Man City could get pre-season boost they haven't had in three years

The record books show that Manchester City have made light work of the Premier League over the last three years, winning back-to-back-to-back titles and playing revolutionary football in the process.

They have won those titles without a striker for two years, and without a left-back in 2022/23, making the best out of their versatile squad where rivals have fallen away thanks to injuries in key positions.

Yet it's easy to forget a couple of things when looking back over the last three years. Firstly, it hasn't all been easy. They won the league on the final day of the 2021/22 season to stop another fine Liverpool challenge, while Arsenal looked destined to win the Premier League for months until falling away during the run-in last term. In 2021, they had to win the title without Sergio Aguero for the most part, introducing the rotating false nine strategy.

And it's also easy to cast aside the fact that City have struggled to get started in each of those campaigns, relying on a mid-season run of wins to catapult them above their nearest challenger. This year, they have everything they need to get quickly out of the blocks and start as they mean to go on.

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In 2021, City had no pre-season at all, having ended their 2019/20 campaign just a month earlier in Portugal in the rearranged Champions League knockout stages that were pushed back due to the Covid lockdowns. There were no friendlies to play, and City were given a week extra at the start of the season given their lack of preparations.

The less-than-ideal pre-season translated to just six wins from the first 13 games in the Premier League, sinking to as low as 14th, and