After a very underwhelming campaign, by the usual sky-high standards, will Manchester City re-establish themselves as English football's dominant force?
What are Manchester City's confirmed transfers?
Manchester City's arrivals
- Rayan Cherki: Olympique Lyonnais - £34 million.
- Tijjani Reijnders: AC Milan - £46 million.
- Rayan Aït-Nouri: Wolverhampton Wanderers - £32 million.
- James Trafford: Burnley - £31 million.
- Sverre Nypan: Rosenborg - £12.5 million.
- Marcus Bettinelli: Chelsea - free transfer.
Manchester City's departures
- Kevin De Bruyne: Napoli - free transfer.
- Kyle Walker: Burnley - £5 million.
- Jack Grealish: Everton - loan + £50 million option to buy.
- Máximo Perrone: Como - £13 million.
- Juma Bah: Nice - loan.
- Scott Carson: free agent.
- Vitor Reis: Girona - loan.
- Jahmai Simpson-Pusey: Celtic - loan.
- Divin Mubama: Stoke City - loan.
- Yan Couto: Borussia Dortmund - £25.2 million.
- Kayky: Bahia - €5 million.
Pleased note: all information is correct as of the date of publication.
What happened at Manchester City last season?
In Pep Guardiola's own words, last season was a complete disaster for Manchester City. Having won four successive Premier League titles, the first team in English top-flight history to ever achieve this, they were never really part of last season's title race after suffering four straight league defeats in November. They recovered to finish third, when the campaign appeared set to be a total catastrophe.
Meantime, in the Champions League, having ended up 22nd in the league phase, the Citizens were demolished 6-3 by Real Madrid in the first knockout round, only enjoying victories over Slovan Bratislava, Sparta Prague and Club Brugge in Europe. They could have ended the season with silverware, but were beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Final, Omar Marmoush seeing a penalty saved, meaning they had just last August's Community Shield to show for their efforts.
How will Manchester City do this season?
Of course, we've already seen Manchester City in action not that long ago, competing at the Club World Cup. During the group stages, the Sky Blues appeared absolutely unstoppable, demolishing Wydad Casablanca, Al Ain and, most notably, Juventus, scoring 13 goals in the process. At that point, Guardiola's team were favourites to go all the way, so it was then a massive surprise that they were ousted by Al-Hilal in the round of 16, dumped out 4-3 after extra time on a crazy night in Orlando.
How their Club World Cup exploits will impact the upcoming Premier League season remains to be seen, commencing their campaign at Molineux a mere 47 days on from that defeat in Florida. New signings Rayan Aït-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki all debuted stateside during the summer, so will be bedded in, while James Trafford has re-joined the club from Burnley, but will he do so as the number one, or will Ederson continue to be donning the gloves, for now anyway?
Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish have all moved on to pastures new, but Guardiola's squad appears indisputably stronger than last season, with most forecasting they'll be back challenging for all the major honours again.
What is our predicted Premier League finish for Manchester City?
- Our predicted finish for Manchester City in the Premier League this season: 3rd.
What are Manchester City's first 6 Premier League fixtures?
- Wolverhampton Wanderers (A). Saturday 16 August. Kick off 17:30 (BST).
- Tottenham Hotspur (H). Saturday 23 August. Kick off 12:30 (BST).
- Brighton & Hove Albion (A). Sunday 31 August. Kick off 14:00 (BST).
- Manchester United (H). Sunday 14 September. Kick off 16:30 (BST).
- Arsenal (A). Sunday 21 September. Kick off 16:30 (BST).
- Burnley (H). Saturday 27 September. Kick off 15:00 (BST).
What are some other key dates for Manchester City supporters?
- 27 August: Carabao Cup third round draw - taking place around 22:30 (BST).
- 28 August: UEFA Champions League league phase draw - taking place at 17:00 (BST).
- 1 September: The transfer window closes at 19:00 (BST).