The Manchester City Season Preview 2025–2026 from FourFourTwo examines the Sky Blues’ decline from the previous season and explains why they’re prepared to win again.

The 2025–2026 Manchester City season preview is now available: Will the Sky Blues be returning to the top again?

The Manchester City Season Preview by FourFourTwo

Take back control. Manchester City finished third, about 13 points behind the champions, despite being much favored to extend their record-breaking four straight top-flight English titles to an equally historic five.

Following early eliminations from the League Cup and Champions League, followed by a shocking loss to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final, Pep Guardiola was without a major trophy for the first time since his debut season in England in 2016–17. His only goal in his tenth season is to guide a drastically altered team back to victory. Nine league losses in 2024–25—more than they had in the two prior seasons combined—will need to be greatly improved.

Pep Guardiola, who ranks fifth on FourFourTwo’s ranking of the greatest managers ever, lost four straight games last autumn, raising speculation that he may be preparing to retire from England as his contract is set to end. Fortunately, it was soon reported that he had extended his contract until 2027, and City supporters were celebrating.

Last season, Erling Haaland scored 31 goals across all competitions, but nobody really paid much attention. The 25-year-old Norwegian, who has 85 goals in three Premier League seasons and is signed through 2034, will worry Alan Shearer even when he isn’t playing at his best.

Last Year’s Lesson

Rodri cannot be replaced. Although the Spanish midfielder’s significance to Pep’s machine was already widely known—he last played in a league loss at Spurs in February 2023—last season brought his actual value into the public eye.

Before rupturing an ACL against Arsenal, the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner played just 68 minutes of Premier League football. City struggled without him, losing nine of their last 12 games across all competitions. Although his much anticipated comeback in May—a victory over Bournemouth, of course—was reason for jubilation, the Ballon d’Or winner’s long-term fitness was called into question after he sustained another injury in the careless loss to Al Hilal at the Club World Cup.

The atmosphere

Forget about 2024–2025; further funding, following January’s £180 million trolley dash, has raised hopes for a new era. Newer boys Tijjani Reijnders, Rayans Cherki, and Ait-Nouri have joined Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico Gonzalez, and Vitor Reis. Their mission: restore the good times to Manchester’s blue half. In any case, who needs Kevin De Bruyne?

One to Keep an Eye on

After winning the PFA, FWA, and Premier League Player of the Year titles in 2023–2024, Phil Foden attributed last year’s “frustrating” follow-up on burnout and injury. Before the 2026 World Cup, he needs to prove something.

Most Likely To

Go into hibernation till spring.

As classic as Michael Buble at Christmas is City’s late gallop. They ended with 10 games undefeated to qualify for the Champions League, despite not having a title challenge to concentrate on.

The least likely to

In court, I’ll see you. The inquiry into alleged infractions of the Premier League financial rules ended at the end of 2024, and as of this writing, no ruling had been issued.

FFT Conclusion

The unknowns include Rodri’s fitness, Pep’s use of the new toy Cherki, and the effects of the 2nd Club World Cup hangovers.

Is it possible for City to reclaim the crown from Liverpool, who are spending a lot of money? We requested a view from the stands from Lloyd Scragg.

Without a doubt, Pep made last season our worst.

We have finally struck the refresh button on the squad, so this season will be different after 24 months of inaction. Now that we have significantly reduced the average age of the squad, we need to be much more effective out of possession.

Keep an eye out for Oscar Bobb. We hope he has better success with injuries this year because, while he is already 22, 2024–2025 should have been his breakthrough season.

Nathan Ake is our most underappreciated player.

Aymeric Laporte, who is still a quality player despite being underappreciated, is the active player I would most like to see return.

Playing for the Spurs is what I’m least looking forward to. Thomas Frank, probably City’s top bogey manager, just joined our bogey team.

When it comes to fan protests, my club excels. Seeing City supporters get together and plan a few highly attended protests last season was my personal high point; these protests have already led to some significant changes.

My one suggestion would be to do away with the new 10-game “personal attendance” regulation that applies to all season ticket holders. It’s a harsh and illogical restriction that completely disregards the reality of contemporary living and football scheduling!

Here, I would adore Newcastle’s Tino Livramento as the opposing player.

READ MORE: straightwinfortoday.com