Man City recovered from a slow start last season in emphatic fashion but with stronger rivals that won't be so easy this time. Will Pep Guardiola be able to navigate their tough early fixtures well enough for his returning superstars to make the difference later in the campaign?
Sunday 15 August 2021 17:25, UK
Manchester City were down in 11th place after eight games last season. After back-to-back draws with Manchester United and West Brom in mid-December they had won just five of their first 12 fixtures.
Then they turned it on.
Fifteen wins on the spin in the Premier League - amid a run of 21 in all competitions - propelled them 14 points clear at the top of the table by early March. There was no catching them from there.
That streak was an incredible feat, accomplished during the winter months, when fixtures, different competitions, injuries and illness came thick and fast. It was one of the finest pieces of mastery and management of Pep Guardiola's career.
But such was its brilliance, that epic effort is not something that City can be expected to repeat. And that means there is real pressure on how they start this new Premier League campaign.
They're up against it, with tough fixtures on their schedule and player fitness and availability a major concern.
They go to Tottenham on the opening weekend and then face Norwich and Arsenal at the Etihad before the international break. Then comes Leicester away, Southampton at home, Chelsea away and Liverpool away.
Will they be playing catch-up after that trip to Anfield?
That run of games is tough enough, with trips to title rivals Chelsea and Liverpool coming either side of a Champions League group game. But what makes it even more brutal is Man City are coming into this campaign undercooked. And they know it.
Their 2020/21 season lasted as long as it could, with their Champions League final appearance coming on May 29. They then had no fewer than 17 first-team players involved in the Euros and Copa America, and plenty of them, including their five England stars, went deep.
As a result, City were the final Premier League side to kick off pre-season training, with Benjamin Mendy, Riyad Mahrez, Fernandinho and Zack Steffen among the first back - and they were all starters in Saturday's Community Shield defeat to Leicester.
In his press conference after that game at Wembley, Guardiola was brutally honest about where his squad is at ahead of the new Premier League season, pointing out that "seven or eight" players were training for the first time this summer from Sunday and that many of the players involved against Leicester had only had three training sessions.
Key players Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden are struggling with injuries sustained at the Euros and are doubts for this weekend.
"We will try our best knowing we will not be at our best," said Guardiola about the start of the Premier League season. "It happened last season… we lost 2-5 at home to Leicester.
"Before the international break we want to get as many points as possible to be there and after week by week, I am pretty sure we will be better. What I saw today I am incredibly confident for the season."
The danger is that City could find themselves with too much of a mountain to climb by the time they are finally fit and firing.
While their incredible winning run swept everyone aside last season, there was no genuine, sustained challenge for the crown by any other side.
This time Liverpool will expect to be back in the mix and Manchester United and Chelsea have invested heavily to compete for the honour. The margin of error is going to be small, the standards raised.
City's big investment was in Jack Grealish. They could go even bigger and bring in Harry Kane, too. But both of them, like their England Euro 2020 colleagues, will need time to get back up to speed, let alone acquainted with a new side's patterns of play.
The challenge for Guardiola will be to find the resources within his squad - and perhaps within his own tactical trickery - to keep City in the picture by the time Grealish and City's other superstars are able to enter the action at full tilt.
They can't afford another slow start.
The Premier League is back! New signings, new teams, old rivalries resumed and fresh hope, all to the sweet sound of full stadiums. Kate Burlaga is joined by Nick Wright and Gerard Brand to preview another nine months of drama in the top flight.
PART 1: Are City still the side to beat? And who will challenge them? Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool assessed
PART 2: Will the north London gloom lift? Leicester in focus and surprise package: Leeds, Aston Villa and Everton tipped
PART 3: How will promoted trio Brentford, Watford and Norwich fare? Plus: New managers assessed, and can West Ham deal with European distraction?
In
Jack Grealish - Aston Villa, £100m
Scott Carson - Derby, free
Out
Sergio Aguero - Barcelona, free
Eric Garcia - Barcelona, free
Jack Harrison - Leeds, undisclosed
Daniel Grimshaw - Blackpool, free
Taylor Harwood-Bellis - Anderlecht, loan
James Trafford - Accrington, loan
Gavin Bazunu - Portsmouth, loan
Lewis Fiorini - Lincoln, loan
Alexander Robertson - Ross County, loan
Callum Doyle - Sunderland, loan
Lukas Nmecha - Wolfsburg, undisclosed
Matt Smith - Hull, loan
August
15: Tottenham (a) - 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports
21: Norwich (h) - 3pm
28: Arsenal (h) - 12.30pm
September
11: Leicester (a) - 3pm
18: Southampton (h) - 3pm
25: Chelsea (a) - 3pm
October
2: Liverpool (a) - 3pm
You can follow all the latest transfer news and rumours in our dedicated Transfer Centre blog on Sky Sports' digital platforms, as well as keeping track of all the developments on Sky Sports News.
