We can't say much at this point but I'm pretty sure that City won't win it again. They need 1 bad game in knockout stage and they will be out. Going 2years without bad game it's really hard and City does not have legacy of Real M to do that.
The current conditions still need to be seen through some progress because indeed even we still cannot determine how the pot will go in the group phase and how the big clubs will change some of their players this time considering that the club candidates are also a bit diverse now.
We just need to wait for the continuation of this matter, while the champion is still too far to be discussed because we still need to wait for every line-up at certain clubs.
but for the candidate I don't think it will be too much different from before because it's like a certainty.