{"id":355941,"date":"2025-08-19T04:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T04:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/355941\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T04:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T04:55:13","slug":"man-city-are-about-to-discover-premier-league-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/355941\/","title":{"rendered":"Man City are about to discover Premier League truth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City beat Wolves on the opening day but their next four fixtures will provide sterner tests<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_GettyImages-2230471647.jpg\" alt=\"Rayan Cherki of Manchester City celebrates after scoring their side's fourth goal during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Manchester City beat Wolves 4-0 in their Premier League opener<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">Manchester City laid down an early season Premier League marker with the swashbuckling opening day win at Wolves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">The Blues, while not flawless, were impressive and several players produced standout performances in a 4-0 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">Tijjani Reijnders looked to the manor born in midfield while Oscar Bobb excelled on the right. James Trafford was composed in goal, John Stones assured on his return and Rico Lewis bright.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">As starts to the season go, it was as close to perfect as you could wish for, particularly given the transfer talk that dominated the build-up amid potential exits for Ederson and Savinho and the prospect of Gianluigi Donnarumma arriving from PSG.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">And while more work will be done in the transfer market off the pitch with Pep Guardiola reiterating post match his stance and concern that his squad is too big, on the pitch City looked back to something like their best.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">There were still concerning moments but it was a largely positive performance and a standout result that has them top of the not so relevant one-game old Premier League table.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">We have been here before of course with City&#8217;s renaissance. In the summer they swatted Juventus aside with a commanding performance at the Club World Cup before collapsing against Al-Hilal and suffering a shock exit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">The last time they enjoyed a four-goal Premier League winning margin was against Newcastle United in February. City subsequently limped out of the Champions League to Real Madrid and struggled to lay a glove on Liverpool in their following two games, ultimately winning just two of their next six. And one of those was against now third-tier Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">So while there was plenty to like at Molineux on Saturday, the acid test comes over the coming weeks. Can City sustain their form and produce performances and results against what will be more difficult challenges?<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">The Blues host Tottenham in their Etihad opener on Saturday &#8211; a side who have had something of a hex on City in recent years &#8211; before trips to Brighton and Arsenal sandwiched either side of a home Manchester derby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">Those four fixtures will tell us plenty about this new version of City. The Blues lost all those corresponding games last term by an aggregate score of 14-3.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">If City are sitting pretty after that tranche of matches, the start to the season will have gone from a wonderful one to a famous five.<\/p>\n<p>Man City&#8217;s 2025\/26 Third Shirt<\/p>\n<p>This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/affiliates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Learn more<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_25AW_PR_TS_Football_Man-City_Third_Matchwear_Haaland_2185_16x9_1920x1080px.jpg\" alt=\"Content Image\" fetchpriority=\"auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a385<\/p>\n<p>Fanatics<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"AffiliateContent_content-buy-btn__xWiVO buy-btn\" aria-label=\"Buy button\" href=\"https:\/\/fanatics.93n6tx.net\/c\/344386\/586570\/9663?subId1=Regionals-FootballLondon&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fanatics.co.uk%2Fen%2Fpremier-league%2Fmanchester-city%2Fo-10537128%2Bt-92979033%2Bz-931-1744300801\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\">Get the shirt here<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">Man City have launched their new third shirt for the 2025\/26 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">&#8212;<strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">Here at the Manchester Evening News, we\u2019re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">Make sure you don\u2019t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/KFbyQiILzrM6NIEa76Moy7\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"hereLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/strong> to subscribe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=0a51ba11-acfb-4945-b41a-16893319d494&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"hereLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/strong> to be sent all the day\u2019s biggest stories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh  undefined\">And finally, if you\u2019d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/6XtmZeu522aayn2YtC4IRx\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"SpotifyLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a><\/strong> and <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com?id=76202X1528180&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcasts.apple.com%2Fgb%2Fpodcast%2Ftalking-city-manchester-city-podcast%2Fid1264578379&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.manchestereveningnews.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2Ffootball-news%2Fforgotten-man-city-star-sends-32294532\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Apple PodcastsLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a><\/strong>, and you can also watch along on <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCPcS5SnmGPOpETZ3IlvH5Sw\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"YouTubeLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester City beat Wolves on the opening day but their next four fixtures will provide sterner testsManchester City&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,1036,2398,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-355941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-city-fc","13":"tag-manchester-city-transfer-news","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}