Arne Slot expects Manchester City to be back challenging for the Premier League title next season after their surprising struggles this campaign.

Liverpool are eight points clear at the Premier League summit before Sunday's visit to Pep Guardiola's side, who are fourth in the table and 17 points behind the leaders.

City could still secure qualification for the Champions League, the competition in which they were knocked out by Real Madrid last week, but it has been a disappointing season for Guardiola's men.

There are positive signs for City, however, given only Liverpool and Arsenal have won more points in the Premier League than City (17 – W5 D2 L1) since Christmas.

Slot believes their upturn in form is a sign of things to come, and expects City to come back fighting for the top-flight crown next term.

"Everybody is surprised that City is not up there because they've been up there for so many years," Slot told Sky Sports.

"They have a great manager who has shown that he can be up there every single season. So I don't think anyone would have expected them now to be so many points behind us. I do see they are coming up again.

"I think last weekend they were very good against Newcastle. They have already brought in three or four new players, so I think everybody knows that this probably is a one-time season that they are not up there.

"Everybody knows that this is a one-time season that they are not up there, and everybody, at least I, expect them to be up there next season again because you can already see them going up. So that is a surprise, but I think they are already much better. They had one or two difficult months.

"They started the season well. I think they are getting there now again. But they dropped too many points in a difficult period of the season, where they had many injuries as well. And then this league is ruthless. If you are not at your best, then every game is hard."

Liverpool are looking to complete the Premier League double over City for just the third time (also 2005-06 and 2015-16) on Sunday. However, the Reds have won just one of their last 15 trips to the Etihad Stadium in the competition.

Slot's side were 2-0 victors in the reverse fixture at Anfield, though Virgil van Dijk remains wary of City's threat.

"One hundred per cent," Van Dijk said when asked if City remain a threat despite their 2024-25 struggles.

"They beat Newcastle [United] 4-0 the other day. They were champions four times in a row for a reason. So they deserve all the respect they get and we will definitely give them that.

"But on Sunday, we're going to go there and try to win the game. And we know it's going to be difficult because we haven't won there for a long time in the Premier League, we all know that.

"But we have to go out there with being brave, together with our fans and give everything that we have and try to get a step closer."