Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs believes Manchester City still have the edge over his former side going into next season.

City were runaway Premier League champions last term, beating second place United by an huge 19 points.

However no manager since Sir Alex Ferguson in 2007-2009 has successfully defended the Premier League title, with different winners being crowned in all of the nine seasons since.

Giggs though believes City manager Pep Guardiola can replicate Ferguson’s feat for the first time in a decade, insisting the Spaniard’s side remainder superior to United going into the new campaign.

“In the past it has always been if a team has done well how are you gonna make up all them points?” he said. “But see the last three seasons. Leicester and then nowhere the next season.

“Chelsea not really anywhere. I think the problem is with City, you’ve got a manager who after his first season wins again.

“He did it with Barcelona, he did it with Bayern.”

The former Wales international believes that is not only the quality in City’s ranks that give them the edge over their rivals, but also that the consistency in the squad.

City are likely to make only one/two transfers this summer, keeping the core of their squad mostly the same, while United have already made two new signings, and plan to continue to spend big before the end of the summer in the hope of improving on last year’s trophy-less campaign.

“I don’t think they (City) are gonna bring many players in,” he told the South Morning China Post. “They’ve got a pretty settled side.

“I think United, there will be a lot of players going. There will be a lot of players coming in. Whereas City will probably just tweak, which is always a good thing if you’ve got a settled side and then you can bring in two big hitters who can just make that difference and take you up to the next level.

“If you win actually it’s more important to just keep that freshness for the players who’ve just won to make sure that they’re not getting too complacent.”