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Manchester City had a highly successful 2017/18 season especially in terms of their league campaign.
They finished the season as 'centurions' after bagging 100 points and being the first team in history to do so.
The previous club to have the highest points in the Premier League in one season was Chelsea in 2004/05. Managed by Jóse Mourinho, the Blues had 95 points in that season - a record that was maintained for 13 years until the rise of Manchester City.
Manchester City brought in three fullbacks into the team during the summer transfer window --Danilo, Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker.
They also brought in goalkeeper Ederson Moraes for a record fee of 35 million. All singings proved to be useful as Manchester City shattered all records and earned themselves the nickname of the 'Shark Team'.
Despite winning the league and the league cup in dominant fashion, the 'Cityzens' failed to win the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup losing to Liverpool and Wigan Athletic in the two tournaments respectively.
They will look to avenge their losses and win as many trophies as they can, possibly all four.
The Sky Blues have started their campaign emphatically - Beating Chelsea in the Community Shield, defeating Arsenal at The Emirates and humiliating Huddersfield 6-1 at home. Pep Guardiola has the players he wants and is bringing out stellar performances from each of his players.
Once deemed as a flop and a manager whose style would not achieve any success in the Premier League, the Spaniard manager has established himself since and Manchester City is currently the 'team to beat'.
Surely, defending the title this year would be a huge statement in the football world and to the red half of Manchester who has usually been the more successful half for the last two decades.
Here are three points that suggest Manchester City has a high chance of winning the league this year as well.
#1 Squad Depth
Since the takeover of the club by Sheikh Mansour, Manchester City have not been shy in front of the transfer window. With a heavily filled pocket to spend on top players across the World, it is no surprise that Manchester City has an array of talent - in the starting 11 as well as on the bench.
This strength in depth was seen in the opening game against Arsenal. The Manchester City bench consisted of Claudio Bravo, Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Phil Foden, Nicolas Otamendi and Gabriel Jesus.
David Silva wasn't even in the 18-man squad! City ran away as 2-0 winners over an Arsenal side that was expected to be rejuvenated and a real challenge for City. Furthermore, the Sky Blues dominated almost every stat and almost made it look too easy.
Playing in four different competitions is never easy. Many teams lose out on points in the Premier League due to the congestion of fixtures or merely due to various injuries.
In the highly physical environment of the Premier League, injuries are a common occurrence but the team that is able to cope with these injuries the best is the team that has a good chance of winning the league.
Manchester City has a vast squad depth and the ability to rotate players in different tournaments. For example, the injury of a player with the quality of De Bruyne could hurt the chances of any team massively.
However, Bernardo Silva has moulded into the position and David Silva's performance over the weekend will give Guardiola assurance that the team can perform equally well without the Belgian midfielder
#2 Tactically astute manager
Guardiola is arguably one of the best managers in the world. He has achieved great success in Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now, Manchester City.
The experience Pep has gained from the three clubs is invaluable. In the documentary, 'All or Nothing - Manchester City', we get an insight into Guardiola, his coaching staff and how he prepares his team for various matches against various teams.
The clever use of data from opposing teams and video analysis is emphasised. With a tactically superior brain, Guardiola can easily come up with solutions on how to counter teams and get the three points while still playing beautiful passing football.
This versatility in tactics has already been seen this season. In the three games Manchester City has played, they have played three different tactics and have had three different approaches to the game.
Against Chelsea, Manchester City lined up as a 4-3-3 with Riyad Mahrez making his debut for the Cityzens on the right wing.
With Kyle Walker returning from the World Cup, Pep decided to not exploit his pace and risk an injury so early on.
When City attacked, they would take the shape of a 3-4-3 with Benjamin Mendy pushing forward while Walker contracted to form a back three.
Young midfielder Phil Foden occupied the right midfield spot and tormented Chelsea with his pace and dribbling skills.
The 18-year-old produced a top performance after getting the freedom to operate on the right side.
Against Arsenal, City lined up as a 4-2-3-1 with Mahrez and Sterling on the flanks and Walker and Mendy as full backs. However, unlike the Chelsea game, Walker got as forward as his fellow full-back. With bolstering pace, the two fullbacks caused all sorts of problems for Arsenal who didn't have any natural depth.
Unai Emery started Mesut Özil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan as inverted wingers. As the two kept cutting into the centre, the two fullbacks pushed up to provide depth.
This left huge spaces for Mendy, Kyle Walker and Raheem Sterling to exploit - all of who can counter in a very short time with their superior speed.
The idea of exploiting space in the flanks with quick wingers is rumoured to be an idea put forward by assistant coach Mikel Arteta who did expansive research on Arsenal as he was on the shortlist to take over from Arsene Wenger.
The fact that Guardiola congratulated and celebrated with Arteta after the second goal, which came mainly due to Benjamin Mendy's movement on the left, further supports the rumours.
Against Huddersfield, it was a 3-5-2 formation with the like of Walker and Sterling on the bench.
As Huddersfield are a side that press hard and go forward a lot rather than sit back and sustain pressure, Pep's decision to use more skillfully-gifted players rather than using pace is a sensible one.
Playing Pep's style of possession heavy football, Manchester City were able to dominate the game from the first whistle till the last and barely had any chances against them.
With Mendy operating on the left as the left wingback and David Silva and Bernardo Silva continuously switching on the right, the sky blues had a variation on two sides of the pitch itself. While Mendy would run at defenders and into the final third continuously pumping balls into the box and creating chances, the two Silva's were more meticulous and played intricate passes.
Both David Silva and Mendy played the game of their lives. The result? six goals. Three of these coming from Manchester City's top scorer of all time - Sergio Aguero.
The duo of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus played up-front, proving to be a dangerous and lethal strike partnership.
Playing one-two's, making runs all over the box to confuse defenders, blistering runs and even shots from outside the box - the two South Americans did it all! Aguero and Jesus have seemed to gel well together and could prove to be a serious strike partnership in near future and Aguero could bag many more hattricks as he did in this game against a Huddersfield side that has had a poor start to their campaign.
All in all, Guardiola's tactical knowledge as well as his relationship with players is a huge key to Manchester City's success.
By playing a variety of formations and tactics, Manchester City could be a tough opposition for other teams to prepare for. Whereas, Manchester City are well-informed about their opposition's tactics and routines.
This could be a deciding factor in winning the league title and winning important games for the same
#3 A well-connected team
Manchester City made no transfers this window except for bringing in Mahrez. The rest of the squad has remained the same from last season.
Guardiola clearly has the team that he wants and the players have also been well versed in playing Pep's style of football. So why fix something that isn't broken?
The familiarity with the tactics as well as with each other is clearly visible on the pitch. Possession retention and a beautiful passing game seem to be the approach of the club and the players work it to perfection.
Playing with the players one won the league last year can never go wrong. The Manchester City squad could have one of the strongest squads in the world right now and making any changes to the squad could threaten team cohesion and discipline.
This squad still has some unfinished business in the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup. With two wins already in the bag, the 'shark team' might be looking for more blood and will hope to retain their Premier League title while also attaining glory in the other three competitions they are participating in.
