2019–20 Manchester City F.C. season


The 2019–20 season is Manchester City's 118th season of competitive football, 91st season in the top division of English football and 23rd season in the Premier League since it was first created. In addition to the Premier League, the club is competing in the FA Cup, as holders of both competitions. They also enter the UEFA Champions League, hoping to win the team's first European trophy since 1970. The Cityzens successfully retained the EFL Cup, their third consecutive EFL Cup win and their fifth in seven seasons.
The season covers the period from 1 July 2019 to 31 August 2020. The season was extended from 30 June 2020 for an indefinite period following the suspension of all elite sport in the UK in March 2020 as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Premier League initially suspended all competition until at least 4 April 2020 following a decision on 13 March 2020 after a number of players and other clubs staff became ill due to the coronavirus pandemic. This suspension was later extended further until 30 April and then to the 31 May 2020 At the same time the FA agreed to extend the season indefinitely, past the scheduled end date of 1 June. City's last fixture before lockdown had been their 0–2 away defeat to Manchester United on 8 March 2020. The scheduled home game on 11 March against Arsenal was the first Premier League game to be postponed following the news that the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had been tested as positive for the novel coronavirus.
In late May 2020, the UK Government began to ease the lockdown measures which had been taken to combat the COVID-19 contagion and it was duly announced that the Premier League clubs had agreed to play the remaining 92 Premier League fixtures and FA Cup fixtures in empty stadiums and with modified rules to minimise contagion from 17 June 2020. City restarted the season with a postponed game in hand against Arsenal on 17 June. The Blues won the match, 3–0.

Kits

Supplier: Puma / Sponsor: Etihad Airways

Season review

Manchester City began the season as unprecedented holders of all 4 domestic competitions. Their first successful defence came on 04 August as they beat Liverpool on penalties at Wembley to retain the FA Community Shield in the traditional curtain raiser to the season.
Acknowledging that City would be judged by their Champions League performance after all, Pep Guardiola said that the new season's main objective would be to win the European title. The Cityzens progressed to the knock-out phase and faced old foes Real Madrid there. Man City won the away game 2–1, but the remainder of the tournament was indefinetely postponed due to the COVID–19 pandemic. Finally, UEFA announced that the tournament would be resumed in August 2020. After 8 domestic trophies were clinched with Guardiola, fans eagerly await the team's first European title since 1970.
In the Premier League however, City were unable to maintain their consistency from the previous 2 seasons. Key players Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane endured extended injury layoffs from the beginning of the season until early 2020. Laporte's absence in particular impacted on the teams' defensive capabilities and their effectiveness against opposition set up to quickly counterattack on the break. City already had dropped more league points by the end of December 2019 than they had in their entire previous two seasons.
For the second year in a row, City were the first top European team to reach 100 goals scored in all competitions when they beat Fulham 4–0 in a FA Cup 4th round match on 26 January 2020
On 14 February 2020, UEFA stated its intention to ban Manchester City from the all UEFA club competitions for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons for alleged breaches of the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. UEFA noted the club's right to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the club submitted an appeal on 26 February 2020. As part of the appeal registration the Court of Arbitration for Sport stated a date for a final decision would be in the first half of July 2020.
That appeal was heard on 8 June 2020. The appeal was upheld on 13 July 2020, and the ban was overturned.
On 1 March 2020, City won their 3rd EFL Cup in a row; and their 4th in 5 seasons, when they defeated Aston Villa 2–1 at Wembley Stadium.
In March, the season became affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. On 10 March, the match between Manchester City and Arsenal, due to be played the next day, was postponed after a number of Arsenal players made close contact with Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis, who had tested positive for infection with the coronavirus, when the two teams had met in the Europa League 13 days earlier.
On 12 March, it was revealed that three Leicester City players were self-isolating. Manchester City also announced that their defender Benjamin Mendy was also self-isolating, after a family member displayed symptoms of the virus. Later in the evening, it was then confirmed that Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta had tested positive for coronavirus.
On 13 March, following an emergency meeting between the Premier League, The Football Association, the English Football League and the FA Women's Super League, it was unanimously decided to suspend professional football in England until at least 4 April 2020. On 19 March, the suspension was extended to at least 30 April 2020. At the same time the FA agreed to extend the season indefinitely, past the scheduled end date of 1 June.
In late May 2020 the UK Government began to ease the lockdown measures which had been taken to combat the COVID-19 contagion and it was duly announced on 28 May that the Premier League clubs had agreed to play the remaining 92 Premier League fixtures and FA Cup fixtures in empty stadiums and with modified rules to minimize contagion from 17 June 2020. City restarted the season with a postponed game in hand against Arsenal on 17 June, winning 3-0.
On 25 June City lost 2-1 away to Chelsea and as result Liverpool were confirmed as 2019-20 Premier League Champions with 7 rounds of games remaining to be played. This was the first time an elite English competition had been won by a team other than City in over 2 years. A week later, on 2 July, City were able to assuage some of the disappointment of losing their Premier League title to their rivals when they beat Liverpool 4-0 in the league at the Etihad.
In beating Newcastle 5-0 on 8 July, City achieved a pass completion rate of 93.7% - the highest accuracy on record in the Premier League since 2003-04. Riyad Mahrez reaching 10 Premier League goals in the season in the same game also ensured City would be the first English top-flight side to have five different players score at least 10 league goals in a single season since Everton in 1984-85.
The 5-0 victory away against Brighton on 11 July then confirmed that City would finish the season as runners-up to Liverpool in the league.
On 18 July Arsenal beat City 2-0 in their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley to deny them an opportunity to defend their title in another showcase final.

