2018–19 Manchester City F.C. season


The 2018–19 season was Manchester City's 117th season of competitive football, 90th season in the top division of English football and 22nd season in the Premier League since it was first created. In addition to the Premier League, the club competed in the FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, FA Community Shield, and EFL Cup; for the Champions League, it was their eighth consecutive season competing in the tournament. The season covers the period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.
During this season, City completed a domestic treble. Apart from winning all three of the major English football tournaments, they also won the Community Shield, the first time any team has ever held all four of England's primary football trophies.

Season summary

City maintained their free scoring form under manager Pep Guardiola in the 2018-19 season, and became the first club in Europe's top leagues to pass 100 goals scored on 20 January 2019 when Danilo scored the first goal in City's 3–0 victory at Huddersfield Town.
City went on to break their own record for a top flight English club for goals scored in all competitions in a season. Leroy Sane's goal in City's 2-0 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United on 24 April 2019 overtook the previous record tally of 156 which was established by Manuel Pellegrini’s City side back in their title-winning 2013/14 campaign. By the end of the season the team had amassed a total of 169 goals scored.
On 24 February, City won their sixth League Cup title when they beat Chelsea 4–3 on penalties after a goalless draw over 120 minutes at Wembley Stadium.
Everyone also expected Man City to do well in their 2018–19 Champions league campaign. The team again won their group without breaking a sweat and then destroyed FC Schalke 04 in the Round of 16, winning their home game with a record 7–0 scoreline. Similarly to the previous season, Manchester City were drawn against an English club in the quarterfinals, this time Tottenham Hotspur. The Blues dropped their away game 0–1, with Aguero missing a penalty. The home game was all-or-nothing for the Cityzens and it proved to be one of the best games of that season. Sterling scored in the beginning, but then City quickly conceded two goals and now needed to score three. They did exactly that, leading 4–2 twenty minutes before the end of the game, but Llorente's head goal meant that Man City were again required to score. Finally, in the added time Sterling converted a pass from Aguero and the entire stadium started celebrating what seemed to be a certain victory. However, the goal was disallowed after a VAR replay, and the Blues were eliminated in a heartbreaking fashion. Manchester City swept all their domestic tournaments that season, but were still ridiculed by other fans for their underperformance in Europe.
The 2018-19 Premier League title race was one of the closest contests of the Premier League era. City and Liverpool exchanged their leads 32 times over the season, in part due to fixture rearrangements for EFL and FA Cup matches and television demands. The two title contenders jointly amassed a combined total of 195 points which at the time was the highest combined total in English top flight history.
On 12 May, City won their final league game of the league season 4-1 away at Brighton and Hove Albion to retain the Premier League title. In doing so they matched their own record for 32 wins over a single season. They had to win their final 14 consecutive league games to hold off the challenge of Liverpool; who themselves had ended their season with 9 consecutive wins
One week later, on 18 May, City defeated Watford 6–0 at Wembley to win the FA Cup and complete an unprecedented English domestic treble and clean sweep of the major honors in English football. It was also City's first ever league and FA Cup double and their 6th FA Cup title overall. The 6–0 scoreline was also the joint largest winning margin in the history of the FA Cup Final and the largest for any final in the competition since 1903.
This final win of the season was Manchester City's 50th in all competitions overall.

Pre-season and friendlies

Manchester City began their 2018–19 campaign with a tour of the United States in the 2018 International Champions Cup. City played against Borussia Dortmund at Soldier Field in Chicago, Liverpool at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey and Bayern Munich at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

International Champions Cup

Competitions

Overview

FA Community Shield

As champions of the 2017–18 Premier League, Manchester City took on the 2017–18 FA Cup winners, Chelsea, for the season-opening FA Community Shield.

Premier League

Manchester City entered the competition as the defending champions.

League table

Results summary

Results by matchday

Fixtures

The Premier League fixtures for the 2018–19 season were announced on 14 June 2018.

FA Cup

Manchester City entered the competition in the third round and were given a home tie against Rotherham United. The fourth round draw was made live on BBC by Robbie Keane and Carl Ikeme from Wolverhampton on 7 January 2019. The fifth round draw was broadcast on 28 January 2019 live on BBC, Alex Scott and Ian Wright conducted the draw. Draw for the quarter-final was made on 18 February by Darren Fletcher & Wayne Bridge.

EFL Cup

Manchester City entered the competition in the third round as the defending champions and were drawn away to Oxford United. A home tie against Fulham was confirmed for the fourth round. The semi-final draw was made live on Sky Sports by Piers Morgan and Peter Crouch on 19 December 2018. City won the final against Chelsea on penalties after a goalless draw over 120 minutes.

