Mario Gotze is excited to watch the battle between two of his former bosses as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp go toe-to-toe for the Premier League title this season.

Guardiola's defending champions Manchester City are favourites to retain their crown in 2018-19 and have looked in excellent form in the opening four matches of the campaign.

They trail Liverpool, Watford and Chelsea, though, after the trio picked up a maximum 12 points before the international break.

Klopp's Reds are seen by many as the main challengers to City and Gotze – who had four years with the Liverpool boss at Borussia Dortmund before joining Guardiola at Bayern Munich – believes it will be a close battle.

"This year it's going to be very exciting," Gotze told Omnisport.

"It's pretty hard to predict anything when talking about the Premier League because of the liabilities the teams and the players have when playing in the Champions League and the other cups, too.

"All these tournaments they have to play and it’s not easy to be the best in the Premier League.

"You have to play good football for a whole year to achieve that, but I think they can do it, both Pep and Klopp.

"I think it's going to be very exciting and that they are definitely the favourites to win the Premier League title."