As Omar said on The Wire: “When you come at the king, you best not miss.” Manchester City are the reigning kings of the Premier League, having acquired a record breaking 100 points last season, in a campaign that saw them effectively win the title way back on December 10th when they won at Manchester United.
And all they did this summer was add a former PFA Player of the Year to a side that won the Premier League by a whopping 19 points. This offseason, it looks like only Liverpool are truly coming at the king, and it remains to be seen if he will hit or miss. When you’re going up against the finest manager in the game, leading a club owned by one of the richest men in the world, the odds are stacked against you.
Reasons for Manchester City supporters to be Optimistic:
See everything above. It would seriously take a drastic rash of injuries plus a ton of bad luck to keep the Citizens from repeating. This team has a lot depth and experience, and the youth within the side are eager to prove themselves. There is way too much competitiveness and maturity in this bunch to be legitimately concerned about complacency setting in.
Reasons for Manchester City fans to be Pessimistic:
Liverpool, the side who strengthened much more than anyone in the Premier League this summer, showed us how to beat City. You have to attack them, you can’t be intimated and tentative.
Summer Transfer Window/Offseason Analysis:
Mahrez was the only major addition, but wow what a value add he is. He can add yet another dimension for opposing defenses to worry about as they game plan. Losing out on Jorginho was tough, but overall the preseason/offseason was mostly drama free, and devoid of major injuries, so that’s all that really matters.
Manchester City Players to Watch: Kevin De Bruyne (would have won PFA Player of the Year in any other year, when we didn’t have someone breaking the scoring record), Mahrez (we already covered), Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero (the attack won’t be slowing down at all this season), Silva, Sane, Otamendi, Kompany, we could just go on and on
League Title Odds According to Betway: 4/6, overwhelming favorites
It all Kicks Off: what the Community Shield wasn’t exciting enough for you? City did get a trophy from that win. For real though, the Sky Blues visit Arsenal on Sunday, the initial weekend’s headliner fixture.
Manchester City Bottom Line Outlook/Predictions: Champions
How many other teams out there have the man power and managerial prowess to pull off what Liverpool did? Even if they do follow the Reds blue print, there’s no reason to think that Guardiola won’t have the right adjustment for that.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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