Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City begin the home portion of their latest title defense when Newcastle United visit on Saturday.
City (1-0-0, 3 points) is seeking to become the first team ever to win four consecutive English top-flight championships after edging Arsenal for a third-straight honor last season. And it’s already been a busy start to the new campaign for the Cityzens.
They opened the league campaign with a clinical 3-0 win sparked by Erling Haaland’s first-half brace. Sandwiching that win were a pair of 1-1 draws in more ceremonial matches.
City ultimately lost on penalties to Arsenal in the English FA Community Shield back on Aug. 6 at Wembley. Then they edged Sevilla on PKs to capture the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday before their home supporters.
The latter game means City will be playing on three days’ rest for the first time this season. And manager Pep Guardiola says it’s exactly the kind of grueling test a club of his caliber needs to get used to in order to maintain their elite status.
“We need these difficulties for many, many reasons right now,” Guardiola said. “This is the challenge, to prove ourselves again, if we are able to do a step forward in every season in sports. And when you’ve won what we’ve won, we need that.”
Newcastle (1-0-0, 3 points) was also unbothered in its league opener, a 5-1 home win over an Aston Villa side that enjoyed its own improvement a season ago.
Alexander Isak’s 16th-minute goal broke a 1-all tie, and the Swedish international added a second after halftime to begin what Newcastle hopes will be another year of progress under manager Eddie Howe.
The previous campaign was the Magpies’ best Premier League finish in 20 years. And with Isak fully healthy to start the campaign after he was plagued by injuries to begin his first campaign on Tyneside, plus a handful of additions led by Sandro Tonali’s arrival from AC Milan, the expectation is to continue aiming at the likes of City and other EPL elite.
“We want our players to go there with all the positive emotions that our season last year and our first game of this season should bring,” Howe said of Saturday’s match. “We have to be ourselves. We can’t change. We want to become a top team consistently in the Premier League and to do that we have to have a clear identity and try to implement that on other teams.”
–Field Level Media