Michael Owen makes shock Man City prediction and claims there will be new Premier League winner

Michael Owen believes Manchester City’s Premier League dominance will end this season and fears the reigning champions won’t even finish in the top three.

After pipping Arsenal to the post last term and winning an unprecedented fourth title in succession, City will again be the team to beat.

By their own standards, however, the champions have spent relatively modestly this summer while their likely rivals have all invested in their squads in an attempt to bridge the gap.

Arsenal have added Italy international defender Riccardo Calafiori to their ranks and secured goalkeeper David Raya on a permanent deal.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are hoping to secure a deal for Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi and have impressed during pre-season under their new manager Arne Slot.

Saturday’s Community Shield between City and local rivals Manchester United should give a clearer indication of where the league’s dominant force are at ahead of the big kick-off, but Owen is sensing a chancing of the guard is imminent.

Speaking to Casino Hawks, he said: ‘Arsenal and Manchester City will go in virtually everybody’s top four predictions and I think Liverpool will probably be in there as well despite there being some questions over how well Arne Slot will fit in.

‘I had a thought about Newcastle but Aston Villa are solid and look to be still improving.

‘In terms of the order, my thought process is if City are not gonna win it, they could actually drop away a little bit.

‘It’s almost like if City are not gonna be really in the race after 10 games then their priority could go elsewhere – I think there could be a big surprise this season.

‘I’m going to go for Arsenal first, Liverpool second, Aston Villa third and Manchester City fourth.’

Mikel Arteta’s side, meanwhile, certainly appeared to be in rude health last night after they swept reigning German champions Bayer Leverkusen aside, cantering to a 4-1 win at the Emirates.

‘We can take a lot of positives from the game as well as the result,’ said Arteta. ‘The way we performed, there were lots of positive aspects, collectively and individually.

‘I think we’ll take a lot from it. A lot of things to learn from it as well. I think we can improve, especially in the second half when we made seven changes.

;But again, a really good test, a really good team who are really well coached and i was a good performance.’