Gary Neville has said he believes Liverpool over-achieved when they finished second in the Premier League last season, saying that was "a miracle."
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The former Manchester United captain, now a successful pundit and part of the England coaching team, said he believed the Merseysiders -- who at one stage looked likely to win the title -- would struggle to replicate that in the new season.
"I don't think Liverpool will win the league," Neville told Sky Sports. "I think it was a miracle, really, to get to the point that they did last year.
"I think they were absolutely at full pelt last year, 100 percent. I thought at one point, with three weeks to go, that they were going to win it because the momentum was with them and the performances were outstanding, but they just fell away at the last.
"Success this year for Liverpool, for me, would look like a Champions League finish, getting to the knockout phase of the Champions League and doing well in a domestic cup.
"That's not being patronising -- I just think that last year was really an overachievement, and I don't see them being stronger than City and Chelsea."
Neville said we "don't quite know" what Manchester United and Arsenal might do in the new campaign, but said he did not believe his old club would be challenging for the title.
Despite the optimism generated by new coach Louis van Gaal, he said: "Unless two or three players come in, I don't think it's realistic that he [Van Gaal] can win the league this year.
"Although there is a potential with what Liverpool did in the fact they had free weeks of Saturday to Saturday, continual perfect preparation [with no European football]. That's a big advantage for United if they get onto some momentum.
"But I do think it would be a massive ask for Manchester United to win the league this year from where they have been, unless they sign two or three real stars and they all bed in immediately in the next few weeks.
"Van Gaal's got the confidence to think he can win the league. You can't turn around as Manchester United manager and say anything other than the aspiration and ambition is to win the league."