Fresh eyes, same expectation

Jamie Carragher has waded into the title debate with a prediction that will have Arsenal supporters reaching for the mute button: Manchester City, he insists, go straight back to the top under Enzo Maresca.

The logic is straightforward enough. City finished second last season while operating below their own exacting standards, and have since backed the new manager with serious money. Elliot Anderson has arrived to give the midfield a different pulse, and Maresca walks into a dressing room that still contains Erling Haaland and Phil Foden. This is not a rebuild. It is a refresh.

The Pep question

Carragher is not blind to the obvious objection. Pep Guardiola has gone, and ten years of one manager leaves a particular kind of void. But he frames it differently.

“When you’ve had the same manager for ten years, the flip side of what people will say is that it’s hard to come after him. Just something a little bit new, a little bit fresh.”

Freshness, in other words, cuts both ways. Maresca knows the club, inherits an exceptional squad, and might benefit from the novelty of his own ideas after a decade of Guardiola's.

The Rodri caveat

There is one scenario that changes everything. Carragher was blunt about it: if Rodri went to Real Madrid, the prediction goes out the window.

“I think if Rodri left for Real Madrid then I wouldn’t be saying that.”

He also questioned the logic of even entertaining offers in the region of £40m for a player he considers the best in his position.

“If you’re City, what’s the point in selling Rodri? What’s the point? Just get another year out of him and let him go for free. He’s the best in his position. What’s £40m for City?”

talkSPORT's own reporting backs that view, suggesting City's title hopes would be seriously weakened if the Spain international departed. Barcelona's lingering interest only adds another layer of complication, potentially dragging negotiations into a bidding war nobody at the Etihad wants.

Arsenal still edge it on paper

None of this dismisses Arsenal. They enter the season as defending champions, have strengthened an already formidable squad, and remain slight favourites on the strength of continuity and defensive solidity. Carragher's own reasoning acknowledges they were close last year — close enough that the gap feels bridgeable.

His prediction, for all the noise it will generate, is a reasonable one. If Rodri stays fit and committed, City have the quality to reclaim the title. Without him, Arsenal's chances of retaining it increase significantly.

What's £40m, indeed.