Michael Owen shares Premier League title and top four predictions as bold Man City comment made | Football | Sport

Michael Owen has backed Arsenal to win the Premier League title this season, which suggests Manchester City could fall significantly short.

After falling short under the mighty Pep Guardiola for two seasons running, the Gunners can overcome them this time around and win their first title since 2004, claims the former England striker.

Meanwhile, he predicts an unprecedented drop for City, who would drop to fourth place, which would represent Guardiola’s worst performance in his illustrious tenure as manager.

According to the former Liverpool striker, with Arne Slot in charge, the Reds are contenders for second place, while Aston Villa are ready to maintain their top-four position.

Offering his insights to Casino Hawks, Owen said: “Arsenal and Manchester City will be in pretty much everyone’s top four predictions and I think Liverpool will probably be in there too, although there are some doubts about how Arne Slot will fit in. I thought Newcastle but Aston Villa are solid and look to be improving.

“In terms of order, my thought process is that if City don’t win, they could actually drop down a bit. It’s almost as if City aren’t really going to be in the running after 10 games, so their priority could go elsewhere – I think there could be a big surprise this season. I’m going to go with Arsenal first, Liverpool second, Aston Villa third and Manchester City fourth.”

The former England international also predicted that this season’s promoted teams – Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton – will be relegated to the Championship, adding that clubs will find it increasingly difficult after promotion.

“I see the three promoted teams struggling in the Premier League as a trend going forward, the three promoted teams went down last season and if it wasn’t for the points deductions suffered by Everton and Nottingham Forest it would have been even more convincing.

“They fought and everyone really enjoyed watching Luton play, for example, but if Forest hadn’t dropped points it would have happened sooner.”