Ryan Giggs knows a thing or two about winning a Premier League title, and evidently he doesn’t fancy Arsenal or Liverpool this coming season.
The Manchester United legend won 13 titles with the club between 1992 and 2013, along with a whole host of other major trophies and individual accolades.
While he now continues with his punditry work ahead of perhaps returning to management, he’s looked ahead to what should be a fascinating Premier League title race this season. When discussing the contenders though, there were two notable absentees.
“Manchester United needed some new blood,” he told Sky Sports. “Romelu Lukaku will score goals, there’s no doubt about that. There were too many home games last season where we didn’t take our chances but it’s not just down to Lukaku, the rest of the team need to be contributing as well.
“I think Manchester City are the team to beat though. I looked at them towards the end of last season and the forward players they’ve got is scary. What they needed to get right was their defence and it will be interesting to see how Ederson settles in, because you don’t win the Premier League with an average goalkeeper.
“You can’t ignore Chelsea because of their quality, but have they got the squad to balance defending the Premier League and European football? I’m not sure.
“Tottenham have a really exciting squad and a great manager in Mauricio Pochettino, but everybody is asking whether they can continue to match sides without signings.
“Everton are an interesting one and Ronald Koeman has made plenty of signings, including obviously bringing back Wayne Rooney. He’s a proven goalscorer and scores more often than not when he gets chances.”
Whether it was an innocent oversight or merely the choice of the editor to include those comments, it seems as though Giggs isn’t too concerned with what Arsenal and Liverpool might bring to the table in the upcoming campaign.
Both giants will undoubtedly have ambitions of challenging for the trophy and will be up there competing, but time will tell if they’ve got the squads to make it happen.
Giggs makes great points above about the teams he has discussed, and it’s hard not to see the other sides be wary of City given the attacking quality at Pep Guardiola’s disposal while he’s now balanced that with defensive signings to create a solid squad.