Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has said he will be keeping a close eye on whether the English Premier League punishes Manchester City for breaching financial regulations.

City have been banned from European competition for the next two seasons and fined €30 million ($32.52m) by UEFA after an investigation into alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play rules.

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City have denied any wrongdoing and confirmed they are appealing the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Premier League have also opened an investigation into City, who won the 2013-14 league title by finishing two points ahead of Liverpool.

"I'm really, really interested in it -- for obvious reasons," Rangers manager Gerrard, who captained the Liverpool side during the 2013-14 campaign, told reporters.

"From a UEFA point of view, it is obviously a real strong sentence or punishment. I'm sure they will appeal so we will wait and see what the outcome is on that."

In 2014, Liverpool had been on course to win their first league title since 1990, but suffered a collapse late in the campaign, with a Gerrard slip in a home clash with Chelsea gifting Demba Ba a goal in a 2-0 home loss.

UEFA said City had committed "serious breaches" of the regulations by overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.

Meanwhile, Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has said City deserve the "benefit of the doubt" until the ban appeal.

"At the end of the process we will see if they are punished or not," Mourinho said.

"UEF punished them but they have the chance to appeal. Until the appeal finishes I think Manchester City has the benefit of the doubt."

As Manchester United boss, Mourinho finished second to City in their record-breaking 2017-18 campaign where, under Pep Guardiola, they reached 100 points as champions.