Is Manchester City back, or is it too early?

by Kobey Ronk, November 13, 2025

Source: AP Photo

Last Season Woes

For Manchester City’s expectations, it’s safe to say last year was not ideal for the hottest club this decade. Third in the premier league, FA Cup Finals loss, and a champions league playoff exit is not ideal for a team that won the treble less than 3 years ago. For most teams, that slate would be great for fans. For the City side however, it was disappointing to say the least. Normally City has Arsenal’s number, but even last year they faltered and let them take second over them by 3 points. There was a point where Pep was clawing his scalp and had blood dripping for how frustrating last year was. It’s early, but this City squad has turned it around and started off hot to start this year, making up for the mistakes of last year’s woes.

Current Form

Here’s a current look at Manchester City’s standings:

• Second in the English Premier League with 22 points.
• They have a +15 goal differential, the same as Arsenal.
• Currently 8-1-1 in their last 10, with a loss to Aston Villa and a draw against AS Monaco. Aston Villa currently sits at sixth in the Premier League with 18 points.
• They are currently fourth in the Champions League table with 10 points.

Are they on top of the table? No. Are they trending in the right direction? Absolutely. Manchester City has a tough October slate, with only one home game in the entire month. Besides the draw against Monaco, they have dominated their other champions league games, beating Villarreal, Borussia Dortmund, and Napoli. All convincingly by 2+ goals by the way. In terms of the English Premier League, they have been dominating the table, including having signature wins against Liverpool and Manchester United. Gianluigi Donnarumma currently has 5 clean sheets, while Erling Haaland leads the league in goals scored with 14. Manchester City as a whole leads the league in goals scored and total passes, with 23 and 5,983 respectively. Here is where we start to have to start asking questions though.

Is Erling Haaland’s scoring sustainable?

He’s the hottest scorer in the world currently, no question about that. 14 goals scored in 11 games is absurd. It shows signs of Haaland’s first year with the club when he broke out. Many people are asking however, is this sustainable? Besides Haaland, only 7 other players have scored for City in Premier League competition. None of them have scored more than once. Fans are all for feeding Haaland and seeing how far he can go, but to win you need more versatility. Pep Guardiola has got plenty of people going with scoring before. In order to keep this momentum, they may need to look to try finding others to put the ball in the back of the net. I’ve always been a supporter of if it’s not broken don’t fix it, but the Premier League Season is long. This team needs to show their fans they’re not dead, Pep’s not leaving, and they can still compete. Both on a national and international stage.

What’s next for Manchester City

Man City’s next five games are a mix of hard and should-be easy to win games. Here’s what they have:

• Away against Newcastle United.
• Home against Bayer Leverkusen (Champions League).
• Home against Leeds United.
• Away against Fulham.
• Home against Sunderland.

Man City has the chance to rally off some good wins heading into the middle of December and the middle of the season. They aren’t losing bad games and showing frustration like last year. Their form is better, and they are performing better in the Champions League compared to what they were last year. With a strong form heading into the end of the year, they have the chance to emerge as challengers against Arsenal for the league title, and also make a deep run in the Champions League again.