Another milestone in Project Restart was reached yesterday when the FA announced the upcoming fixture schedule. It’s been about three months since we’ve seen live football in England, but you can start counting the days now.
With that in mind, let’s commence our restarted season previews, complete with a best potential starting XI. Up next is Manchester City.
Next Match: City will be playing on the very first day of the restart, in the second game, when they host Arsenal on June 17. On June 28, they’ll journey to Newcastle United for a FA Cup quarterfinal clash.
Current Position: second place in the table, but a whopping 25 points behind league leading Liverpool. They are four points ahead of third place Leicester City, with a game in hand on the Foxes. In the UEFA Champions League, the Sky Blues lead Real Madrid after one leg of the Round of 16.
Transfer Noise: A lot hinges on what happens with their appeal of the two year European football ban. If the ban is upheld, it could hurt recruiting a bit. It could also put the long term future of certain stars at the club into question. Go here for the City all-transfer rumor XI and the best XI with transfer targets acquired and key players retained.
Got Healthy from the Very Long Break: Now we’ll get a chance to really see what this City team can be when they have all hands on deck. Aymeric Laporte is back, and when he’s on the pitch it completely alters the scope of their central defense.
Leroy Sane is finally back, set for his long awaited season debut.
Season Goals: a treble is still potentially in the cards. City already has the League Cup in their trophy case while manager Pep Guardiola could decide to go all in on the FA Cup tournament as well. Of course, the real prize is the elusive UCL silverware, and that tourney, if all goes well in handling the pandemic, is set to restart in August.
This is City’s best chance to finally win the “big ears” trophy.
Keys to Reaching those Goals: Just keep doing what they usually do- win by dominating possession and making the most of their scoring chances.
Best Potential Starting XI:
Sane Aguero Sterling
De Bruyne Rodri Gundogan
Zinchenko Laporte Fernandinho Walker
Ederson
Restarted Season Previews
Arsenal
Tottenham Hotspur
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.
