As defending champions, Manchester City are my pick to win the premier league this season. Where the squad was looking weak, they added reinforcements in Willy Caballero, Eliaquim Mangala, and Fernando. Caballero will challenge Joe Hart for the starting role, something Costel Pantilimon couldn’t do when Hart was on his game. Mangala and Fernando alike sure up City’s defense, while second year Citizen Stefan Jovetic has thoroughly impressed so far in preseason.
Retaining James Milner makes the team stronger than they would be without him, while Jesus Navas, Fernandinho, and Alvaro Negredo have a full premier league season under their belts now. As good as they were last season, Manchester City could yet improve. Manuel Pellegrini even took a page out of Arsene Wengers book in picking up Bacary Sagna on a free transfer and Frank Lampard on a loan deal.
Sagna will only push Pablo Zabaleta to be better, and will deputize with great effect to give the Argentine a rest here and there. Lampard, on the other hand, probably will not feature too regularly with City. The main reason he will be there is to keep his fitness up until the start of the 2015 MLS season with the hope that he can pitch in here and there.
In order for Manchester City to defend their premier league crown, they must pick up points more consistently away from the Etihad stadium. They unleashed some flurries of goals in home games against the top five, yet couldn’t seem to figure out how to regularly win on the road. Winning away from home is never easy, but one would expect City to have more success than they had last season.
Staying healthy is another key factor in a strong title challenge, as Arsenal proved last season. They have outstanding depth at every position, but that doesn’t necessarily mean an injury to a key player isn’t a big deal. Sergio Aguero is a huge X factor in the attack, as is Jesus Navas who combines with Zabaleta as well as any right side in the league.
Losing either of those players could narrow City’s attack, as other players in those positions don’t possess as much pace to penetrate strong defenses from wide positions. Again, look to Arsenal’s last season as an example; when Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were both injured, teams packed the middle of the pitch and neutralized the gunners’ attack with ease.
On a final note, Manchester City can greatly improve morale at the club if they can make some kind of run in the Champions League this year. In the past three seasons, City have only advanced from the group stages once, and lost to a subpar Barcelona team (for their standards) in their only trip to the knockout rounds. Personally, I don’t know any City fans so I can’t say the fans are disappointed with the team’s European performances, but one can only imagine…
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