Manchester City smashed record after record in winning the Premier League title last season. But will they be able to retain it?
When the English top flight returns tomorrow, Pep Guardiola’s side will attempt to do what no team has managed since 2009 and record back-to-back title triumphs. Prior to 2009, the Premier League was defended on seven occasions but in the subsequent nine seasons, no team has successfully achieved the feat.
In that time Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga six times in a row, Barcelona claimed back-to-back Spanish titles on two occasions, Juventus won Serie A for seven straight seasons and Paris St-Germain lifted the French title four consecutive times between 2012 and 2016. So why is it different in the Premier League? BBC Sport has identified some key areas which might be holding teams back.
Money talks – rivals outspend reigning champions
The Premier League’s £5.14bn TV deal gives clubs unrivalled spending power compared with most of their European counterparts.
After failing to win the title, the leading teams tend to strengthen in the following summer to improve their chances in the next campaign. In the nine seasons since the last successful title defence, by Manchester United in 2009, the defending champions have been outspent in the summer transfer window seven times by the team that went on to win the title.
The only exceptions were United in 2010/11 and Leicester in 2015/16, when the clubs spent just £21.87m and £34.38m respectively before winning the Premier League.
Champions keep making mistakes in the market
In the last six campaigns, Pedro and Marouane Fellaini are the only players signed by the defending champions who have made a lasting impression on their club’s first team.
For the other significant post-title success signings, such as Maicon (Man City), Jack Rodwell (Man City), Baba Rahman (Chelsea) and Bartosz Kapustka (Leicester City), the less said the better. A trend has emerged of Premier League champions recruiting the wrong players between winning the title and beginning their defence.
In the summer of 2017, reigning champions Chelsea spent £186.03m on seven first-team players, many of whom had a difficult season, including Tiemoue Bakayoko, Davide Zappacosta, Danny Drinkwater and Alvaro Morata, and manager Antonio Conte grew frustrated at being unable to sign his first-choice options.
They made a similar mistake in 2015 when Rahman, Kenedy, Asmir Begovic, Falcao, and Papy Djilobodji, among others, joined alongside Pedro.
A repeat of Leicester’s success may have been unlikely but in the summer of 2016, the Foxes still spent £66.6m on Kapustka, Islam Slimani, Ahmed Musa, and Nampalys Mendy, among others, with few making much of an impact. In 2014-15 when defending their title for the second time, City’s signings included Eliaquim Mangala, Bruno Zuculini and Bacary Sagna – all who failed to make a serious impression.
‘Other teams step up’ – and motivation can be a problem
Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba was part of the Chelsea team that won the club’s first league title for 50 years in 2005 and followed it up a year later by lifting the trophy again.
Drogba admitted it feels “different” returning as defending champions but says successfully repeating the feat a year later was still a “big goal”.
“You know that the teams you are going to face are more motivated than the previous season because they want to beat the champions so it brings out the best of them,” he said. “You notice the difference – the other teams step up.”
The demands of playing in Europe In recent years Leicester and Chelsea were both considered to have a significant advantage in their title races because they were not playing Champions League football.
The following season both clubs failed to repeat the success, with the increased number of games as a result of European competition viewed as a factor. Leicester played 43 matches in the 2015-16 season, compared to 54 in 2016-17 as they finished 12th, while Chelsea played 47 in 2016-17, increasing to 59 matches last season as they slipped to fifth.
Both clubs had consistent line-ups in their title-winning campaigns but had to make more than double the number of changes to their starting XIs a year later. Add to that the fact that European football also has a significant impact on preparation, as well as fatigue and injuries.
Will this season be different? The trend of clubs trying to catch up by making big-money signings has continued this summer. Arsenal, United and most notably Liverpool, have recruited to the value of £171.55m, all outspending City.
Pep’s side broke their own transfer record to sign Riyad Mahrez from Leicester for £60m but they missed out on central midfielder Jorginho, who joined Chelsea from Napoli.
Yet City ended last season with a record buffer of 19 points over second-placed Manchester United, proving themselves the best team in the country by a distance.
Even with significant improvements from their rivals, that difference may prove too big to overcome in one season. If the wait for back-to-back champions is going to end, the time is surely now?