Pep Guardiola believes his Manchester City side will face competition from a number of teams as they prepare to defend their Premier League crown.
Liverpool will hope to be in the conversation this time around after a disappointing drop-off last term
Guardiola has long insisted Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have offered him the toughest test of his managerial career
City have a chance to claim their first piece of silverware in this Sunday's Community Shield against Arsenal
Asked if he agrees the Gunners have replaced Liverpool as City's greatest concern, Guardiola said:
"Arsenal, with Arsene Wenger, instilled the club in that position and I'm very happy that he got a statue at the Emirates Stadium. He changed many things in English football and his influence was massive. The style of culture he brought in the last years dropped and Mikel brings them again in the position Arsenal was all the time.
"Everybody knows that, when the season starts I say the same thing: that is my feeling. There is not one or two, there are a lot of teams that are going to fight for everything and the challenge is massive for us. How we can grow as a team mentally and football-wise to sustain that level, it is almost impossible.
"You can't do it more than we want, but the challenge is that. How hungry we still are, how much desire we still have to defend what we won and we will see during the process of eleven months, in the lower moments we will have, what we have to be."
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