Yahoo Sports City’s Premier League opening day record
Manchester City will begin the defence of our Premier League crown against Chelsea on the opening day of the 2024/25 campaign.
After Pep Guardiola’s side became the first men’s team in English football history to win four straight top-flight titles last term, we will visit Stamford Bridge on Sunday 18 August at 16:30 (UK).
The upcoming domestic season will represent our 28th since the competition’s rebrand in 1992 and since then, we have won the title eight times – raising our overall tally to 10.
Before the shutters rise on the latest Premier League term, here we look back at our opening day record.
OVERALL
City have won 15 of our 27 opening Premier League assignments – handing us a win percentage of 55.5%.
Our first came in a 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic at the Valley in August 2003 where goals from Nicolas Anelka, Antoine Siberski and Sun Jihai secured three points.
Overall, the Blues have scored 48 times in matchday one fixtures – averaging 1.77 goals per game.
Meanwhile, we have conceded just 26 goals, lost six and drawn six of our 27 curtain raisers.
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BIGGEST WIN
Our biggest win on the first weekend of a Premier League season came at the London Stadium where we emphatically beat West Ham 5-0 in 2019.
Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring in the 25th minute, with the Brazilian’s strike representing the first half’s only goal.
However, we carried our momentum past the interval where Raheem Sterling scored on 51 minutes before sealing his brace 25 minutes later to extend our advantage.
Sergio Aguero’s late penalty secured our fourth of the afternoon before the England international completed his hat-trick in stoppage time.
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HIGHEST SCORING
City’s victory over West Ham in 2019 is one of two matches to have brought five goals – following our 3-2 victory over Southampton in 2012.
But the highest-scoring opening day occasion came in a breathless 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa in August 2008.
After a goalless first half, John Carew scored for the hosts before Elano’s penalty equalised for Mark Hughes’ side with just over 25 minutes remaining.
However, a Gabby Abonglahor hat-trick gave the Villans a commanding lead – rendering Vedran Corluka’s late goal little more than a consolation.
SHARP SHOOTERS
Club legend Aguero has scored more City goals across first Premier League matches of the season than any other player.
In total, our men’s record goalscorer struck seven opening day goals – the first two of which arrived on his debut in sky blue as we put Swansea to the sword 4-0.
Shortly after arriving from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2011, he scored a second-half brace against the Swans as he wasted little time adapting to English football.
Hot on his heels are David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Erling Haaland who have each netted four times in first game assignments.
PERFECT
Sven-Goran Eriksson and Manuel Pellegrini are the only City managers to hold an 100% record in curtain raisers.
The former oversaw a 2-0 win over West Ham at Upton Park at the beginning of his only season in charge thanks to goals from Rolando Bianchi and Geovanni.
Pellegrini was at the Etihad Stadium helm for three seasons and made perfect starts to each.
City’s first under the Chilean en route to the Premier League title in August 2014 was a 4-0 home success over Newcastle which was followed by a 2-0 win away at the Magpies the season after.
We then beat West Brom 3-0 under Pellegrini’s tutelage at the start of his final season in charge.
THE BOSS
City have a sparkling opening day record under the management of Pep Guardiola – winning seven of our eight matches at the beginning of the Catalan’s seasons in charge.
Across those assignments we’ve scored 19 goals and conceded just three times – averaging a 2.3 goals per first Premier League game.
The first victory was a hard fought 2-1 win over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium where Aguero's penalty and a Paddy McNair own goal handed us the perfect start to the boss’ illustrious City reign.
Our only loss came in a narrow 1-0 defeat away at Tottenham Hotspur at the start of 2021/22 as we went on to win the second of our record four straight men’s top-flight titles.
Also, the defeat in north London is the only first match of the season where we’ve failed to score under Guardiola.
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