New-look Man City EDS make great start in proving manager wrong in title defence

It's been a summer of change at Manchester City and that doesn't just mean the first team.

While Pep Guardiola has ushered in a new, perhaps even more exciting, era with the arrivals of Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez and the departures of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, that feeling of rejuvenation and a new beginning is reflected throughout the club's youth sides.

City achieved a remarkable clean sweep last season, with the seniors, Under-23s and Under-18s all winning their league titles and, while there's been plenty of change in those young sides as well. Of the 16 players involved in the final game of last season, a 7-0 hammering of Everton, only Miki van Sas, Luke Mbete, Rico Lewis and skipper Shea Charles were involved as the Blues took on Leicester City on Sunday, their first home game of the season.

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Several vital members of the side have moved on. Captain CJ Egan-Riley has left for Burnley, Romeo Lavia has gone to Southampton, James McAtee is out on loan to Sheffield United, Kayky in Portugal, Cole Palmer is injured (and has been permanently promoted to the first team anyway) and Liam Delap was involved with the seniors on Saturday. Plenty more players are no longer with the club as well. That's a significant core of a team to lose but it's natural at youth level, where the aim is development and promotion and serves to usher in the new era.

The talent conveyor belt certainly doesn't appear to have stalled yet. The Under-23s defeated Liverpool 3-0 in their first outing last weekend and carried that on with a convincing 3-1 win over Leicester City at a sun-kissed Academy Stadium. Brian-Murphy isn't confident of making it three