Former Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has predicted cross-town rivals Manchester United to miss out on a top four place in the Premier League this season. Wright-Phillips, who is in India for Manchester City’s ‘Champions 4-in-a-row Trophy Tour’, made 217 appearances for the City-zens, stretching across two different spells. Sharing his views on the situation at Manchester United, Wright-Phillips insisted he want them to do well for not so obvious reasons, but feels a top four finish is ‘too much to ask’ for a team which has not won a Premier League title in over a decade (2012-13).

Wright-Phllips, who scored six times in 36 caps for England, then went on to claim that Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag still hasn’t figured out his strongest starting XI.

United finished eighth last season, but won the FA Cup to secure UEFA Europa League football this season.

Despite spending a lot on the incomings in the summer transfer window, Ten Hag’s men sit 10th in the points table after four games.

City, on the other hand, have 12 points from a possible 12 with Erling Haalad already upto nine league goals, six more than any other player in England’s top-flight this season.

Manchester City won an unprecedented fourth Premier League title on the trot, edging Arsenal out by two points (91:89), despite failing to beat the Gunners home and away.

Former Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has predicted Aston Villa to finish in the Premier League top four once again this season. Villa, under Spanish manager Unai Emery, finished fourth in the Premier League last season with 68 points, thus securing Champions League football after 32 years. Emery’s Villa made a winning return to the Champions League, winning 3-0 at BSC Young Boys in Switzerland earlier this week. Wright-Phillips, who is in India for Manchester City’s ‘Champions 4-in-a-row Trophy Tour’, feels there won’t be any changes, as far as the Champions League places are concerned.

Manchester City won an unprecedented fourth Premier League title on the trot, edging Arsenal out by two points (91:89), despite failing to beat the Gunners home and away. Liverpool were a close third with 82 points, in what was Jurgen Klopp’s final season in charge of The Reds.

Wright-Phillips also picked three teams that are likely to go down back to the Championship, the second division of English football league system.

Wright-Phillips, a Premier League winner with Chelsea, has backed Southampton and Ipswich Town, two of three promoted teams this season, to face the drop straight away. For his third and final pick, the 42-year-old reckoned that it would be either Leicester City or Crystal Palace.

“Bottom three is kinda hard. It is harder that what people think. Everton are down right now but if you watch most of their games, especially the last two, you would necessarily say they shouldn’t have lost them. Basically, they’ve given away six points. Unlike last season, they are actually scoring goals. So they are going to stay. Southampton are down. Leicester, they will always surprise you with Jamie Vardy. So, Southampton down. Ipswich, probably, only because they play well but don’t have enough (firepower). They will score less but concede a lot. The last one is between Crystal Palace and Leicester,” he added.

Manchester City and Arsenal have been going toe-to-toe for the Premier League title for the past two seasons. With the Men in Blue prevailing both times, Mikel Arteta’s Gunners will be travelling to Etihad Stadium on Sunday with the ultimate trophy in their mind. Manchester City were unable to beat Arsenal in the previous season with the latter winning 1-0 at home and managing to hold on to a 0-0 draw in their second game of the season. With the Gunners having only conceded one goal in five games so far their defence looks to be as solid as ever.

Former Manchester City forward Shaun Wright Phillips believes that the club’s ability to create individual moments of magic is what will help them prevail over Arsenal this time around.

“If you look at the way City play, they always play tactically. You have your individual moments but when you have players like Jeremy Doku, Savinho, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, who is not playing, and Gundogan, they can make moments of magic. It does not have to be a one-two or an interchange, it can also be a shot from outside the box,” Shaun Wright-Phillips, who is in India for the Manchester City Trophy Tour, told IANS in the Star Sports Press Room.

For Arsenal, the game against Manchester City is going to be a difficult one with their skipper Martin Odegaard being ruled out with an ankle injury. Arsenal only scored one goal through a corner in their matchup against Tottenham and were held goalless in the Champions League fixture against Atalanta. Their usual free and fluid attacking gameplay is left rather static with Odegaard’s departure. City on the other hand faced Italian champions Inter Milan in their UCL match and were also held to a goalless draw at home. They conjured 22 shots in the game with five on target but did not manage to get past Yann Sommer in the net.

The Manchester City legend believes his former team holds the upper hand over its opponents as the game will boil down to a midfield battle and Arsenal are not the same team without their skipper.

“They dealt with a similar situation against Inter Milan and they will be prepared, I think they will be able to deal with the Arsenal counterattack as well as they do not want to be the same team in the final third without Odegaard. This is a game of such a high magnitude, you do not get enough opportunities to miss chances so the chances City do manage to make, they will have to take them,” he added.