Hot Spurs could be ready to turn up the heat on City

It’s hard to see past Manchester City retaining their Premier League crown but it’s even harder to imagine Liverpool being the team who will push them the closest.

Odds of around 4-6 City are a bit skinny for me as Pep Guardiola’s men prepare to make some adjustments to incorporate Erling Haaland into their set-up.

But Liverpool are shorter still in betting without the champions and I’m not convinced they will be City’s nearest challengers this time round.

In fact, of all the others, I’d be more inclined towards Tottenham continuing the good work Antonio Conte has started and making a proper push for the top two.

The slight question with City is how Haaland slots in because he’s the type of striker that Pep Guardiola has never particularly wanted, and now suddenly he thinks he’s right for them.

Maybe Pep thinks he’s the missing piece in the jigsaw to win them the Champions League, but the dynamic of the team will change.

He’ll score goals, of course he will. Any striker will score goals at City given the chances they create but the question is how it affects the rest of the team and how they adapt to a different centre-forward who has a different playing style.

That said, I don’t see them slipping up because the one team who could have stopped them – Liverpool – are set to go backwards and the rest have got far too much ground to make up.

Liverpool played the season of their lives – and failed to win either of the big trophies. Yes, they won the two domestic cups and that was a great achievement – to be even so close to winning four trophies was incredible.

But the point is they didn’t and it will still hurt that Real Madrid were there for the taking. I know Klopp says we’ll pick them up, bring in a couple of new faces and go again, but those last-week setbacks in the Premier League and Champions League will be in the back of their minds for a while because they could have made history. And Sadio Mane’s gone.

The reason they were so successful was because of that Mane-Firmino-Salah front three where they all complemented each other so well. Yes, Luis Diaz will score, but will he get the numbers Mane has? I doubt it and of course Firmino has fallen off the map.

And Diaz, let’s not forget, started all three of Liverpool’s finals last season and neither he nor the team managed a single goal.

Salah has turned 30 and hot on the heels of Diaz there’s another new striker arrived in Darwin Nunez, and there is obviously no guarantee that he will settle in straight away. But the pressure will be on him, especially if Haaland starts banging in the goals. You can hear the criticism already, that Liverpool paid more for Nunez than City did for Haaland yet he’s being left behind in the scoring stakes.

What Liverpool did last year was outstanding by any level and I think if you look at what they have achieved over the last three or four years they probably exceeded what they were capable of.

So, who’s next best behind City? Not Manchester United which looks like a mammoth project for Erik ten Hag and won’t be rectified in 12 months. Too much has gone wrong there.

Arsenal could be anything, winning six on the bounce, then not winning six in a row. I like the signing of Gabriel Jesus and if you look at his scoring record when he starts, it’s exceptional.

Chelsea will do some more business. Raheem Sterling is a good buy, Kalidou Koulibaly fills the hole left by Antonio Rudiger and one or two more will come in.

And then there’s Tottenham. Yves Bissouma is a very good player who will provide strength and stability in midfield, Richarlison will do better in a better team and Ivan Perisic is still class.

They boast a manager who knows how to win titles and improve teams and suddenly Conte is spoiled for choice in key areas, something he didn’t have last season.

When I saw the Son-Kane-Kulusevski front-line improve week by week, it reminded me of when Liverpool first fielded Mane, Firmino and Salah a few years ago, the three of them performing on a weekly basis and there was no stopping them.

If I was a Spurs fan I’d feel really positive about the forthcoming campaign. Spurs will continue to score goals – Kane gets my Golden Boot vote because he won’t repeat his slow start of last term – and Conte will tighten them up at the back.

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Palace set to take off but I have little faith in Saints

There are two teams who aren’t being talked up this season, two who I will be looking to side with, and they are Crystal Palace and Leeds.

Palace are just being overlooked altogether while Leeds seem to be all the rage in relegation betting.

Newcastle understandably head without-the-top-six betting and rightly so, but Palace won’t be far away.

They finished 12th last season, just three points outside the top half, and have it in them to overhaul the likes of Brighton and Wolves. Leicester are on the decline, West Ham have punched above their weight the last two years and I’m not sure Steven Gerrard will get that much more out of Aston Villa.

I’m impressed with what Patrick Vieira has achieved. They were the only team outside the top eight with a positive goal difference thanks to a defence that was better than Arsenal’s or Manchester United’s.

They, if the recent reports are to be believed, beat off Arsenal to sign Lens midfielder Cheick Doucoure, which shows people appear to want to play for Vieira. Strength at the back should be a platform for a top-half finish.

At the other end, Bournemouth will be up against it, Fulham may be okay but seem to find the Premier League too physical, and Nottingham Forest could well be the best of the three who went up. Taiwo Awoniyi, who was at Liverpool and scored 15 for Union Berlin last season, will score goals.

I’m not sure about Southampton. They seem to get off to good starts but have dips in them and we see them taking hidings too often for their own good. They look the likeliest of the existing crop to take a step backward, far more so than Leeds, who I’m convinced will be fine.

Jesse Marsch has lost two big players in Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha but I think he’s bought wisely. Marc Roca didn’t get many chances at Bayern Munich but when he did he looked okay. He can definitely play.

He was a key figure for Spain Under-21s a couple of years ago.

Marsch has raided his former club Salzburg to sign Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen while Tyler Adams, from Leipzig, is a brilliant player if he’s fully recovered from injuries.

Leeds are getting a lot of points from all the big teams and they can definitely land the handicap.

Dortmund can finally get the better of Bayern

I seem to have been saying this for the past two or three seasons, but I’ll say it again – Bayern Munich are a lay in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund got within eight points of Bayern last season and they can close the gap entirely this time.

I’d be wary of Bayern for the Bundesliga and the Champions League.

Pundits left Julian Nagelsmann alone after their loss to Villarreal in the last eight, people saying ‘oh, he’s young, give him time’. Well he doesn’t have time. Now he’s got to be at it from the off and I’m not convinced that will happen.

Dortmund have done brilliantly in the transfer market. They got Niklas Sule on a free from Bayern, Niko Schlotterbeck from Freiburg – that may be Germany’s central defensive partnership at the World Cup – Salih Ozcan from Cologne is a real workhorse who I like.

The players pretty much campaigned for Eden Terzic to take the reins as head coach so he’s obviously popular and they can take advantage of a lot of issues in Munich.

Didi’s diamonds

Tottenham to win Premier League without Man City
11-2 Hills

Crystal Palace top-half finish
5-2 Coral, Ladbrokes

Southampton to be relegated
10-3 Betfred

Leeds +48 on the handicap
15-1 each-way Coral, Ladbrokes

H Kane top goalscorer
6-1 general

Borussia Dortmund to win the Bundesliga
9-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

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