Pep Guardiola s Manchester City are favourites to retain their Premier League crown this season after storming to glory with a record-breaking 100-point haul last time around.
It has been a close-season of quiet consolidation at the Etihad Stadium, with record-signing Riyad Mahrez coming in to bolster an already formidable side, which looked in fine order during Sunday s comfortable 2-0 win over Chelsea in the Community Shield.
But such a position of apparent strength has proved cruelly deceptive for reigning champions in England over the past decade.
Manchester United were the last club to win back-to-back league titles when they made it three in a row in 2008-09. Since then it has been a story of near-misses at best to outright implosions at worst.
The …