Manchester City season preview – Will Manchester be painted blue in 2013-14?

Vincent Kompany will have to lead from the front

What’s new at the club this season?

Manuel Pellegrini has replaced Mancini at the helm of the club, after being linked with the job for long. The Chilean has spent most of his managerial career at Spain, having managed Villarreal, Malaga and Real Madrid. He has led Villarreal and Malaga to the later stages of the Champions League and his Real Madrid team obtained the second highest points tally in their La Liga history (96) in the only season he was in-charge at the club. Renowned for producing teams that are technically adept and play attractive football, Pellegrini is likely to make the team more flexible tactically than it was under Mancini.

Continuing with the trend of spending big in the transfer window, City have spent over £90million to add quality and variety to the team in the form of Fernandinho (who is likely to partner Yaya Toure in the central midfield), Jeses Navas (who’ll offer pace and width), Negredo (who’ll bolster the team’s attack as a powerful focal point) and Stevan Jovetic (whose intelligence and technical quality will be a welcome addition to the team’s forward line).

Likely tactics and starting XI

Pellegrini is likely to deploy the 4-4-2 formation, with the likely change from last season being that the wide midfielders are unlikely to cut-inside in the final third, and hence the attack won’t be as narrow and the width offered by new arrival Jesus Navas can very well be the X-factor for the team.

It’ll be interesting to observe how the central midfield duo of Yaya Toure and Fernandinho perform alongside each other, whether they’ll complement each other or turn out to be too similar to coexist. The performance of this partnership could be a key deciding factor in City’s success.

The addition of Negredo and Jovetic will bolster the attacking line-up and the duo along with Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero will form a potent strike force.

Likely starting XI: Hart – Zabaleta, Nastasic, Kompany, Clichy – Silva, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Jesus Navas – Dzeko, Aguero

Key players

1. Central defence partnership of Kompany and Nastasic

Captain Vincent Kompany leads the team by example and is an outstanding centre-back. He will to continue his partnership with Nastasic, who enjoyed an impressive debut season last year, and repeat last season’s feat of conceding the least number of goals among all teams.

2. Strike partnership of Dzeko and Aguero

Having played together for a while now, the duo is now more familiar with each other’s game and the chemistry has improved. Dzeko has shown excellent form in the pre-season and will look to take it forward to the Premier League campaign. Aguero will hope to have an injury-free season and repeat his good form of the 2011-12 campaign.

Where will they want to finish?

Pellegrini will be well aware that anything less than a Premier League title will be considered a failure. City owners and fans will expect a better showing from the team in the Champions League after two less-than-impressive outings in the past 2 seasons. The team will also look to win at least one of the domestic cups, to erase the memories of the loss to Wigan at Wembley last season.

Where will they actually finish?

With Manchester United determined to defend their League title, and Chelsea spending big money to strengthen their squad and having Jose Mourinho back, Manchester City are likely to be involved in a three-way fight for the title. In Champions League, with some luck from the draw, they should expect to make the knockouts for the first time in 3 years.

Prediction: 2nd in Premier League, Quarterfinals in Champions League, Winners of League Cup