Paul Merson claims Man City sent a “warning” to other Premier League title contenders with their performance against Wolves at the weekend.
Writing in his column for Sky Sports, Merson said the nature of the 4-0 win at Molineux should be enough for the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal to sit up and take notice:
“No one has really even mentioned Man City in the build-up to the season. It’s like no one knew what to expect from Pep Guardiola and his side, but they really impressed me. It’s like we forgot how good they can be because of how bad they were last season. People are starting to take notice now, however. The win at Wolves was a warning to the other sides wanting to win the title.”
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“Tijjani Reijnders was impressive. He made things look so easy and with good players around him at Man City, he’ll get better and better. I know it wasn’t the hardest game in Wolves, but winning away from home 4-0 on the opening day of the Premier League is no mean feat.”
“It was the result of the weekend for me because no one on Soccer Saturday mentioned them as title winners. Everyone is on Liverpool or Arsenal but the performance from City was a wake-up call for everyone. There will be bigger tests to come for them, that’s for sure, starting on Saturday against Spurs, but they were very impressive.”
There is cautious optimism after Man City start strongly
Unlike Merson, manager Pep Guardiola won’t be getting carried away after just one good result. Even so, there were definitely plenty of positives to take from the victory over Wolves.
Reijnders was outstanding, while other new signings such as Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri also stood out.
There are bigger tests to come
Getting off to a winning start will boost the confidence of the players, and that is especially important with a tough run of games coming up over the next month or so.
City host Tottenham next time out at the Etihad before travelling to face Brighton at the end of August. Following the international break, Guardiola’s side play the Manchester derby before taking on Arsenal at the Emirates just a week later.
If the Cityzens get through those fixtures relatively unscathed, then we will know that they are in with a good shout of challenging for the title.
Read more about the Man City First Team Squad for 2025/26 here