Pep Guardiola predicts where Man Utd and Chelsea will finish in the Premier League

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola (Picture: Getty)

Pep Guardiola expects Manchester United and Chelsea to rival Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool for a top-four finish in the Premier League.

There are significant question marks over United and Chelsea following their struggles last season.

Manchester United slumped to eighth – their lowest-ever Premier League finish – and were expected to sack Erik ten Hag before he beat Guardiola’s Man City in the FA Cup final.

Chelsea also missed out on the Champions League spots, only finishing sixth thanks to a late burst towards the end of the season.

That run gave fans some much-needed optimism ahead of the 2024-25 campaign but Chelsea then parted ways with manager Mauricio Pochettino, sparking fresh uncertainty at the big-spending club.

Chelsea kick-start the new season against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon and speaking ahead of the clash, Guardiola identified the Blues as one of ‘six or seven teams’ who will challenge for the top-four.

Guardiola praised Chelsea’s new manager Enzo Maresca and the ‘quality’ squad at Stamford Bridge while insisting Manchester United would ‘be there’ when the Champions League spots are finalised.

Manchester United need to improve under Erik ten Hag (Picture: Getty)

United flattered to deceive for much of their Premier League opener against Fulham on Friday night but a late goal from summer signing Joshua Zirkzee proved decisive.

‘In the beginning of the season, the first target is going into the top four,’ Guardiola said of Man City’s aspirations. ‘And the people say, ‘Ah, come on. What?’ No. Top-four.

‘Newcastle – they’re not in European competition – they’re going to play one game a week. And Newcastle, one game a week, this season will be the Newcastle of two seasons ago.

Enzo Maresca took over at Chelsea this summer (Picture: Getty)

‘And Arsenal it’s not necessary to talk about, Liverpool it’s not necessary to talk about, I know the signings of (Manchester) United and at the end they’re going to take the moment and they will be there.

‘Tottenham, I’m pretty sure of that as well, they invest in the young players, with the manager who knows better.

‘So there are a lot, a lot of teams – Chelsea, again, with the amount of players, the quality, I believe with the manager.

‘All the six or seven teams are there. If you drop a little bit, you will be away.

‘This is the reality I’ve felt from the first season that I arrived here, and after, yeah, we proved ourselves that we can do it. And we’ll try to do it again this season, it’s simple.’

While Guardiola claimed Man City’s first objective is to qualify for the Champions League, in reality he is hoping to guide the team to an unprecedented fifth straight Premier League title.

But several pundits – including former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand – believe Manchester City will be denied by Arsenal.

‘I think it’s hard to go against City because of how successful they’ve been over the last four seasons,’ said Ferdinand on TNT Sports. ‘They’ve set a new benchmark, a new record of four in a row.

‘But I just think Arsenal, Calafiori coming in on the left hand side, if he comes in and sures that area up…I think he’s a fantastic player, played at Bologna under Thiago Motta, he understands that type of football that Arteta wants to play.

‘I think that was the area that was a slight weakness in the team, he gives them a bit of balance there and a bit of stability. So I’ll go maybe Arsenal to win it, but there’s got to be a hunger.’

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