When Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City in the summer of 2016, expectations were stratospheric. The Catalan manager had conquered Spain with Barcelona and Germany with Bayern Munich, and now the Premier League awaited. His first season ended without a trophy, a rare blemish on his managerial record, and critics began whispering that the English game might be too physical, too chaotic for his possession based philosophy. What followed in 2017 2018 silenced every doubter and rewrote the Premier League record books in ways that may never be matched.
The 2017 2018 Manchester City side became known as the Centurions, a nickname earned by becoming the first and still only team in Premier League history to reach 100 points in a single season. They were not just champions. They were a phenomenon, a side that played soccer at a tempo and with a precision that made opponents look like they were running through wet sand. Pep had finally cracked the English code, and the rest of the league paid a brutal price.
- 100 points, 32 wins, 106 goals scored, 19 point title margin
A summer of surgical recruitment
Guardiola understood after his debut campaign that his squad needed serious reinforcement, particularly in the full back positions. City spent over 200 million pounds that summer, bringing in Kyle Walker from Tottenham, Benjamin Mendy from Monaco, Bernardo Silva from the same club, Ederson from Benfica and Danilo from Real Madrid. The full back recruitment was especially significant because Pep’s system demands defenders who can invert into midfield, recycle possession and contribute to build up play. Walker provided elite pace, Mendy offered an attacking dimension on the left before injury cut his season short, and Ederson revolutionized the goalkeeper position with his distribution.
The Brazilian shot stopper was perhaps the most transformative signing. His ability to launch raking diagonal passes turned City’s goal kicks into attacking weapons. Bernardo Silva, meanwhile, gave Pep another technician capable of operating between the lines, while Ederson’s calmness allowed the back line to push higher than any team in the league.
The system that broke English soccer
City’s tactical setup that season was a masterpiece of positional play. Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva operated as dual eights in a 4-3-3, with Fernandinho anchoring the midfield as the lone six. Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane provided width and devastating pace, while Sergio Aguero and later Gabriel Jesus led the line with clinical finishing. Every player knew his zone, his triggers, his responsibilities both in and out of possession.
What made this team special was the rest defense, the structure City maintained even when attacking. When they lost the ball, the counter press was immediate and suffocating. Opponents who managed to win possession often had three seconds before being swarmed by three or four blue shirts. The phrase juego de posicion, positional play, became part of English soccer vocabulary that year.
- Average possession across the season: 66 percent
Kevin De Bruyne’s masterclass
“If one player defined the season, it was Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian midfielder produced one of the greatest individual campaigns in Premier League history, finishing with 8 goals and 16 assists in the league. His range of passing, vision and ability to dictate tempo from deep or advanced positions was unmatched. He finished second in the PFA Player of the Year voting behind teammate Mohamed Salah of Liverpool, a decision still debated by analysts today.
De Bruyne’s partnership with David Silva was the engine of everything City did. The two Silvas, as some called them despite their different nationalities, combined for over 30 assists between them. Their telepathic understanding allowed City to break lines with single passes and create overloads that no defensive structure in England could contain.
The records that may never fall
The numbers from that season read like fiction. City clinched the title on April 15th with five games still to play, the earliest a Premier League title had ever been won. They scored 106 league goals, a Premier League record at the time. They won 32 of their 38 matches, another record. They finished 19 points clear of second placed Manchester United, the largest title winning margin in English top flight history.
They also won the League Cup that season, beating Arsenal 3-0 in the final at Wembley. Their only real disappointment came in the Champions League, where Liverpool eliminated them in the quarter finals, a result that exposed the one vulnerability of Pep’s system against elite high pressing opposition.
- Premier League records set: most points, most wins, most goals, biggest goal difference, biggest winning margin
Moments that defined the campaign
Several matches stand out from that historic run. The 5-0 demolition of Liverpool at the Etihad in September showcased City at their devastating best, with Sane and Aguero tormenting the visitors. The 3-1 win at Old Trafford in December effectively ended the title race before Christmas, with Otamendi scoring the winner against Jose Mourinho’s United side. The infamous tunnel bust up after that match only added to the drama and the narrative that City had become the dominant force in English soccer.
There was also the unforgettable 4-3 win at home to Tottenham in December, a game that showed City could win shootouts as well as control matches. And who could forget the 7-2 thrashing of Stoke City in October, where Sterling, Jesus and Bernardo Silva ran riot.
Sterling’s evolution
Raheem Sterling deserves special mention. Under Guardiola’s tutelage, the winger transformed from a talented but inconsistent attacker into a ruthless goal scorer. He netted 18 league goals that season, many of them from inside the six yard box, demonstrating the positional discipline Pep had drilled into him. Sterling became a different player, and his evolution mirrored the broader transformation of the squad.
The legacy of the centurions
The 2017 2018 Manchester City team did more than win a title. They changed how English soccer was played. Every Premier League club began studying their patterns, their pressing triggers, their build up structures. Possession based soccer, once dismissed as too soft for English conditions, became the standard. The full back position evolved across the league. Goalkeepers were now expected to play out from the back.
The Centurions were the foundation of a dynasty that would see City win six Premier League titles in seven seasons and finally lift the Champions League in 2023. But that 2017 2018 campaign remains the gold standard, the season when Pep Guardiola perfected his vision on English soil and gave the Premier League a masterclass it will be talking about for generations.