Just for fun, here\u2019s a list of the finishing positions of defending Premier League champions not called Manchester City over the last 15 years or so: 3rd, 5th, 12th, 10th, 7th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd.<\/p>\n
You have to go back to Manchester United in 2009 for the last non-City Premier League title defence, and Chelsea in 2006 for the last (and only) non-Manchester example.<\/p>\n
Now yes, we are pretending Football Was Invented In 1992 among vast amounts of other mischief here. Manchester City have defended all manner of Premier League titles in that time, as shown by just how few chances there have even been for anyone else to have a go at defending one. And it is extremely cheeky to just\u2026remove all those City successes from consideration.<\/p>\n
Still, though. Something in it, we reckon. Building a dynasty is hard. And even when you manage it \u2013 as Jurgen Klopp and Arsene Wenger absolutely did at Liverpool and Arsenal \u2013 it doesn\u2019t mean you automatically hoover up a lovely run of league titles back to back.<\/p>\n
Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. They are the only managers to have done it.<\/p>\n
Which brings us, as you\u2019d probably guessed, to Liverpool and their current understandable yet absolutely vast levels of apparent optimism<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n There are some \u2013 not all, never all, we must always stress this part \u2013 among their fans and perhaps even more among others starting to chat like next season\u2019s title destination is already known.<\/p>\n We\u2019re really not at all convinced. We\u2019re extremely excited for next season precisely because we don\u2019t think anything is that clear cut at all.<\/p>\n This feels like the least predictable Premier League season in quite some time, and that\u2019s intoxicating.<\/p>\n And to be clear, we\u2019re talking about that giddy pre-season all-things-possible perspective. It\u2019s absolutely true that a great many confident predictions from last summer were massively and hilariously wrong<\/strong><\/a>; our point is that it was nevertheless possible to make those predictions with that confidence in a way it just isn\u2019t after the wild 12 months of Barclays that\u2019s just transpired. Last summer it was far easier to just assume City would defend the title than to say Liverpool or anyone else will surely prevail in 25\/26.<\/p>\n Could Liverpool defend their title? Absolutely they could. They were much the best team in the country last season and have already done eye-catching transfer business<\/strong><\/a>. Nobody is saying they can\u2019t or won\u2019t win it.<\/p>\n But that in itself must not be allowed to become a \u2018Well yeah of course they did\u2019 achievement greeted with world-weary shrugs. It would be a massive achievement, elevating Arne Slot into the very top tier of Premier League managers after just two seasons here.<\/p>\n Which also brings us to the doubts. How do they cope with Trent Alexander-Arnold\u2019s departure? Was the undeniably flat finish to last season entirely down to objectives having long since been achieved or was it something deeper? Can Slot deliver with a much-changed squad as easily as he could in his first season where continuity proved such a powerful and expertly harnessed asset?<\/p>\n There are definitely very compelling positive answers to all those questions and more, but they are questions that nonetheless exist.<\/p>\n