Will it be a two-horse title race between Man City and Liverpool again?

Today, Manchester City and Liverpool will clash for the Community Shield in the traditional curtain raiser for the English football season, which simultaneously offers the first opportunity for the contestants to bag their first – albeit not the most prized – piece of silverware for the season.

Traditionally played between the Premier League and FA Cup winners, today’s matchup will feature the sides that finished as the top two of the last league campaign, since Manchester City won both the league and the cup last season.

And while the FA Community Shield will pit last year’s top two against one another, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if these two sides also finish as the top two after the culmination of the upcoming season that they are set to kick off.

Manchester City and Liverpool contested what is, without a shadow of a doubt, the greatest Premier League title race of all time, perhaps unparalleled in all of top-tier English football, and a match for any across the continent as well.

With 97 points – to City’s 98 – not only did Liverpool finish with the highest ever runners-up tally in the Premier League, it was a total that would’ve outdid many league champions of the past. Just for perspective, Manchester United won the Premier League with 75 points in the 1996-97 season.

Even so, as great as Liverpool were last year, and as unprecedented as the title race that they contested was, history books would register them as the runners-up, like any other side that finished second in the league. But after a three-decade wait, can Liverpool finally go one better this year?

There’s more than a fair chance that repeating what they did last year is all Liverpool need to do to win the league this season. But perhaps club management and Jurgen Klopp have taken that too literally with no activity throughout the summer.

Sure, Liverpool have an attack and a defence to match any across Europe, but the likes of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane – arguably the most dynamic front three in all of Europe – have been over-worked in both league and international football over the past couple of seasons. Even Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk were on international duty during the summer.

Having played back to back Champions League final, culminating in last season’s momentous triumph on the continent, Liverpool’s greatest challenge would be the pursuit of its own levels and standards that it set last season.

That is what might give the edge to two-time defending champions Manchester City, who after becoming the first side to defend the Premier League in a decade, will look to become only the second side – after neighbours Manchester United – to complete a hat-trick of Premier League titles.

However, even though City might start the season as the slight favourites over Liverpool, they might have a different set of questions to answer this year.

For starters, with Vincent Kompany no longer there, John Stones would have to step up at the back. Rodri’s signing might prove to be critical for Man City, who might have found the omnipresent midfielder that they were looking for – which might indeed prompt a slight alteration in the system that Pep Guardiola has kept in place over the last couple of seasons.

Where Liverpool relied on their largely well-defined first 11, City’s success has been owing to their illustrious squad. The downside of that however is the likes of Leroy Sane looking for the exit door.

Another silver-lining for City’s challengers would be the need for European success at the club, which could provide a distraction if Liverpool and others can provide a challenge strong enough to keep Guardiola’s side occupied on multiple fronts.

Outside last season’s top two, it’s hard to see anyone even with a long-shot at winning the title. Tottenham have done well to keep their star players, and indeed manager Mauricio Pochettino, and should be looking to finish in the top three being, without a shadow of a doubt, the third best side in England currently. Tanguy Ndombele is an exciting project, which might push Spurs to do one better than what already was an historic season for them with a Champions League silver medal.

Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, part of the once Big Four and three of the four most successful clubs in the Premier League, look likely to settle for another battle for fourth spot.

Chelsea’s transfer ban means that club legend Frank Lampard has been roped in for what will be a transition period, especially after losing Edin Hazard to Real Madrid. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is already traversing a similar job at Manchester United, currently looking to add a couple of players to a squad that might yet lose the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba. Meanwhile, Unai Emery has bolstered an already impressive attack with the signing of Nicolas Pepe, with defensive loopholes still very much there.

Where these three clubs are likely to look towards the top four, they might also have to battle it out with clubs like Leicester City, Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers and even West Ham United, all of whom are looking to break up the so-called Big Six. Meanwhile, newly promoted Norwich, Sheffield United and Aston Villa are all big names in English football in their own right, and would be looking to avoid yo-yoing back into the Championship in their first season.

Another season of English football is upon us. And while it appears to be one of the most predictable Premier League seasons in recent memory, we know we almost always have to eat (at least some of) the words we write in August, come May next year.