It would be fair to say that Manchester City massively underachieved last season. For the squad they have, they should be in the title race till the very end.

Pep Guardiola, who has brought immense success to both Barcelona and Bayern Munich awaits his toughest challenge yet. The Premier League is a different ball game altogether. The competition for places is at another level compared to the German and Spanish leagues.

Guardiola’s Premier League debut will be at home against David Moyes’s Sunderland.

Performance in the transfer market

Manchester City have been very active in this summer transfer window. It’s the forward positions where they have mainly invested in.

Spanish winger, Nolito, who looked impressive in this summer’s European Championship has joined from Celta Vigo for a fee of £13.8m.

Highly rated youngsters Leroy Sané (£37m), Gabriel Jesus (£27m) and Marlos Moreno (£4.75m) have also joined the team. Moreno has been loaned out to Spanish outfit Deportivo de La Coruña for the 2016/17 season, whereas Gabriel will join the squad in January.

German midfield maestro İlkay Gündoğan has arrived from Borussia Dortmund for a fee of £20m. Given the state of today’s transfer market, it surely looks like a very good deal for Manchester City. 19-year old Ukrainian midfielder, Oleksandr Zinchenko also joins the team from Russian club Ufa for free.

Guardiola has also recruited young central defender John Stones from Everton for a massive initial fee of £47.5m.

City have surprisingly also signed midfielder Aaron Mooy from Melbourne City for free.

How will they line up?

Manchester City are set to line up in 4-2-3-1 formation.

Joe Hart is set to keep his place in goal. New recruit John Stones is set to partner captain Vincent Kompany in central defence.

With Yaya Touré’s decline in form, Gündoğan is set to start with Fernandinho in the middle of the park, with the trio of David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and new signing Nolito ahead of them.

Sergio Agüero is set to lead the line for Guardiola’s team.

Who are the key players?

Sergio Agüero would be expected to score heavily this season. He is one of the favourites for the golden boot this campaign. His fitness and form would be very important for Guardiola’s men to launch a strong title charge this season.

Kevin De Bruyne had an injury-prone 2015/16. Despite that he showed how instrumental he can be in leading Manchester City to success. Guardiola would be hoping that the Belgian stays fit and provides a lot of goals and assists this season.

Vincent Kompany is another City player who has suffered with frequent injuries. With him on the pitch the team always looks a lot stronger. His leadership qualities are indispensable and were greatly missed for most parts of last season.

Young players to watch out for

Kelechi Iheanacho had a brilliant first season in England. He will go into the season as backup to Sergio Agüero. Given Agüero’s poor fitness record, the 19-year old is set to get a lot of opportunities this season.

German international Leroy Sané is very highly rated by the German media. It would be interesting to see if the 20-year old winger makes a mark in his first season in England or not.

New signing Gabriel Jesus is dubbed as the “new Neymar” back home in Brazil. There would be high hopes from him at Manchester City.

Fans’ expectations

Manchester City are the favourites for winning the Premier League this season. With Guardiola at the helm, anything other than a title win would be termed as a disappointment this season.

The Cityzens would want to see their team challenge for the Champions League this season, having failed to do so under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini.

If Guardiola can keep his players fit and hungry, this could be Manchester City’s big season.

Image Courtesy: The Telegraph