Guardian writers’ predicted place: 1st (NB: this isn’t essentially Jamie Jackson’s prediction however the common of our writers’ suggestions)
Last season’s place: 1st
Prospects
As the favourites to be champions once more, for a file fourth successive season, attrition could also be their best foe quite than Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Newcastle et al. Pep Guardiola recognized Jude Bellingham as his subsequent “fantasy footballer”, to comply with David Silva (departed) and Kevin De Bruyne (nonetheless within the function), however the teen joined Real Madrid and can the Belgian’s advancing years – he’s 32 – trigger extra fragility (he was pressured off within the Champions League closing) and a waning of his artistry? If Bernardo Silva follows Ilkay Gündogan’s exit then Guardiola will, certainly, have to maneuver to interchange a footballer who’s a type of mini De Bruyne.
The pre-season tour of Asia introduced a 5-3 win over Yokohama Marinos and a 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich in Japan and a shock 2-1 loss to Atlético Madrid in Seoul, which was adopted by the defeat on penalties by Arsenal within the Community Shield. The actual motion begins on Friday when Guardiola takes his aspect to Burnley, the place Vincent Kompany will hope to provide his former supervisor the sourest begin to the Premier League marketing campaign with what can be an unlikely win over the workforce he captained so efficiently that the membership constructed a statue of him.
Five days later, City are in Athens to tackle Sevilla to attempt to add the Uefa Super Cup to the Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup claimed prior to now 12 months. Expect Guardiola to do all the pieces he can to make sure the Spaniards are defeated.
The supervisor
After seven years in cost Pep Guardiola nonetheless finds contemporary methods to encourage the squad and himself. The latter is essential and he will probably be sensible sufficient to know when his fires start dimming. Guardiola sees himself in east Manchester for 2 extra seasons and after final time period’s treble he could use the lean at extra historical past – the possibility to be title-winners for a fourth yr in a row – as his driver. Expect him to attract on extra quotidian ploys: final yr these included the harnessing of Rico Lewis’s vibrant expertise to refresh his seasoned professionals, and January’s “happy flowers” assault on his workforce after they got here from behind to beat Tottenham.
Leading the shirt gross sales
The objective plunderer supreme Erling Haaland is an apparent candidate, as would have been the captain of the treble winners however Gündogan is gone. How about, then, the person whose strike claimed the Champions League and sealed immortality for the membership – Rodri? The Spaniard steered the winner dwelling past Internazionale’s Andre Onana in trademark exact style and now City require a brand new chief he’s certainly a favorite to succeed Gündogan.
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Folk hero
Jack Grealish – who else? Cheeky, irrepressible, adores a party, and was a major factor in the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup glory. The sight of Grealish, “curtains” haircut pinned up, aggressively springing in from his left-side berth has become iconic. Grealish’s 2022-23 campaign was a victory of self-belief after a patchy debut season – and for Guardiola whose backing of him reaped the hoped-for dividend – and made the 27-year-old ever more adored by the City faithful.
One to look at
Kalvin Phillips will hope to be this marketing campaign’s Grealish after a depressing debut season when he didn’t begin a Premier League recreation till the thirty eighth and final, made solely 12 appearances within the competitors, and was publicly upbraided by Guardiola for being chubby. Guardiola’s assertion that Phillips’s lack of match-time derived from an inferiority with the ball in “small spaces” was as scathing a criticism as a midfielder can obtain however the participant is intent on preventing to persuade his supervisor.
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