Four Reasons Why Manchester City Will Not Retain The Premier League Title This Season

There is no doubt that retaining a title is not the easiest thing to do, especially in England. Though Barcelona and Real Madrid have retained back to back La Liga titles and some other leagues have a monopoly, with regards to their champions, retaining the Premier League title takes more than just a good team with costly players. There are many factors that need to work in sync, so that a team can do so, especially when it comes to the top flight of English football.

In recent memory, only Manchester United and Chelsea have done it and that too with some serious effort. However, multiple factors suggest this time that Pep Guardiola's side will fail to retain. Here is a list below of four reasons why Manchester City will not retain the league title-

Lack of summer signings/reinforcements

While all big clubs are signing new players to fill the voids within their squad, manager Pep Guardiola seems to be happy with the minimal signings that he has made this summer. After signing Philippe Sandler, the Spanish manager only signed Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez and was content with his other young stars returning from their loan spells.

He has been trying to add a few other players to his squad right through the summer, though a deal has not gone through thus far. Even the Jorginho deal was sabotaged by Chelsea at the last minute and Pep did look lost for words back then.

To add to that, Mahrez already suffered an injury to his ankle in the game against Bayern and had to go off in their International Champions Cup tie. Hopefully, that is not too severe and he is able to make his return to action soon.

Out of form players, based on World Cup performances

The tournament in Russia was not the best for the Citizens, as most of them did not have a great time at the World Cup. The competition was totally forgettable for the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho, who were just really poor. They were totally out of sorts and it was hard to imagine that these were the same three players, who had won the Premier League and League Cup title a few weeks ago.

On the other hand, Kevin de Bruyne and Nicolas Otamendi would be other City players who did not have the best of tournaments, though the former still put on a decent showing with Belgium. Otamendi on the other hand will want to forge this time at the competition, as his team was all over the place and even he lacked discipline.

Though the international tournament does not always determine the fate of a player's domestic campaign, there were quite a few first-team players who were poor and it could have an overall impact on their morale and performances in this season.

Strengthened title contenders and more competition

While all the top teams across England are adding more players and filling up their voids from the previous campaign, City does not seem to be in any sort of hurry to do so. The manager, Pep must feel that they have all the right players and it is a perfect squad looking at the way that they performed in the previous term.

However, it would be a serious concern the way that Arsenal and Liverpool have been signing stars, who can really turn things around for them. Both teams have fortified their squads with a few key players and have bought a new quality keeper too. Their domestic rivals Manchester United have done decently too and some of the other clubs like West Ham and Fulham have already made some top signings too and can be a threat in the .upcoming campaign.

Pressure to perform in the Champions League and win more major titles

With the Premier League title in the bag in the previous campaign, the City management will now want Pep to focus on the Champions League title. They have been contenders to be the champions of Europe for quite some time now, though have failed to really leave their mark on the competition.

Once again, they will want to go all the way and win it, as they do have the quality and the players who can make it happen. However, this could be one major issue for them in terms of retaining the league title, as they will make Europe's top cup competition their priority and may have to make some sacrifices for the same.