Phil Foden says he is excited to link up with City’s new summer signings as Pep Guardiola’s side prepare to open the defence of our Premier League title this weekend.

The back-to-back champions will kick off the 2022/23 campaign with a tough assignment away at West Ham on Sunday afternoon.

For City a number of new faces are set to be part of our matchday squad while some familiar figures will be absent after what has been a busy summer in the transfer market.

Though Fernandinho, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleks Zinchenko have all departed, Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Kalvin Phillips and Stefan Ortega Moreno have come in to bolster City’s squad.

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And, ahead of the big kick-off, Foden revealed how much he was looking forward to operating alongside our exciting new recruits.

“Obviously, we lost some key players, but we have signed some great ones as well,” Foden declared.

“I am really excited to play with the new signings.

“Hopefully we can get a good connection and play well together.”

Following his arrival earlier this summer, Haaland made a special point of talking about how much he was looking forward to playing alongside Foden.

And for his part, our attacking midfielder believes the signing of one of Europe’s most exciting young strikers will help add another dimension to City’s attacking threat.

“I think we have been lacking that type of striker for the past few seasons, so he (Haaland) is definitely going to help us this season with his work rate,” Foden added.

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“He is powerful, he dominates defenders and that is just what we need up front.”

However, though there may have been a number of changes in terms of the make-up of our playing personnel, the 22-year-old said it would be a case of evolution rather than revolution as regards how the defending Premier League champions went about our business on the field.

That said, one City trademark will remain firmly in place.
Namely the fierce ambition and hunger for success that underpins Guardiola’s squad.

“I don’t think there will be many big changes,” Foden said when asked as to what people should expect from City this season.

“We always try and play the same way throughout the years and play the same system. I don’t think there is going to be a lot that changes.

“Hopefully, we can just keep playing well and winning games.

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“We want to show the fans that we are always hungry to win. Not just me, but the team as well.

“We are all motivated to try and win titles again this year.

“The goals for the team, we go for every competition. I can’t really say win them all because that is hard to do, but if we can get the Champions League, that is the aim this year.

“We really want to win that. We have been so close.

“Individually, I want to try and score more goals than last season, get better stats and try to improve my game.”

West Ham v City

In the UK, the game will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, while fans living around the world can find out how they can tune in via the TV listings here, courtesy of livesoccertv.com.

You can also follow the game in our Matchday Centre on mancity.com and the official app, which includes minute by minute text updates from 14:30, whilst key moments will be covered on Twitter: @ManCity.

Our Matchday Live show begins one hour before kick-off and is available on all our digital platforms, including our Matchday Centre.

And, during the game, you can listen to live audio commentary in the Man City app.

Short highlights will be available to watch from 20:15, while CITY+ subscribers will also be able to enjoy every minute of the action in our full-match replay from midnight.