Guardiola's side start campaign with games against Brighton, Everton, Bournemouth and Liverpool
The Premier League will kick off on August 12th and Man City will start the campaign with expectations of a highly successful season. There have been some new additions to the squad and City will want to get off to a good start and show the rest of the league that they are serious title contenders this year. Let's take a look at the first three fixtures the Blues will encounter and what we can expect in terms of results and opposition.
These three games see them match up against Brighton and Hove Albion, Everton and Bournemouth, and City fans will be confident that they can hit the ground running after an impressive pre-season.
Their opening and possibly easiest game is away to newly promoted side Brighton. The Blues are overwhelming favourites at 3/10, which is not overly enticing. As it stands right now, joining a syndicate such as Sports Predictor’s Euro football subscription service may be a better way for punters to make a more profitable return. The Seagulls will be playing their first game ever in the Premier League and it will be a daunting task taking on a City side that looks extremely dangerous.
The next game, however, will be much more of a challenge and most likely the most difficult of the three. Luckily for City, they are playing at home and it will be a massive boost against an Everton side that has made some very shrewd investments in the transfer market. They did sell their powerful striker Romelu Lukaku to City's cross town rivals Manchester United, but saw Wayne Rooney come in the opposite direction on a free transfer.
They have been one of the busiest clubs to date this year, also signing Michael Keane (Burnley), Jordan Pickford (Sunderland), Davy Klaassen (Ajax), Henry Onyekuru (KAS Eupen) and Sandro Ramirez (Malaga).
The club are expecting big things from Pickford after forking out £25 million for the goalkeeper. He was outstanding for Sunderland last year but it wasn't enough to save them from relegation. The Toffees seized the chance to capitalise on their misfortune by luring the American to Goodison Park. The City strikers should be wary of his quick reflexes and shot stopping ability in front of the sticks if they wish to slide a few past the young keeper.
Ramirez has some big shoes to fill in the absence of Lukaku and Toffees fans will be looking to him to provide the firepower up front. He is one to watch this season and if he starts, City will need to be wary of what is an unknown player for them. The striker scored 14 times in La Liga last season, and there is a lot of anticipation about how he will fare in the EPL.
The third game is away to Bournemouth, who were surprisingly improved in defence last year. In only their second season in England's top tier of football, manager Eddie Rowe has done some fantastic things with the club. They finished in a very respectable ninth place and they will be looking to improve on that and possibly even push for Europa League football.
For most of the City faithful anything, less than seven points would be a disappointment, with most thinking that the full nine is the only option. In what could be one of the most competitive seasons in Premier League history, no team can afford too many slipups if they wish to take home the title.