The 2022–23 season was the 128th season in the existence of Manchester City Football Club and their 21st consecutive season in the top flight of English football, where they were competing as two-time defending champions. In addition to the Premier League, Manchester City also participated in this season's editions of the FA Cup, EFL Cup, Community Shield and UEFA Champions League, entering the latter for the 12th consecutive season. The season was unusual in that the fixture dates of domestic and European competitions were altered to accommodate the FIFA World Cup played in November and December 2022 in Qatar.
Manchester City kicked off the season by losing the Community Shield to Liverpool 1–3 and were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Southampton at the quarter-final stage in January 2023. On 20 May, City mathematically clinched their third consecutive Premier League title following an exciting title race with closest rivals Arsenal, who had been leading the standings for the large part of the season. On 3 June, City defeated rivals Manchester United 2–1 in the FA Cup final to win their second trophy of the season. Furthermore, the Blues had advanced to their second Champions League final in three years, where they defeated Inter Milan on 10 June in Istanbul to clinch the club's first-ever European Cup, their first European trophy since 1970, and complete only the second continental treble by an English men's team, after Manchester United in 1998–99. Manchester City ended the season topping the UEFA coefficient rankings.
One of this season's individual highlights were the goalscoring feats of City's new striker Erling Haaland in his debut season in English football. He broke several club, league, and European records after scoring 52 goals in his first 53 games at City, going on to win multiple individual awards, including the European Golden Shoe.
This was the first season since 2012–13 without former team captain Fernandinho, who left at the end of the previous season to return to Brazil, and the first since 2014–15 not to feature English forward Raheem Sterling, who moved to Chelsea in the summer of 2022.
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Season summary Pre-season
Manchester City had already resolved their most pressing squad issue before the end of the previous season, having announced their agreement to recruit a prolific centre-forward in Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. This transfer was confirmed on 13 June 2022, with Haaland formally joining the first team on 1 July. Julián Álvarez would also join from River Plate, having been transferred in January 2022 and then temporarily loaned back.
City were expected to purchase a defensive midfielder to replace former captain Fernandinho. Kalvin Phillips was duly signed from Leeds United for a reported fee of £42 million plus add-ons on 4 July, and took the number 4 shirt previously worn by Vincent Kompany. City were also reported to be in the market for a new specialist left-back, with rumours that Marc Cucurella of Brighton was their number one target.
City's first player sales of the season were the transfer out of Pedro Porro to Sporting CP through a loan-to-buy deal for £7.2 million, and of Gavin Bazunu to Southampton for £12 million initially, up to £15 million after add-ons. Neither player had made a first-team appearance for City.
City began pre-season with several key first-team players entering the final years of their contract amidst rumours that they might leave the club for a fee rather than renew. Of these, it seemed the most speculation concerned Gabriel Jesus and his possible transfer to Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur or Real Madrid after five years at City, and Raheem Sterling, who was also rumoured to be a Real Madrid target. Both players would, in theory, compete with the incoming Haaland and Álvarez for playing time if they remained. Jesus left City for Arsenal for a reported fee of £45 million on 4 July. Sterling went on to join Chelsea on 13 July for a fee reported to be about £47.5 million, with £2.5 million of add-ons. He had won eleven domestic titles in seven seasons at Manchester City, scoring 131 goals in 339 appearances, and was the club's 11th-highest scorer of all time.
Another significant transfer was the move of versatile Ukrainian left-back/midfielder Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal for a fee of around £30 million after six seasons at City on 22 July. This left Pep Guardiola with just two senior specialist full-backs in his squad at the start of the new season, both of whom were natural right-backs, meaning City did not have a first team left-back. The club had refused to offer the minimum £50 million fee demanded by Brighton for Cucurella and he was eventually transferred to Chelsea on 5 August for a reported fee in excess of £60 million.
Manchester City opted to start pre-season training a week later than most of their rivals, and scheduled only two friendly warm-up games as part of their tour of the United States, in order to ensure their players would have sufficient rest. They would also begin the new season with a relatively small squad of just twenty senior players. Both of these were considered to be strong preferences by Guardiola.
Start of season City won both their pre-season tour games in the United States. However, they tasted defeat in their first competitive match of the season, losing 1–3 to a more-prepared Liverpool side in the Community Shield held at Leicester City's King Power Stadium. Debutant Julián Álvarez scored the sole goal for the Blues.
