Pep Guardiola’s squad will jet out to Abu Dhabi on Thursday for a winter training camp on the back of last weekend’s thrilling 3-2 Premier League win away at Newcastle.
That result moved second placed City to within two points of leaders Liverpool and left us perfectly placed as we step up our pursuit of what would be a historic fourth consecutive Premier League title, a feat no English side has ever achieved.
Meanwhile City also have a Champions League last 16 tie against FC Copenhagen to look forward to next month, with the reigning European champions having hugely impressed in our group campaign, winning all six group matches.
CITY+ | SIGN UP TO ACCESS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
And our defence of the FA Cup we won in such memorable fashion against Manchester United last June continues at the end of the month when we face a mouth watering fourth round trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
With two trophies having already been secured this term in the form of the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, it’s shaping up to be another exciting and memorable second half of the campaign.
And, ahead of our return to action when we travel to Spurs on Friday, January 26 for that cup cracker, we have delved into some of the most eye-catching stats and facts from the season to date…
Collective
City broke the record for most consecutive home wins by a Premier League team across all competitions, winning 23 league games in a row between January and November 2023.
City also went unbeaten at the Etihad across the whole of 2023 and began the New Year in clinical fashion on home soil too with a 5-0 FA Cup third round success against Huddersfield Town.
Our 3-2 final Champions League group stage win away to Red Star Belgrade also saw City become the first English club to win eight consecutive European Cup/UEFA Champions League matches in a row.
That’s a record we will look to further extend when we travel to Copenhagen for next month’s last-16 first leg tie.
DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL MAN CITY APP
In racking up 18 goals across the course of those six games, the reigning European champions also scored more goals than any other side across the group stages.
Those 18 goals were also shared across nine different goalscorers – again the most of any other side in the competition.
Meanwhile December’s FIFA Club World Cup triumph saw City once again etch our name into the history books.
Success in Jeddah meant that Pep Guardiola’s side became the first English team to win the big five of Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup inside a single calendar year.
Pep Guardiola
December’s memorable FIFA Club World Cup success over Fluminense in Jeddah meant the inspirational City boss become the first manager to guide a team to success in the showpiece event on four occasions.
Pep had previously shared the record with Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti on three wins apiece, but our success in Saudi Arabia saw the Catalan carve out another notable piece of history.
The City boss previously guided Barcelona to Club World Cup glory in both 2009 and 2011 before then also leading Bayern Munich to the prestigious title in 2013.
Furthermore, December’s success also meant Guardiola became the first manager to win the FIFA Club World Cup with three different teams, thanks to those twin triumphs with Barcelona allied to his achievement at Bayern Munich, and now here at City.
Meanwhile, last August’s 2-1 victory away at Sheffield United saw yet another notable landmark chalked up by the Etihad manager.
Guardiola became the fastest manager to 200 wins in English top-flight history with that Bramall Lane success.
What’s more, the City boss took just 269 games to hit his double century, easily eclipsing the previous record of 326 matches that had been established by Jose Mourinho in 2020.
Sir Alex Ferguson had previously held the Premier League era record, taking 322 games to reach his 200 wins.
IndividualS
Erling Haaland may be sidelined with injury at the moment, but our Norwegian striker has still more than made his presence felt this term.
With 14 goals to date, the 23-year-old is equal top scorer in the Premier League alongside Liverpool’s Mo Salah.
And when Haaland found the target against Liverpool in November, it also meant the Norwegian became the quickest player in Premier League history to reach 50 goals in the competition.
Furthermore, Haaland took just 48 games to hit that landmark figure, yet further illustration – if any were needed – of his quite remarkable impact since moving to City in the summer of 2022.
Rodrigo has also once again gone from strength for City this term, further cementing his standing as arguably the finest holding midfielder operating in the game today.
And his impact is only further borne out by the fact that the Spaniard has now gone 50 games unbeaten across all club competitions for City (W39 D11), since featuring in a 1-0 loss away to Tottenham in February last year.
That stands as the longest unbeaten run of any player for the club during the Pep Guardiola era, a period that stretches all the way back to August 2016.
Having joined City from Stade Rennais in the summer, Jeremy Doku immediately hit the ground running catching the eye with his electric pace, eye for goal and outstanding technical ability.
And the Belgian winger’s all-round quality and threat were amply illustrated in November’s emphatic 6-1 win against Bournemouth.
Across the course of the memorable Etihad victory, Doku became the youngest player in Premier League history to be directly involved in five goals in a single game (one goal and four assists, and all the tender age of just 21 years 161 days).
Premier League
Not surprisingly Rodrigo leads the way on the domestic front in terms of completed passes across the Premier League campaign to date.
The 27-year-old has so far made 1809 passes – well clear of Brighton skipper Lewis Dunk who has the next highest tally of 1657, with Rodrigo having featured in the top three for most passes made every season since arriving in 2019.
City have also registered more goals than anyone else across the league campaign to date.
Guardiola’s side have chalked up 48 so far – four more than the next highest scorers Tottenham – to provide a further reminder of our outstanding collective attacking prowess.
City meanwhile dominate the all-important rankings when it comes to passes and shots, the ultimate barometer of a side’s attacking potency.
From our 20 games to date, the reigning champions have accumulated 13,370 passes – equating to a remarkable tally of 668.5 passes per match – with City also achieving an astounding pass accuracy percentage of 90 per cent.
The reigning champions also lead the field in terms of shots on target – 138 in total – as well as recording another Premier League best in terms of our goals per match ratio of 2.4
