It was a joyous afternoon on Sunday as Ilkay Gundogan raised aloft the coveted trophy in front of 53,490 fans.
But leading up to it was a colossal campaign, as City and Arsenal battled for the crown - a title fight that featured some hugely important results along the way.
Below, we take you through what we consider the 10 key games of 2022/23.
Introducing Erling Haaland
Matchday: 1
Date: 07 August 2022
Result: West Ham 0-2 City
Goalscorers: Haaland (2)
“He has an incredible quality and he will do it”.
Those were the words of Pep Guardiola about Erling Haaland in the wake of City’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the season-opening Community Shield clash.
The boss had huge faith in his new signing despite the forward not scoring at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium and what followed after that defeat was plenty of noise on social media raising doubts about his ability to shine in England.
We now know how that went!
But here, in his first Premier League game, Haaland silenced the doubters with a performance of the highest quality.
Haaland gave City a deserved 36th minute lead from the penalty spot with what was the very first shot on target of his Premier League career.
He then doubled down on a dynamic debut display by firing home from Kevin De Bruyne’s pinpoint, precision pass on 65 minutes to seal a deserved win.
Not only was it a class performance on his competitive debut, he also became only the second City player to score a brace on his Premier League debut following Sergio Agüero in August 2011.
It’s always vital to get off to a good start in your first game and City’s title defence began strongly here at the London Stadium.
Title: The comeback kings
Matchday: 4
Date: 27 August 2022
Result: City 4-2 Crystal Palace
Goalscorers: Bernardo, Haaland (3)
City’s huge quality has been there all season but this win underlined our impressive mentality.
Guardiola’s men were 2-0 down on home soil at half-time courtesy of a John Stones own-goal and a Joachim Andersen towering header.
City had enjoyed 75% possession in the opening 45 minutes but had failed to register a shot on target so it looked bleak at the break.
But we came roaring back in fine style and were helped hugely by the first hat-trick of the campaign by Erling Haaland.
Bernardo Silva reduced the deficit with his 50th goal for the club on 53 minutes before Haaland worked his magic in front of goal.
Haaland opened his account nine minutes later, nodding in the leveller from Phil Foden’s pinpoint delivery and he quickly doubled his tally on 70 minutes when he tapped in at the far post to finish off a well-worked corner routine that put Guardiola’s side in front.
Haaland made sure of the three points on 81 minutes with the most impressive of his three goals.
He showed pace and power to collect Ilkay Gundogan’s through ball before holding off Joel Ward and calmly slotting into the bottom left corner to complete an amazing turnaround.
Title: Manchester is blue
Matchday: 9
Date: 02 October 2022
Result: City 6-3 Manchester United
Goalscorers: Foden (3), Haaland (3)
“Perfection doesn’t exist, it’s impossible. But we have to try to look for it”.
That was the view of Pep Guardiola after his team’s 6-3 win in the 188th Manchester derby.
Guardiola was happy with the ‘aggression’ of his team in the first half as we went in 4-0 at the break but interestingly the boss was also frustrated with the sloppy mistakes that saw forward Antony score two late goals for the visitors.
City fans will have gone home ecstatic but it’s the measure of the standards in the sky blue camp that there was an element of frustration and disappointment at those final few moments.
It was a welcome victory, though – and a day of milestones, too.
It was the highest scoring Manchester derby ever and it was the first time City had scored six goals in a home game against United.
In Erling Haaland and Phil Foden, City also became only the third side to have two hat-trick scorers in a single Premier League game, after Arsenal v Southampton in May 2003 (Jermaine Pennant, Robert Pires) and Leicester v Southampton in October 2019 (Ayoze Perez, Jamie Vardy).
Haaland became the first player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick in three successive home games and also the quickest to three Premier League hat-tricks, hitting that landmark in eight games, which was forty matches less than Liverpool’s Michael Owen.
Foden also scored his 50th goal for City in all competitions and, aged 22 years and 127 days, he became the youngest player to reach 50 goals under Pep Guardiola, surpassing Lionel Messi (22y 164d).
Not a bad day at the office!
