Comfortably runners-up to Chelsea in the Premier League last term despite having the league’s top goalscorer in Sergio Aguero and the goalkeeper with most clean sheets in the division, Joe Hart, Manchester City have started the 2015/16 campaign in a manner which suggests they are desperate to wrestle that crown back from the Blues.
Eight points was the eventual gap between Jose Mourinho’s men and the Citizens come May, but that fact alone did not tell the whole story of a title race which had been neck-and-neck until the New Year.
However, a run of seven straight wins from late November until Boxing Day soon gave way to an alarming sequence which saw City win just five league fixtures until April.
Having been set the target of five trophies in five years, boss Manuel Pellegrini avoided the bullet in the summer and has built on an end to the previous campaign which brought six consecutive victories.
A new contract, which will run until the summer of 2017, has been interpreted as either a show of faith from the club’s owners or a device to suggest all is well at the Etihad as he keeps the seat warm for Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola.
Pellegrini, 61, already has two trophies to show for his two seasons at the Etihad after a league and League Cup double during his first campaign at the helm. Yet talk of being replaced by the former Barcelona coach will not abate.
Whatever the reason for that unexpected extension, it has soothed speculation suggesting the Chilean will be sacked after failing to retain the Premier League title last season or kick on in the Champions League after a last-16 exit at the hands of eventual winners Barca.
The former Real Madrid boss, who became the first non-European to manage in the top flight when he succeeded Roberto Mancini in the summer of 2013, has overseen three consecutive wins to start the new term and City sit top of the pile with the only 100 per cent record at this stage as a result.
A 3-0 win over Chelsea at home threw down a sizeable marker on the second weekend of the season and after goals from Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho, City have proven they are a force to be reckoned with once more.
With Financial Fair Play regulations less prohibitive this summer, Pellegrini was still able to land his principle transfer target and forked out £49 million for Liverpool attacker Raheem Sterling.
The England international had been a regular for just three seasons at Anfield before it became apparent his future lay away from Merseyside. An acrimonious exit was complete when the 20-year-old signed a five-year after a protracted and very public departure was manufactured.
Formerly of Queens Park Rangers, Sterling’s development at Liverpool owed much to the guidance of former Watford boss Brendan Rodgers, who integrated the precocious winger-cum-number ten into the side from the outset.
Another England international brought to the Etihad this summer - a necessity owing to UEFA’s homegrown rules in the Champions League - is former Leeds United and Aston Villa midfielder Fabian Delph.
The 25-year-old deep-lying playmaker was brought to the club in an £8 million swoop after initially turning down the Citizens’ advances having only signed a new long-term deal at Villa Park earlier this year.
Eventually, though, Delph was tempted to join City only to suffer injury on his debut against Real Madrid. The 16-cap England international made his return as a late substitute in last weekend’s 2-0 win at Everton, a victory sealed thanks to goals from Aleksandar Kolarov and Samir Nasri in the second half.
City’s other high-profile summer addition was Valencia’s Argentine international Nicolas Otamendi.
Reportedly a target for city rivals United earlier in the summer, the 27-year-old agreed a five-year deal at the Etihad after a fee which could reach as much as £32 million was struck between the two clubs.
Previously of Velez Sarsfield and Porto, the Buenos Aires-born centre-back will provide stiff competition for skipper Kompany, French prospect Eliaquim Mangala and fellow countryman Martin Demichelis.
The pair know one another from international duty with Los Albiceleste and the 6ft defender has 25 caps for the South American giants.
City were the side to relegate the Hornets from the top flight in 2007 as a 1-1 proved enough to end Watford’s stay in the top flight after one season. The reverse fixture was a goalless draw in Manchester.
Since then there have been two FA Cup defeats under Gianfranco Zola (3-0) and Beppe Sannino (4-2) at the Etihad, with Watford’s last win over the Citizens in any competition coming at Vicarage Road in March 1989, 1-0.
Manchester City XI v Everton (23.08.15): Hart; Sagna, Kompany (c), Mangala, Kolarov; Toure, Fernandinho; Navas, Silva, Sterling; Aguero.
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