UEFA Champions League

On 30 August, Manchester City were drawn in Group F of the UEFA Champions League alongside Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon and 1899 Hoffenheim.

Group stage

Knockout phase

On 17 December 2018, the round of 16 draw was made in Nyon, Switzerland.
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 15 March 2019, 12:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Squad information

First-team squad

Ordered by squad number.
Appearances include league and cup appearances, including as substitute. Age stated as at end of 2019 season.

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; – Neutral
4 – Player scored four goals

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

[Premier League Manager of the Month]

[Premier League Player of the Month]

[Alan Hardaker Trophy]

Awarded to the player of the match at the League Cup final.
YearPlayer
2019 Bernardo Silva

[PFA Team of the Year]

[PFA Young Player of the Year]

[FWA Player of the Year]

[Premier League Manager of the Season]

Etihad Player of the Season">List of Manchester City F.C. players#Player of the Year">Etihad Player of the Season

Manchester City's player of the season.
SeasonPlayer
2018–19 Bernardo Silva

Transfers and loans

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans out

Date fromDate toPositionNo.NameTo clubFrom squadRef.
14 February 201731 December 2018MF— Yangel Herrera New York CityAcademy
11 August 20179 January 2019MF— Ivan Ilić Red Star BelgradeAcademy
21 August 20179 January 2019MF— Uriel Antuna GroningenAcademy
16 January 201831 December 2018FW29 Marlos Moreno FlamengoFirst team
1 July 20181 January 2019MF— Anthony Cáceres Melbourne CityAcademy
1 July 201830 June 2019DF— Pablo Marí Deportivo de La CoruñaAcademy
3 July 201830 June 2019MF65 Matthew Smith TwenteAcademy
4 July 201818 January 2019DF79 Edward Francis Almere CityAcademy
5 July 201830 June 2019MF— Luke Brattan Melbourne CityAcademy
7 July 201830 June 2019MF76 Manu García ToulouseFirst team
7 July 201830 June 2019DF— Erik Palmer-Brown NAC BredaAcademy
9 July 201830 June 2019MF75 Aleix García GironaFirst team
12 July 201830 June 2019MF67 Paolo Fernandes NAC BredaAcademy
18 July 201818 July 2019MF— Mix Diskerud Ulsan HyundaiAcademy
26 July 201830 June 2019FW68 Thierry Ambrose LensAcademy
30 July 201830 June 2019FW39 Jack Harrison Leeds UnitedAcademy
31 July 201822 August 2018GK49 Arijanet Muric NAC BredaFirst team
3 August 201830 June 2019DF24 Tosin Adarabioyo West Bromwich AlbionFirst team
3 August 201830 June 2019MF— Luka Ilić NAC BredaAcademy
7 August 201830 June 2019MF62 Brandon Barker Preston North EndAcademy
8 August 201830 June 2019FW85 Thomas Agyepong HibernianAcademy
9 August 201830 June 2019FW43 Lucas Nmecha Preston North EndFirst team
16 August 201830 June 2019MF27 Patrick Roberts GironaFirst team
17 August 201830 June 2020MF— Daniel Arzani CelticAcademy
30 August 201830 June 2019MF— Ernest Agyiri TubizeAcademy
31 August 201830 June 2019MF57 Aaron Nemane TubizeAcademy
31 August 201830 June 2019MF38 Douglas Luiz GironaAcademy
31 August 20184 January 2019DF58 Charlie Oliver Brentford BAcademy
31 August 201831 January 2019MF— Collins Tanor Hobro IKAcademy
1 January 201930 June 2019MF— Anthony Cáceres Sydney Academy
9 January 201930 June 2019MF— Ivan Ilić FK ZemunAcademy
14 January 201930 June 2020DF— Ko Itakura GroningenAcademy
16 January 201930 June 2019MF— Yangel Herrera HuescaAcademy
24 January 201930 June 2019FW74 Luke Bolton Wycombe WanderersFirst team
25 January 201930 June 2019MF29 Marlos Moreno Santos LagunaFirst team
29 January 201931 December 2019MF— Uriel Antuna LA GalaxyAcademy
31 January 201930 June 2020MF— Ante Palaversa Hajduk SplitAcademy
31 January 201930 June 2019MF— Collins Tanor Thisted FCAcademy

Overall transfer activity

Expenditure
Summer: £63,300,000
Winter: £420,000
Total: £63,300,000
Income
Summer: £43,550,000
Winter: £26,500,000
Total: £70,050,000
Net totals
Summer: £19,750,000
Winter: £26,080,000
Total: £6,330,000