Title: The late, late show
Matchday: 15
Date: 05 November 2022
Result: City 2-1 Fulham
Goalscorers: Alvarez, Haaland
It’s very rare for a team to do a lap of honour in November but perhaps that summed up the City mood following this 2-1 victory over Fulham.
City had taken the lead on 16 minutes through Julian Alvarez, but Joao Cancelo was shown a straight red card 10 minutes later for a last-man challenge in the box.
That meant 64 minutes with 10 men against the Cottagers who saw an opportunity to get something from the most difficult of away games.
Andreas Pereira fired home the subsequent spot-kick to level matters but the sky blues, despite the numerical disadvantage, came back strong.
Substitute Erling Haaland, who joined the action shortly after the hour mark, thought he’d headed home the winner on 76 minutes but VAR ruled the effort out for offside.
But deep into added time, the exceptional Kevin De Bruyne, who Pep Guardiola said “put the team on his shoulders” won a last-gasp penalty that Haaland squeezed home to send the Etihad into raptures.
Sky Sports captured a brilliant shot of Guardiola on the full-time whistle as he turned to the camera and thumped his fist at the camera in a rare moment of exuberance for the usually-reserved boss.
Title: Magic Mahrez
Matchday: 20
Date: 19 January 2023
Result: City 4-2 Tottenham
Goalscorers: Alvarez, Haaland, Mahrez (2)
“We are far away from the team that we were,” Pep Guardiola said during an emotional post-match interview in the wake of our 4-2 win over Tottenham.
“There’s nothing from the stomach, from the guts and we were lucky. But if we don’t change we will drop points.”
Guardiola was not a happy man despite the comeback victory and he was quite clearly sounding a warning to everyone of sky blue persuasion that things had to improve if we were to enjoy another title win in 2022/23.
“I want a reaction, from the whole club, everyone,” he continued before adding: “We’re a happy flowers team. I don’t want to be happy flowers. I want to beat Arsenal. If we play that way, Arsenal will beat us.”
He certainly got a response, as we this weekend sealed the Premier League trophy after finally seeing off the challenge of the Gunners.
And we shouldn’t forget this hugely powerful interview as we celebrate three titles in three seasons.
In the game itself, City went in at the break 2-0 down after two goals in two minutes from Dejan Kulusevski.
But we came out firing as goals from Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland and the irrepressible Riyad Mahrez put us ahead just after the hour mark before Mahrez added another just before the end.
Title: “A statement win”
Matchday: 23
Date: 15 February 2023
Result: Arsenal 1-3 City
Goalscorers: De Bruyne, Grealish, Haaland
This was a big moment.
City beat our nearest rivals in their own backyard - and we did in style.
The 3-1 victory also put us top of the league after spending much of the 2022/23 campaign chasing down Arsenal.
Kevin De Bruyne’s savvy finish midway through the first half had opened the scoring before Arsenal levelled through a controversial Bukayo Saka penalty shortly before the break.
Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland scored the second-half goals that proved the difference in an entertaining top-of-the-table clash at the Emirates Stadium.
While those of City persuasion celebrated, Pep Guardiola sounded a warning, though, as he insisted the run-in would be a ‘long road’.
He was spot on, too, shown most clearly in the very next game where City, dominant throughout the 90 minutes at the City Ground, conceded late on to draw 1-1 with top-flight newcomers Nottingham Forest.
After that one, we were two points behind Arsenal but with the Gunners having a game in hand.
Lots to do!
Title: The winning run begins
Matchday: 25
Date: 25 February 2023
Result: Bournemouth 1-4 City
Goalscorers: Alvarez, Haaland, Foden, Mepham (og)
The 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest on Matchday 24 was a moment of huge frustration for City, given the total dominance throughout the game and also, especially, in terms of points dropped in the title race.
But City responded in style in Matchday 26 with a big win at Bournemouth – and little did they know what they were starting that evening.
The Cherries triumph was the beginning of 12 wins in a row, over three months, that took us all the way through to the victory over Chelsea in May 2023.
It was also a day of milestones at the Vitality Stadium as efforts from Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and a Chris Mepham own-goal ensured an important three points.
