LONDON – The start of a new English Premier League season is always a time of hope and dreams, but champions Manchester City are aiming to be three points clear before their main rivals have even kicked a ball this weekend.
Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning side travel to promoted Burnley on Friday in the first match of the campaign – with former City captain Vincent Kompany now in charge at Turf Moor – as they start the chase for an unprecedented fourth title in a row and sixth in seven years.
City are still riding the wave of euphoria from the end of last season as they added the club’s first-ever Champions League title to go with Premier League and FA Cup glory.
Guardiola, though, has warned his players that they must be raring to go again.
“It feels like it finished yesterday, but we start again. We start from zero and go game by game. It is not good to think about the title in August and September. We will go day by day and try to get better each day,” he said on Thursday.
“I don’t think it will be possible to do what we did last season (the treble). We climbed the highest mountain, but we have come down that mountain now.
“We start the same as everyone else. Every season, you start from zero. We need to try and do a performance against Burnley, then Newcastle (United) and then Sheffield United.”
The summer has not been without its challenges for Guardiola as captain Ilkay Gundogan departed to Barcelona and the riches on offer in Saudi Arabia was too much for Riyad Mahrez to turn down.
City have also had to fight to retain Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva, while Croatian duo Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol are the only two new arrivals in the transfer market so far.
The idea is not to make too many changes to a winning team, but some eyebrows have been raised by their loss to Atletico Madrid in pre-season and their penalty shoot-out defeat by Arsenal in the Community Shield last weekend.
Guardiola will have noted that his team have lost the Shield the previous two seasons but have gone on to win the Premier League. With that one-off game over now, his focus will be on Burnley.
“Normally the first games are difficult, especially against newly promoted teams,” he added.
“They have energy and want to start well. Vinny knows us well. He did an incredible job and destroyed the Championship. He is going to do really, really well (in the Premier League). It is going to be a difficult game.”
Kompany has quickly established himself as one of the brightest coaching talents on the continent, turning around a club in crisis during his first season to return Burnley to the Premier League with seven games to spare.
The Clarets are now a very different proposition to the side who punched above their weight to survive for six seasons in the top flight under Sean Dyche between 2016 and 2022.
Inspired by Guardiola, Kompany has transformed Burnley into a side who dominate the ball.
“It’s not just about having the ball, we’ve loved pressing,” said the 37-year-old.
“I thought last year we were really impressive and good at that. It’s making them ready for whatever the game demands in the Premier League, ready to do the running, to be brave, to be smart and creative when we need to.
“What you have to adapt to – and quickly – is getting better, faster. That’s the challenge we want to embrace.”
Burnley did see the downside of opening up and playing aggressively against City when they lost 6-0 in the FA Cup quarter-finals last season. Not that Kompany is afraid, however.
“I would play every week of every month of every year against a team the level of Man City,” he said.
“That is the best way to improve. You won’t get them all right, it’s impossible with the quality of that team – possibly the best team at the moment in world football – but that’s the best challenge, so I wouldn’t want it any different.”
AFP, REUTERS
