2024 review: Premier League champions again

Pep Guardiola has yet again led City through a calendar year that fans of a certain vintage could never have imagined.

Back in May, City won the Premier League for a record fourth season in a row. No side in English football history had ever won the top-flight more than three years back-to-back.

It was the 17th major honour of a sparkling City career for our boss, with the 18th following a few months later when we beat Manchester United to win the Community Shield.

City have now won six of the last eight Premier League titles in an era of dominance of English football, while the second half of the year saw us celebrate special awards including an historic Ballon d’Or success for Rodri.

Over the coming days on mancity.com and our official app, we'll look back at all the key moments across men's, women's and age-group football that made 2024 another one to remember.

Here we’ll go through the last 12 months from our men’s team’s perspective...

January

2023 was unlike any calendar year we’ve ever previously experienced, but the start of 2024 meant more trophies to hunt.

We began with a home thrashing of Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup third round.

After that, it was back to the Premier League and a fiercely contested evening at Newcastle United, where it looked likely that City might lose until Kevin De Bruyne’s second-half introduction turned the game on its head in the most dramatic fashion.

WATCH: Newcastle 2-3 City: Extended highlights

The Belgian scored our equaliser before supplying Oscar Bobb for the injury time winner.

A winter break followed before we rounded out the month with a comfortable 3-1 win at home against Burnley.

Off the pitch, the ongoing awards season continued to recognise City’s incredible 2023.

Pep Guardiola was named FIFA Best Men’s Coach and Ederson was called FIFA Best Men’s Goalkeeper, while six players were all selected in the FIFPRO Men’s World XI; Ruben Dias, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland.

We also dominated the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards, winning six of the major honours.

Results: Three wins

February

The second month of the year saw Phil Foden really move up a gear as City put a winning run together and piled the pressure on leaders Arsenal.

It began with our Academy graduate hitting his second career hat-trick to win the game at Brentford before Erling Haaland proved the difference against a stubborn Everton a few days later.

WATCH: Brentford 1-3 City: Extended highlights

Our only slight set back in the month came in a draw with Chelsea – with Rodri needing to power home a late equaliser.

Two 1-0 victories followed with Haaland and Foden taking us past Brentford and Bournemouth respectively.

Outside of the Premier League, we took a 3-1 victory out of the first leg of our Round of 16 Champions League clash with FC Copenhagen before Haaland netted a phenomenal five as we thrashed Luton Town 6-2 in the FA Cup.

Results: Six wins, one draw

March

For a while, it looked like City’s March was going to get off to the worst possible start.

Manchester United were inexplicably ahead at the Etihad despite City dominating all of the ball.

That was until two special Phil Foden goals turned it around to win the 192nd Manchester derby and make it the first time we have come from behind to beat them in the Premier League.

WATCH: City 3-1 Manchester United: Extended highlights

We backed that up with our 10th successive Champions League win and a 30th home game unbeaten in a 3-1 defeat of Copenhagen.

Then, the final edition of Jurgen Klopp v Pep Guardiola in the Premier League saw Liverpool and City share the spoils at Anfield.

Bernardo Silva’s brace against Newcastle took us to the FA Cup semi-finals before a rearguard Arsenal display at the Etihad ensured a drab goalless draw.

The Gunners left the Etihad believing they had the upper hand in the title race, but they failed to consider the winners they were up against.

Results: Three wins, two draws

April

With any slip up in the Premier League now likely to prove costly, City instead won all five matches in April.

First we thrashed Aston Villa thanks to another special Foden display, then it was Kevin De Bruyne’s turn to take centre stage against Crystal Palace – becoming the 18th man to reach 100 City goals and the first midfielder to do so since Colin Bell.

WATCH: Watch: De Bruyne’s 100 City goals

A 5-1 home win over Luton Town, 4-0 thrashing of Brighton on the south coast and battling 2-0 defeat of Nottingham Forest had Arsenal sweating.

In the Champions League, it was penalty shootout heartbreak against Real Madrid. After a 3-3 classic in the Spanish capital, we dominated proceedings in Manchester without finding a way to seal the win.

However, we bounced back from that exhausting and emotional night by beating Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley just a few days later.

Bernardo Silva, who had missed in the shootout against Real, proved the match winner on a proud day for Guardiola.

Results: Six wins, two draws

May

History made. Again.

Erling Haaland started a decisive month off with a hat-trick against his favourite opponents Wolves.

WATCH: Extended highlights: City 5-1 Wolves

We then put four past Fulham on a sunny day in west London to leave us two wins from the title.

However, to seal that we would have to do something we’d never done before. Win a league match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The 2-0 scoreline only tells a fraction of the story, with Stefan Ortega Moreno making a pivotal block with his right boot to deny Heung min-Son a certain leveller just before we grabbed our second.

After navigating the extreme tension of that night, we cruised past West Ham on the final day to get an almighty party started. For the first time ever in English football, a team had won the top-flight four years in a row.

