Manchester City will begin their Premier League title defence against Chelsea on the opening day of the 2024/25 season.
Pep Guardiola’s team became the first men’s team in English football history to win four consecutive top-flight titles last season, and we will be visiting Stamford Bridge at 4.30pm BST on Sunday 18 August.
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The upcoming domestic season will mark the 28th since the competition was renamed in 1992 and since then we have won the title eight times, taking our total victories to 10.
Before the curtain rises on the latest Premier League season, let’s take a look back at the record books from the opening matches.
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City have won 15 of their opening 27 Premier League games for a win rate of 55.5%.
Our first win came in August 2003 when we beat Charlton Athletic 3-0 at the Valley, securing three points with goals from Nicolas Anelka, Antoine Cybelski and Sun Jihai.
Overall, the Blues have scored 48 times in first-leg matches, averaging 1.77 goals per game.
Meanwhile, from our opening 27 matches, we have conceded just 26 goals, lost six and drawn six.
clock: Highlights: Burnley 0-3 City
Biggest win
Our biggest win on the opening weekend of a Premier League season came in 2019 when we beat West Ham 5-0 at the London Stadium.
Gabriel Jesus scored the opening goal in the 25th minute.Number The game was over in the first minute, with the Brazilian’s shot providing the only goal of the first half.
But we maintained our momentum after the break and Raheem Sterling scored a goal in the 51st minute and then two more 25 minutes later to extend our lead.
A Sergio Aguero penalty late on gave them the fourth goal of the afternoon, before the England international completed his hat-trick in added time.
clock: West Ham 0-5 City: Extended highlights
Highest score
City’s win over West Ham in 2019 is one of just two games to have resulted in five goals, following a 3-2 victory over Southampton in 2012.
However, their highest opening-day showing came in a stifling 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa in August 2008.
After a scoreless first half, John Carew scored for the home side before Mark Hughes’ side equalised through an Elano penalty with just over 25 minutes remaining.
But Gaby Agbongrahor’s hat-trick gave the Villains a commanding lead and Vedran Čorluka’s late goal was little more than a consolation.
Sharpshooter
Aguero, a club legend, has scored more City goals in the opening Premier League games of this season than any other player.
The men’s team record scorer netted a total of seven goals in opening matches, including the first two on his debut in a sky blue shirt in a 4-0 win over Swansea.
He adapted quickly to English football, scoring two second-half goals against the Swansea side shortly after joining from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2011.
He is followed by David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Erling Haaland, who have all scored four goals in their opening matches.
perfection
Sven-Goran Eriksson and Manuel Pellegrini are the only City managers to have a 100% win rate in their opening matches.
The former, at the start of his only season as manager, won 2-0 against West Ham at Upton Park, with goals from Rolando Bianchi and Giovanni.
Pellegrini has been in charge at the Etihad Stadium for three seasons and each season has started perfectly.
City’s first under the Chilean manager in the middle Their first Premier League title win was a 4-0 home win over Newcastle in August 2014, followed by a 2-0 away win over the Magpies the following season.
And then at the start of Pellegrini’s final season we beat West Brom 3-0.
clock: Sven Year
boss
City have had a brilliant start to the season under Pep Guardiola, winning seven of their eight games at the start of the season under the Catalan manager.
In those games we scored 19 goals and conceded just three, averaging 2.3 goals per opening Premier League game.
The first victory was a hard-fought 2-1 win over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium, with Aguero’s penalty and Paddy McNair’s own goal ensuring the perfect start to the manager’s glorious City reign.
Our only defeat came a narrow 1-0 away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at the start of the 2021/22 season, before we went on to win the second of a record four consecutive men’s top-flight titles.
The defeat in north London also remains the only opening game of the season under Guardiola that they have failed to score.
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