One of the great ironies of Manchester City's recent success is that generally speaking they do not start the Premier League season looking like champions.
City have won four of the last five Premier Leagues, but in the past two in particular they have had to work doubly hard further down the line in order to compensate sluggish starts.
In 2020/21 Pep Guardiola's side took just 12 points from a possible 24 in their opening eight league games, a return that left them 11th in the table and eight points off top spot. A 0-2 defeat at Spurs on November 21st was followed by a run of 17 games without defeat, with City eventually winning the title by a 12-point margin.
