Expectations rest easy on City

EPL champions aim to become the first team to win four titles in a row in the history of the English league

- Dhiman Sarkar

KOLKATA: The only time Manchester City didn't win the Premier League since 2017-18, they finished second. Arsenal's tally of 84 points in 2022-23 would have made them champions in nine seasons; that honour would have been Liverpool's in 2018-19, and in all but two seasons of the league, when they amassed 97 points. But in the end, neither was good enough to match the relentlessness of the machine in sky blue.

And now, Manchester City are aiming to make history. The visit to Burnley on Friday (12:30am Saturday Indian time) will be the first step in attempting to win the Premier League for the fourth straight season. No team in the history of league football which began in England in 1888-89 has done that. So, all doubts of Manchester City being jaded now that the monkey of a first Champions League title is off their backs can be kicked to touch. If anything, you can bet that Pep Guardiola is sore that he can't match his record of winning six trophies in a calendar year.

By winning the Community Shield, Arsenal nixed Guardiola's chance of emulating what he had achieved at Barcelona in 2009. At best, including the Club World Cup and Super Cup, Guardiola can win six trophies this term. If Guardiola still feels like he did moments after winning the Champions League, City will push hard for all of them. "I don't want, after one Champions League, to disappear, so work harder next season and be in there," the Manchester City manager had said.