Pre-season and friendlies

Manchester City played a number of pre-season matches in 2019, including participating in the 2019 Premier League Asia Trophy in China.

Competitions

Overview

FA Community Shield

Due to winning both the 2018–19 Premier League and 2018–19 FA Cup, Manchester City faced Premier League runners-up Liverpool in the FA Community Shield. Manchester City were the defending champions, and successfully defended the title.

Premier League

Manchester City entered the 2019–20 Premier League as two-time defending champions.

League table

Results summary

Results by matchday

Fixtures

On 13 June 2019, the Premier League fixtures were announced.

FA Cup

Manchester City entered the FA Cup in the third round as defending champions. The third round draw was made on 2 December 2019. The fourth round draw was made by Alex Scott and David O'Leary on Monday, 6 January. The draw for the fifth round was made on 27 January 2020, live on The One Show.

EFL Cup

Manchester City entered the EFL Cup in the third round as defending champions. The third round draw was confirmed on 28 August 2019, live on Sky Sports. The draw for the fourth round was made on 25 September 2019. The quarter-final draw was conducted on 31 October, live on BBC Radio 2.

UEFA Champions League

Group stage

Manchester City entered the competition in the group stage following their first-place finish in the 2018–19 season. They were drawn in Group C with Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta.

Knockout phase

The draw for the Round of 16 was confirmed on 16 November.
Round of 16

Players

Ordered by squad number.
Appearances include league and cup appearances, including as substitute.

Statistics

Squad statistics

Appearances numbers are for appearances in competitive games only including sub appearances

Red card numbers denote: Numbers in parentheses represent red cards overturned for wrongful dismissal.

Goalscorers

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted alphabetically by surname when total goals are equal.

Hat-tricks

– Home ; – Away

Clean sheets

The list is sorted by shirt number when total clean sheets are equal. Numbers in parentheses represent games where both goalkeepers participated and both kept a clean sheet; the number in parentheses is awarded to the goalkeeper who was substituted on, whilst a full clean sheet is awarded to the goalkeeper who was on the field at the start of play.

Awards

Etihad player of the month

MonthPlayerRef
August Sergio Aguero
September Riyad Mahrez
October Raheem Sterling
November Kevin De Bruyne
December Riyad Mahrez
January Sergio Aguero
February Kevin De Bruyne

[Premier League Player of the Month]

Agüero's win in January 2020 was at the time his 7th overall: the most achieved by a player in the competition's history.

[Premier League Goal of the Month]

MonthPlayerRef
November Kevin De Bruyne

[UEFA Team of the Year]

YearPlayerRef
2019 Kevin De Bruyne

[Premier League Golden Glove]

YearPlayerClean SheetsRef
2019-20 Ederson16

[Premier League Playmaker of the Season]

YearPlayerAssistsRef
2019-20 Kevin De Bruyne20

De Bruyne's total of 20 assists for the season also equalled the Premier League record set by Thierry Henry in 2002-03

Transfers and loans

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans in

Loans out

Overall transfer activity

Expenditure
Total: £133,790,000
Income
Total: £64,600,000
Net totals
Total: £77,979,000