In their first league game on 7 August, City beat West Ham United 2–0 away, with Haaland recording his first two competitive goals for the club; he became the first City player to score a brace on their league debut since Sergio Agüero did so against Swansea City in 2011. The following weekend, City announced that İlkay Gündoğan had been appointed club captain, with Rodri and Kyle Walker joining the vice-captain leadership group, shortly after City won their first league game at home 4–0 against Bournemouth.
City finally recruited a specialist left-back on 16 August, signing Spanish under-21 defender Sergio Gómez for £11 million plus add-ons from Anderlecht, where he had previously played under the management of former City defender and captain Vincent Kompany.
On 21 August, City played Newcastle United in an even match at St James' Park, and fought out another two-goal comeback to snatch a 3–3 draw. With seven points after three games, City were second in the league standings, two points behind Arsenal.
On 27 August, City fell behind by two goals for the fourth time in six league matches, this time against Crystal Palace at home, only to recover to a 4–2 victory in a second half comeback, with Erling Haaland scoring his first home goals and first hat-trick for the club.
On 31 August, Haaland became the first City player in the Premier League era to score a hat-trick in consecutive league games, scoring a "perfect" one in a 6–0 home rout of newly promoted Nottingham Forest. He had scored nine goals in his first five league games, another Premier League record.
City were estimated to have earnt a Premier League record of about £180 million from transfer sales during the single summer 2022 window, thus demonstrating the success of the team's academy programme (sales included several youth players sold for seven- or eight-figure fees), and the increasing market value for footballers (such as Zinchenko and Jesus) gained from playing under Guardiola and his coaching team for several seasons. City's overall net-spend in both 2022 transfer windows was estimated to be around £100 million or more.
In their opening UEFA Champions League group game, Manchester City thrashed Sevilla 4–0 in Spain, with a Haaland brace that brought his tally up to twelve goals in eight games for City and 25 goals in just twenty total Champions League appearances. This was Sevilla's largest ever defeat at home in the Champions League and their first defeat in an opening fixture since their debut season; this was also the sixth time in seven seasons that City had won their opening fixture in the competition.
City's home league fixture against Tottenham Hotspur, which originally was due to be played on 10 September, was postponed a day beforehand along with the entire weekend's English football league programme as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The following week, the away league fixture against Arsenal, due to be played on 19 October, was also postponed indirectly due to events following the Queen's death.
By late September, and the first international break of the season, City were second in the league, one point behind Arsenal and ahead of Spurs on goal difference, with a record of five wins and two draws. By that point, Haaland had already scored fourteen goals in ten games across all competitions and become the first player in Premier League history to score in all of his first four away fixtures. City had also extended their unbeaten away run in the league to 22 games and well over a year since their last defeat.
Autumn period On 2 October, City beat Manchester United 6–3 in the first Manchester derby of the season at the City of Manchester Stadium, making it the highest scoring derby match of all time. Both Haaland and Phil Foden scored the first City derby hat-tricks in 52 years and only the third and fourth of all time. Haaland also became the first Premier League player to score a hat-trick in three consecutive home games, and City became the first team since Tottenham in 1965 to win eight consecutive league home games while scoring three goals or more. With his performance, the Norwegian pushed his output to seventeen goals in eleven appearances, as well as fourteen Premier League goals in eight appearances.
A 4–0 home league victory against Southampton the following week included another goal from Haaland and meant he had now scored in ten consecutive fixtures overall and seven in the Premier League. The latter record matched a feat accomplished only once before by a City player in the Premier League, namely Sergio Agüero in 2019. Haaland also reached the milestone of twenty goals for the season after playing only thirteen matches, another league record. Moreover, City matched the previous all-time English record set by Wolves in 1959 of nine consecutive home league wins while scoring three or more goals. In the league standings, the Blues maintained their second place with 23 points, just one behind surprise leaders Arsenal and already three ahead of third-placed Spurs.
City qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League for the tenth consecutive season on 11 October. Although they could only draw 0–0 away to Copenhagen that night, a 1–1 draw between Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla ensured their progression. City's match included three first-half VAR decisions: a 25-yard Rodri strike ruled out because of a Riyad Mahrez handball in the build-up, a penalty awarded to City, also for handball, taken by Mahrez and saved, and a red card shown to City's left back Sergio Gómez for a professional foul, which left the Blues playing with ten men for over an hour.
City suffered their first league defeat in a hard-fought match against Liverpool at Anfield on 16 October. Mohamed Salah scored the only goal off of a second-half breakaway, after Foden had seen his effort earlier in the contest ruled out by VAR for a foul on Fabinho by Haaland in the build-up.