This will be Pep Guardiola’s biggest test. After winning a historic Treble with Man City last season, can he do it again in 2023/24?

No sooner had Manchester United won its first Treble by an English club in 1999 than Dwight Yorke knocked on Sir Alex Ferguson’s door asking for a year off. It was a joke, but Yorke had a serious point to make.

The former United striker recently said: “I just thought: what is there left to do?” What else can we do as a team? Yes, you can repeat the achievement, but if you don’t repeat it, you will be considered a failure.’

It has taken 24 years for another club to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in one season. In Yorke’s time you would have had good chances if it was Manchester City.

So times have changed and football has changed, but some things remain the same, and the issue of motivation, drive and hunger is one of them.

Ferguson can look back on that time, almost a quarter of a century ago, as his greatest achievement in the game.

Pep Guardiola’s Man City side face an uphill battle if they want to match their performances from last season

However, the fact that his team rose again the following year to retain their league title by an 18-point margin says it all about the spirit that was then flowing through the heart of that dressing room.

And this is now City’s challenge. It is nothing more or less than this. Can they leave behind last season’s high peaks and become the first team to win the top-flight title, the title that is important to English clubs year after year, four seasons in a row?

From a distance it already seems like a huge question. Competing on multiple fronts undermines work, physically and mentally. Liverpool tried – with less success – in 2021/22 and the impact was undoubtedly felt last season. And crucially, and for the first time in a long time, City have failed to improve their squad this summer.

Since Inter Milan’s defeat in Istanbul last June, Pep Guardiola has lost his captain Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez. Kyle Walker can still follow.

Earnings at this stage are limited to Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic and his Croatian teammate, RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol.

So if City are to reach the heights of last season, it looks like they need another great season from the likes of Erling Haaland, John Stones and Jack Grealish. That’s not as easy as it sounds.

In short, the door may be open for others in the Premier League this season. The broader question is whether there’s anyone good enough to walk through and grab a trophy that’s worn sky-blue ribbons for five of the past six seasons.

The truth is that City has a level all its own, in terms of quality, depth and consistency. So as much as they can be forgiven for taking half a step back this season, it will still take someone else to take a whole step forward to get past them.

If City are to reach the heights of 2022-2023 they must rely on stellar performances from the likes of Jack Grealish

Erling Haaland was the star of the show with 36 Premier League goals in 35 games

City’s biggest rivals last season, Arsenal, spent big money, including a £105 million deal for Declan Rice

Arsenal, number two last season, spent a lot of money. With Declan Rice, the North London club has bought guaranteed improvement. Kai Havertz, stolen from Chelsea, already feels like cover. Mikel Arteta, however, is still missing a top scorer.

At Anfield, Liverpool feel like a club and a team that can absolutely go either way for the next nine months.

If they take further steps backwards, we could very well be witnessing the premature end of the Jurgen Klopp era.

Up front, Liverpool have rebuilt formidably in recent times. But questions will continue to revolve around a defensive unit that was unfit for goal last season and so Klopp will need Virgil van Dijk back at his best.

Early signs of adjustment from two midfielders Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai will also be needed as Liverpool look to move forward with the departure of big names and, indeed, big voices such as Fabinho and former captain Jordan Henderson.

Klopp and Liverpool will not lack motivation. However, they will have to find a way to cope with Thursday night’s Europa League football, something Manchester United can at least put behind them after last season’s third-place finish.

At Old Trafford, Erik ten Hag continues to look like a manager who knows what he’s doing, apart from two big outfield signings – Mason Mount and 20-year-old Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund – to close a gap between United and City that at 14 points last time feels like an important task.

United have also made a goalkeeper change for the first time since Ferguson’s days and that is a change that a team can traditionally undergo in one way or another. For Andre Onana, David de Gea’s replacement, the challenge will be huge.

All this aside, Newcastle’s first season in the Champions League in two decades will be fascinating to watch. Trying to maintain their league trajectory after last season’s efforts will be manager Eddie Howe’s biggest challenge.

At Chelsea we welcome back Mauricio Pochettino and while we have missed a talented and charismatic coach who we consider one of our own, it remains to be seen how he takes on owner Todd Boehly’s reckless first season. Pochettino is a football manager, not a magician.

Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool will not lack enthusiasm, but must compete against the Europa League

Erik ten Hag looks like a manager who knows what he’s doing, but may need more than two outfield signings

Mauricio Pochettino will make his Premier League return for Chelsea when they face Liverpool

Similarly, Ange Postecoglou has puzzles to solve in his first season at Tottenham. It will be interesting to see gifted midfielder James Maddison step up, but that signing will need to be supplemented by two or three more if Harry Kane does indeed leave for Bayern Munich. If Postecoglou manages to get Tottenham back into the top four, it will be an achievement.

At least it’s not that short-lived megalomaniac Antonio Conte at the wheel. Everything has to be better than that. As always at this time of year, we look for signs of someone breaking away from the pack.

Aston Villa and Brighton seem most suitable for this. Unai Emery’s good work at Villa last season was rewarded not only with what appears to be the green light to elect his own sporting director – the Spaniard Monchi who joins from Emery’s former club Sevilla – but also with three key signings, the most intriguing of which will be the ball used to be. playing defender Pau Torres of Villarreal.

Rob Edwards’ Luton Town look ill-equipped to survive in the Premier League after promotion

Roy Hodgson is back in charge of Crystal Palace, which could see little change at Selhurst Park

Manchester City could become the first team in history to win four Premier Leagues on the trot

Brighton, meanwhile, have spent the summer fending off interest in their best players. However, there is nothing new about that and in Roberto De Zerbi they have one of the brightest coaches in the Premier League. Moving on, it’s hard not to fear the likes of Everton and West Ham as we feel we know what we’ll get from Crystal Palace now that Roy Hodgson is back. Sign them up for 14th place already.

Can Everton finally go down? They really could. Their team is no better than last season. West Ham, meanwhile, will run into all sorts of trouble if tensions around manager David Moyes are not resolved.

The good news for those already worried about their team’s safety in the Premier League is that two of the promoted sides – Luton and Sheffield United – appear ill-equipped to survive. We can expect those two to go down and Manchester City to win the league again in no time.

It’s hard to find the energy to go back after Treble’s success, but as Yorke and United showed all those years ago, it helps when your team and your manager are a cut above everyone else’s.