WATCH: Watch: City lift the Premier League trophy to bring up four-in-a-row

Even the following week’s FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United couldn’t dampen the spirits of all who turned out for another special parade on the streets of Manchester.

In the midst of all that, it was a special month for Phil Foden as he won the FWA Footballer of the Year, Etihad Player of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season.

Results: Four wins, one defeat

June

With players either on holiday or with their national sides, it was a rare quiet month for Manchester City.

However, we were again the most represented club at EURO 2024 with 14 of our senior squad selected to play for their country at the tournament.

July

Rodri earned his first major personal accolade of 2024 by being crowned the Best Player at EURO 2024 for his role in driving Spain to glory in Germany.

WATCH: Watch: Why Rodrigo won the Ballon d’Or

Meanwhile, we were preparing for the new campaign with the addition of Brazilian winger Savinho after a special season for surprise Champions League qualifiers Girona.

That happened before Guardiola’s squad set off for a pre-season tour of the US, where a young team lost entertaining games against Celtic and AC Milan before a draw with Barcelona was followed by penalties.

August

After wrapping up the US Tour with a victory over Chelsea, a young City side claimed a penalties win over Manchester United in the Community Shield at Wembley.

Things could hardly have started better for City in the Premier League, with three wins from three.

WATCH: Extended highlights: City 1-1 Manchester United (7-6p) - 2024 Community Shield

Erling Haaland raced onto seven Premier League goals with a neat finish in the opener against Chelsea before hat-tricks against Ipswich Town and West Ham.

The major transfer news in August saw our adored former club captain Ilkay Gundogan return to City after a year at Barcelona.

There was also more to celebrate on an awards front, with Phil Foden winning PFA Players’ Player of the Year for his 2023/24 exploits and Foden, Rodri, Walker and Haaland being named in the Team of the Year.

Results: Three wins, one draw

September

A Haaland brace in a home clash with Brentford kept up our 100% record in the Premier League before a cagey encounter with Inter opened up the brand new Champions League era.

Haaland then put City up early in a crucial game with Arsenal before Mikel Arteta’s team came from behind to lead.

With our visitors holding on for dear life, it was up to John Stones to force home a stoppage time equaliser and send the Etihad wild.

WATCH: City 2-2 Arsenal: Extended highlights

The major blow in that game had in fact come a few minutes after our opener, when Rodri went down clutching his leg.

It immediately looked uncomfortable for our midfield metronome but it would be almost a week before Pep Guardiola would confirm he would be out for the season.

Watford’s visit in the Carabao Cup just two days later meant a reshuffling of the pack and debut for 16-year-old Kaden Braithwaite as we won 2-1.

Results: Two wins, three draws

October

City’s unbeaten Premier League start continued in October – beating Fulham, Wolves and Southampton to ensure another nine-point haul in the month.

That doesn’t tell the whole story of course. Firstly, Fulham threatened our goal regularly in our 3-2 win at the Etihad before we fell behind at Wolves and needed a very, very late John Stones header to claim all three points.

WATCH: Extended highlights: Wolves 1-2 City

The decisive moment in the Southampton game came before it had truly settled down, with Haaland forcing home the winner in the fifth minute.

While it wasn’t City at our free-flowing best, it was a team that was still grinding out the results required.

In the Champions League, we thrashed two of the league phase’s strugglers in Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague.

Our final assignment of the month was a Carabao Cup trip to Spurs in what proved our first competitive defeat of the new term.

However, there was still plenty of positive sentiment afterwards, with youngsters like James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly pushing a vastly more experienced side right to the very end.

Results: Five wins, one defeat

November

A month to forget for this exceptional team.

Our club record Premier League unbeaten run came to an end at Bournemouth on the second day of the month, despite Josko Gvardiol’s header and a late push for an equaliser.

Then came a quick start at Sporting CP before the wheels came off either side of half-time and the Portuguese champions ran out 4-1 winners.

Another strong start at Brighton was turned on its head late on before our first home Premier League defeat in more than two years against Spurs.

The month ended with Feyenoord coming back from 3-0 down at the Etihad to rescue a point in the Champions League.

Results: One draw, four defeats

December

With seven Premier League games and a Champions League trip to contend with, December was always going to be a gruelling month.

It was a mixed one for Guardiola's side, steadying the ship with victory against Nottingham Forest on the 4 December and a draw at Crystal Palace a few days later.

However, a painful run of three successive defeats followed against Juventus, Manchester United and Aston Villa as we struggled with injury issues throughout the squad.

A home draw with Everton and win at Leicester City put a smile on faces during the festive period as our incredible manager reached 500 games in charge of the club.

After eight and a half years of unimaginable success with Pep in charge, fans will still be looking to 2025 with hope despite a difficult couple of months.

Results: Two wins, two draws, four defeats