t ignore the exit of Sadio Mane, it would be equally imprudent to not consider the potential impact the exit of Raheem Sterling might have on the Manchester-based outfit’s squad.

Ultimately, it should be remembered that some pundits last year couldn’t bring themselves to put Liverpool down for a top two finish – hopefully we can prove our detractors wrong and go a step further in the title race this time around.

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