It was our 200th away victory in the Premier League, our first 100 victories came in 337 games between 1992 and 2014 while our last 100 have taken us just 157 games.
Haaland, who hit the second of the evening, became the player with the most goals scored in a single Premier League season for City, taking his tally to 27 Premier League goals with a class finish from close-range, putting him one ahead at that moment of Sergio Aguero’s final tally from 2014/15.
Foden made his 200th appearance for City that day and celebrated by scoring the team’s third.
Title: “Almost perfect”
Matchday: 29
Date: 1 April 2023
Result: City 4-1 Liverpool
Goalscorers: Alvarez, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish
Liverpool have proven very worthy rivals over the past few years – but they were despatched clinically 4-1 in this game which Pep Guardiola called ‘almost perfect’.
Guardiola was thrilled with the display of his sky blues as goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Player of the Match Jack Grealish ensured a huge three points, despite Mo Salah having opened the scoring.
Grealish came of age in a sky blue shirt, showcasing his grace, guile and guts to help City see off the Reds in front of a jubilant Etihad crowd.
The victory was also Guardiola’s 100 Premier League home win, achieved in just 128 games at the Etihad, seeing him surpass Arsene Wenger as the quickest to the landmark.
In that time, we had won four leagues in just six seasons but, despite the milestone win this day, the title looked a long way off as we sat eight points behind Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand.
But, as we now know, the comeback kings did eventually wear the crown.
Title: Closing the gap
Matchday: 33
Date: 26 April 2023
Result: City 4-1 Arsenal
Goalscorers: De Bruyne (2), Stones, Haaland
There could maybe have been no bigger win than this 4-1 home victory over title rivals Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola had called for huge support at the Etihad and that’s exactly what he got – a raucous, roaring crowd who cheered their heroes on to a valuable three points.
Kevin De Bruyne was the star man this night, scoring two of the four goals and proving to be the catalyst for a City display of the highest standard.
Not far behind was Manuel Akanji, playing in the left-back spot in the absence of the injured Nathan Ake and looking like he’d played there all his life.
He was tasked with keeping the dangerous Bukayo Saka quiet and he did that expertly.
The big moment of the match came via John Stones as, 1-0 up with the clock ticking down to half-time, he headed home only to see the assistant referee raise his flag for offside.
But after a tense wait for VAR to make a decision, there was jubilation as the goal was given and 2-0 rather than 1-0 at the break felt like a big turning point in this one.
De Bruyne and Haaland made it 4-0 before Rob Holding pulled a consolation back in the final few minutes.
The result put us just two points behind leaders Arsenal at the top of the Premier League with two games in hand on Mikel Arteta’s side.
It left us with seven fixtures remaining and, of the five played since, we have won every single one of them.
The stuff of champions!
Title: The edge of glory
Matchday: 35
Date: 14 May 2023
Result: Everton 0-3 City
Goalscorers: Gundogan (2), Haaland
Pep Guardiola marched over to the brilliant, boisterous away support at Goodison Park to thank them for their backing following the 3-0 win over Everton.
Then he delivered a message. Holding up two fingers, he shouted: ‘Two more wins. Two more wins’.
That’s all that was needed, it seemed, to retain our Premier League crown.
Little did he know that it would actually be no more wins as Arsenal were defeated by Brighton and Nottingham Forest to help ensure the title returned to the Etihad for the third successive season.
Make no mistake, this was a tough, tough assignment – and a vital win - against a side who had their tails up following a 5-1 victory, ironically over the conquerors of the Gunners, Brighton in their last away game.
But Ilkay Gundogan, captain fantastic and so often the leading man when we need someone to take centre stage, scored one and made one – for Erling Haaland - just before half-time to send City in 2-0 at half-time.
Gundogan then made sure of victory with a sumptuous free-kick six minutes into the second half.
It was somewhat fitting that it was Gundogan who put us in prime position to win another Premier League because he was the man who lifted the trophy following our 1-0 win in Matchday 36 – our final home game – against Chelsea.
We now close the campaign with away games at Brighton and Brentford before two huge finals – against Manchester United in the FA Cup and Inter in the Champions League.
