Premier League Won't Just Be A Two Horse Race According To Graeme Souness

Graeme Souness doesn't think that Manchester City and Liverpool will have it all their own way in the Premier League title race next season.

The top two were as dominant as ever last season, as the two sides earned 93 and 92 points, respectively, and finished nearly 20 points ahead of third place Chelsea.

Thomas Tuchel's side had looked to make it a three horse race at the start of the season but got dropped by the leading pair at the turn of the year and, like a rider in the Tour de France, could never close the gap, instead slipping back towards the peleton.

Can anyone stop City winning the league again? Image: Alamy

With City having signed Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips and Julius Alvarez and Liverpool having added Darwin Nunez to their front line, most would expect that domination to continue.

However, Sky Sports pundit Souness doesn't believe that will be the case and has backed two teams to join in the title race, when the league kicks off on August 5th.

"No, I don't think so," the former Liverpool star told Sky Bet when asked if it would be a two horse race, "Manchester City and Liverpool will be the outstanding favourites but I think you've got to factor Chelsea into the argument as well.

"I think Spurs have got a determination and a doggedness about them that I've not seen since the early days of Mauricio Pochettino."

Chelsea were able to compete in cups, taking Liverpool to two penalty shoot-outs in the Carabao and FA Cup finals. Image: Alamy

It's not really the biggest shock that if anyone is going to disrupt the top two it would be the teams who finished third and fourth last season.

Chelsea's summer transfers were delayed by their takeover and their first piece of business was for Romelu Lukaku to go back to Inter Milan, just a year after joining.

This week though they signed Raheem Sterling and are now working on boosting their defensive ranks, having lost Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christiansen this summer.

Kalidou Koulibaly looks set to move to west London, although fans of the club might be a little bit worried about him coming up against Virgil van Dijk.

Tuchel's team were also rumoured to be interested in bringing Cristiano Ronaldo to Stamford Bridge this summer but the manager has decided to veto that move.

Could Conte make Spurs title challengers? Image: Alamy

Spurs transformation under Antonio Conte will definitely be the reason behind Souness mentioning the north London club, with not even Daniel Levy thinking they'd get into the top four when the Italian took over last year.

The manager is certainly putting his players through their paces in pre season, and the additions of Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic, Clement Lenglet and the expected arrival of Djed Spence make them an exciting prospect.

Of course, Souness couldn't completely go against the grain, and in typical fashion the Scotsman was still backing his former club to win the league.

"I think Liverpool will win it after coming so close last year," he said when asked for his pick for the title.