From seventh heaven to form lost in the Forest – a look at Manchester City slump
Enzo Maresca’s men go into the international break with a top-flight record not seen in more than a century.
Manchester City’s defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday means they go into the international break with a top-flight record not seen in more than a century.
City won their first seven Premier League games this season but have since lost their last three.
Here, the Press Association looks at their results so far and the only other team to start a top-flight season the same way – Sheffield Wednesday back in 1904-05.
Magnificent seven
After beating Bournemouth 2-1 on the opening day, City hammered Crystal Palace 4-1 to top the early Premier League table.
Erling Haaland scored twice in that game and his goals then clinched 1-0 wins over both Coventry and Manchester United, before a wild 5-3 success against Sunderland took them into the season’s long first international break three points ahead at the top.
The verdict in City’s financial case came during that break, with the club found guilty of over 100 breaches of Premier League regulations, but they returned with a swaggering 3-0 win over Liverpool as their fans defiantly waved inflatable bananas behind the goal at Anfield.
They then beat Ipswich 3-2, with Haaland’s brace taking him to eight league goals for the season, yet things were about to change.
Three-game slump
Aston Villa striker Nicolas Jackson punished Marc Guehi’s early error in City’s next match but when Haaland levelled it looked like business as usual – however Jackson struck again on the break to inflict Enzo Maresca’s first defeat as City boss.
Worse was to follow as Yasin Ayari’s first-half goal proved enough to earn Brighton all three points and, after the brief respite of a Champions League win over RB Leipzig, City’s league woes continued as their own academy product Liam Delap scored twice in a 3-1 Nottingham Forest win.
That completed a remarkable opening sequence of 10 results not seen since Wednesday’s equally unlikely efforts 122 years ago.
Wednesday’s wild start
Wednesday scored 14 goals in their first four games of that 1904-05 season as they beat Middlesbrough 3-1, Wolves 4-0, Bury 4-1 and Aston Villa 3-2.
Further wins over Blackburn, Nottingham Forest and Stoke followed, in which they scored six goals without reply – but their form then turned on its head with 3-0 defeats to Sunderland and the then-named Woolwich Arsenal and a 1-0 loss to Derby.
The Owls remarkably drew their next game 5-5 with Everton, with their opening run giving way to a sequence of only one win – against City – in 11 games.
They would go on to finish ninth out of 18 teams with a record of 14 wins, five draws and 15 defeats, including a five-game winless end to the season. Local rivals Sheffield United finished three places ahead of them in sixth as Newcastle won the league.