Premier League rankings: Manchester City analysis, line-up & predicted finish

"Next season we will be stronger. We will be better."

Those were not the words of a coach in charge of relegation strugglers aiming to appease disgruntled supporters, but those of relentless Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola shortly before the club landed an unprecedented treble in English football.

In landing a clean sweep of domestic trophies City also became the first team in ten years to successfully defend the Premier League title and they are rightly odds-on for a hat-trick.

The league campaign was uncannily similar in terms of points to the record-smashing 2017-18 season as City again won 32 matches, finishing only two points shy of the century to fight off Liverpool's laudable challenge.

Most managers would allow themselves time to bask in the glory. Guardiola is not most managers.

He will have obsessed over their dramatic Champions League quarter-final exit to Tottenham when the quadruple was in sight and will have planned patterns for seemingly every one of City's 33,593 Premier League touches last season.

City dominated possession in 2018-19, averaging 64 per cent, and they will be aiming to improve those numbers by taking advantage of a new law which means defenders don't need goal kicks to come out of the penalty box before receiving a pass.

It's a minor detail, but helpful all the same, even if it pales into insignificance compared to the return to full fitness of Kevin De Bruyne and Benjamin Mendy will also hope to figure more frequently than last season's injury-disrupted term.

City had the delights of De Bruyne for fewer than 1,000 Premier League minutes in a hugely frustrating season personally for the outstanding Belgian midfielder.

He had to wait until Boxing Day to make the first of his 11 top-flight starts and only seemed to find his best form in patches.

Guardiola's insistence his side will improve can be backed up by De Bruyne's availability and the fact that City missed 71 big chances last season, easily the most in the division.

If their manager is right and City have not yet reached their limit it's a frightening prospect for their rivals.

Possible team (4-1-2-3): Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, *Mendy; Fernandinho; De Bruyne, D Silva; B Silva, Aguero, Sterling.

*Mendy will miss at least the first month through injury.

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