At the end of October, alarm bells were ringing around Manchester City’s Premier League title defence.
An error-strewn outing at the Etihad Stadium saw Crystal Palace leave with a 2-0 victory.
That result came on the back of a 0-0 draw at West Ham in the Carabao Cup, where Pep Guardiola’s side had their four-season reign in the competition ended via a penalty shoot-out.
Including the Community Shield defeat to Leicester City, when a depleted side went down 1-0, it meant City had failed to score six times in their first 16 games of the season. That equalled the number of shutouts they endured during a 61-game 2020/21.
For many, the problem was obvious. This was Guardiola’s failure to replace club-record goalscorer Sergio Aguero and his Harry Kane or bust transfer policy coming home to roost.
A couple of months on, and the no striker chat has died down once again. City are racking up the goals, six points clear at the top of the Premier League and going for teams in a ruthless fashion.
The manner in which they started Sunday’s crazy 6-3 win over Leicester was the latest demonstration - Kevin De Bruyne’s fifth-minute opener somehow felt like it had been a long-time coming.
Guardiola has identified that the main way to negate his team’s strengths was for opponents to dig in and make life frustrating. An early goal torches those plans and, as the games below show, this is an area where City have become experts of late.
November 6: Manchester United (a) - six minutes, 39 seconds
City swarmed their derby day rivals from kick-off and a vicious Kyle Walker cross from the right sewed panic in the United ranks. Ilkay Gundogan was unable to finish but Joao Cancelo sent one back into the danger zone from the oppositive flank and Eric Bailly haphazardly put through his own goal to set the Blues on their way to a 2-0 win.
December 4: Watford (a) - three minutes, 42 seconds
Guardiola’s side swiftly and sickly switching play from one side of the field to another was again on show here, with Bernardo Silva - who scored the other two goals in a 3-0 triumph - picking out Phil Foden. The England international’s delicious left-footed cross was gleefully headed home by Raheem Sterling.
December 14: Leeds (h) - seven minutes, 24 seconds
Bernardo had already missed a sitter before Foden steered a bouncing ball beyond a disorganised mass of Leeds bodies and into the net. Marcelo Bielsa’s men were scrambled and never recovered as they tumbled to a 7-0 loss.
December 19: Newcastle (a) - four minutes, 42 seconds
Like Leeds, Newcastle were complicit in their downfall. Ciaran Clark inexplicably ducked out of the way of Cancelo’s volleyed cross, leaving Ruben Dias to nod in an early Christmas gift. City were eventual 4-0 winners but a patchy first-half showing followed the opening goal - further underlining how vital it can be to get your nose in front early.
December 26: Leicester (h) - four minutes, seven seconds
Sterling ripped past Marc Albrighton, De Bruyne had a shot blocked. Sterling raced clear of his marker again but Bernardo and Riyad Mahrez were unable to get on the end of the cross. All that happened before De Bruyne slammed beyond Kasper Schmeichel, whose Leicester teammates looked partly relieved they’d have chance to kick-off again and catch their breath.
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