No team has managed a successful defence of the Premier League title since Manchester United in 2009 - but will this season be different?
That is the aim of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, a winner of three consecutive league titles in both Spain (Barcelona, 2008-11) and Germany (Bayern Munich, 2013-16), who saw his side finish 19 points clear of the pack last time out.
But who will challenge them in 2018-19? Can big-spending Liverpool mount a serious challenge? Will Manchester United narrow the gap? Can Tottenham improve? And are Chelsea and Arsenal contenders after changing their managers in the summer?
We asked 24 BBC TV and radio pundits to pick their top four with explanations for their selections.
The predictions were made on the basis of how each squad shaped up on Wednesday, 8 August, before the opening weekend of the season, but two days before the deadline for incoming transfers and with the potential for players to leave up until the transfer window shuts in the rest of Europe at the end of August.
Predictor 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Ian Wright Liverpool Man City Man Utd Arsenal
Ruud Gullit Liverpool Man City Chelsea Man Utd
Martin Keown Liverpool Man City Tottenham Man Utd
Dion Dublin Man City Man Utd Liverpool Tottenham
Alex Scott Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal
Joleon Lescott Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal
Mark Lawrenson Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal
Matthew Upson Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal
Alan Shearer Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham
Danny Murphy Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham
Pat Nevin Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham
Lindsay Johnson Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham
Charlie Adam Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham
Danny Mills Man City Liverpool Man Utd Chelsea
Mark Schwarzer Man City Liverpool Man Utd Chelsea
Rachel Brown-Finnis Man City Liverpool Chelsea Tottenham
Sue Smith Man City Liverpool Chelsea Tottenham
Paul Ince Man City Liverpool Chelsea Man Utd
Kevin Kilbane Man City Liverpool Chelsea Man Utd
Stephen Warnock Man City Liverpool Chelsea Man Utd
Jermaine Jenas Man City Liverpool Tottenham Man Utd
Chris Sutton Man City Liverpool Tottenham Man Utd
Chris Waddle Man City Liverpool Tottenham Chelsea
Leon Osman Man City Liverpool Tottenham Arsenal
Six teams feature in the forecasted top fours, and only Manchester City and Liverpool feature in all 24.
In terms of who will win it, Manchester City are favourites, with 21 votes.
Liverpool get the other three.
Overall predicted ranking, using all BBC predictions
(using system of 4 pts for a 1st place, 3 pts for 2nd, 2 pts for 3rd and 1 pt for 4th)
1. Man City 2. Liverpool 3. Man Utd 4. Tottenham 5. Chelsea 6. Arsenal
93 pts 74 pts 34 pts 18 pts 15 pts 6 pts
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45088530
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