Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is expecting 'lots of clubs' to be involved in the Premier League title chase this season.
City raise the curtain on the 2022/23 campaign be facing Liverpool in the FA Community Shield on Saturday at Leicester's King Power Stadium.
Liverpool and City have occupied the top two spots in three of the last four seasons with the latter winning the title on three occasions and Jurgen Klopp's men once.
Clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea have heavily invested this summer in a bid to close the gap to the top two and Manchester United's decision to hire Erik Ten Hag represents a clear direction and identity for the club.
Guardiola isn't sure who will be City's toughest challenger, but believes there will be plenty.
'I don't know, I promise you, if I was able to predict the future I'd let you know. Normally in Premier League there are many teams and you expect that,' Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference.
'Always before I repeat the same, I expect a lot of clubs involved, the quality they all have in terms of managers, players, history. I don't know.'
First up, City reacquaint themselves with now perennial rivals Liverpool, a side who won both domestic cups last season.
The Reds may have lost Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, but Mohamed Salah penned a new deal at Anfield and remains one of the Premier League's most dangerous talents.
Guardiola says he's not breaking any news admitting that the Egyptian is exceptional.
'I'm not saying anything new because we know it. He's exceptional, an incredible threat. We try to win the game.'
Salah, 30, has scored 118 league goals in 180 games for Liverpool, but Guardiola has some new threats of his own this summer.
Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez, both 22, have joined City this summer to replace the outgoing Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling.
Former Dortmund hitman Haaland, who scored 86 goals in 89 games for the German side, has already been named the favourite to win the top goal scorer award by the bookmakers.