After having witnessed every single BBC Sport pundit questioned refuse to back Liverpool for the Premier League title last term, it may come as something of a shock to fans that there was a slight improvement on that front this time around.
As many as eight commentators, including former Manchester United man Dion Dublin, have predicted that the Reds will kill off the Sky Blues’ hopes of securing a third league crown in a row this coming season, as reported by BBC Sport.
However, the majority are in favour of Pep Guardiola’s men matching a feat only achieved by the Red Devils in the Premier League era.
With both clubs having lost key men – perhaps more significantly for Liverpool than the Etihad-based outfit, following the departure of a staple in the forward line in Sadio Mane – it’s unclear as things stand how it might impact on the race for domestic glory in 2022/23.
It’s encouraging that several pundits this year, at least, perhaps having been swayed by our close brush with the history books last term, feel that we’ll go one step further and secure a more valuable piece of silverwarre.
Whilst it’s far too premature to draw conclusions from the Community Shield victory, what it does tell us at this early stage is that both ourselves and Manchester City will be the standard-setters in the English top-flight once more and that it would be unwise to count us out just yet.
You can catch the full table of BBC Sport pundits’ predictions below: