Man City Score: Can the Blues Bring Back the Big-Goal Days This Season?

Chronos Score Editorial · Published 6 October 2026

Manchester City scored 106 Premier League goals in 2017-18 and 72 in 2024-25. A new manager, a wider attack and a flying start suggest the goals may be coming back. Here is what the numbers say, and what to watch.

Article image (16:9) Manchester City corner flag at the Etihad Stadium

For most of the last decade, a Manchester City match came with an expectation attached: goals, and plenty of them. Between 2017-18 and 2023-24 the club scored between 83 and 106 Premier League goals every season. In the last two seasons that figure dropped to 72 and 77. A new era under Enzo Maresca has now begun, and the early signs are encouraging. This article looks at the numbers in context and asks a constructive question: what would it take for City to get back to the big-goal days?

Key points

The peak was exceptional. City averaged 2.79 goals per Premier League game in 2017-18 (106 goals) and stayed above 2.4 in five of the next six seasons, with 2020-21 (2.18) the exception.
The last two seasons were lower. 72 goals in 2024-25 (1.89 per game) and 77 in 2025-26 (2.03). Even so, City finished second last season on 78 points.
The new season has started strongly. Five wins from five and 13 goals, 2.6 per game, which is back inside the old range. Five games is a small sample, so we treat it as a signal, not a verdict.
Erling Haaland remains the engine. He scored 27 Premier League goals last season and has five already this season.

City's Premier League goals, season by season

Season	Final position	Goals	Goals per game
2017-18	1st	106	2.79
2018-19	1st	95	2.50
2019-20	2nd	102	2.68
2020-21	1st	83	2.18
2021-22	1st	99	2.61
2022-23	1st	94	2.47
2023-24	1st	96	2.53
2024-25	3rd	72	1.89
2025-26	2nd	77	2.03
2026-27 (5 games)	–	13	2.60

Goals scored in the Premier League only. 2026-27 figure covers the first five league games and will change every week.

Two things stand out. First, even the "low" seasons by City's standards are high by league standards; 77 goals is the kind of total most clubs would be pleased with. Second, the drop from 96 to 72 between 2023-24 and 2024-25 was the sharpest in the table, which makes it the natural starting point for any explanation.

What changed in the last two seasons

There is no single cause, and it would be unfair to look for one. Several things overlapped. Midfield control is the most commonly cited factor: Rodri was injured for most of 2024-25, and the team that used to dominate the ball in the opponent's half found it harder to do so. Squad turnover also played a part, with long-serving players leaving and a younger group settling in. And the league itself is more competitive at the top; Arsenal won the title last season, seven points ahead of City.

It is also worth saying what the numbers do not show. A fall in goals does not mean City stopped creating chances or stopped being a strong team. They won the FA Cup and the League Cup in 2025-26 and finished second in the league. The question is about scoring volume, and volume depends heavily on how much of the game a team spends attacking.

Why the new season looks different

Enzo Maresca was appointed in the summer after Pep Guardiola's departure, and his approach is already visible. As reported in pre-season coverage, he wants his wingers to stay high and wide to stretch the opposition, with Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku attacking defenders one-on-one and Rayan Cherki in the number 10 role. More width means more service into the box, and that is good news for a striker like Haaland.

The early results fit that picture. City have scored 13 in five games and conceded 5, so the goals are coming with open, entertaining matches. Haaland has five league goals, and Cherki has contributed three goals of his own, which matters: when goals come from more than one source, a team becomes harder to defend and less dependent on one player.

What to watch next

Control versus openness. Conceding five in five games shows the team is still finding its balance. If City keep scoring at this rate while tightening the back line, the high-scoring days return naturally.
The midfield. The summer brought changes in the middle of the park. How quickly the new group builds the possession platform will shape how many chances Haaland and the wingers receive.
Strength of opposition. City travel to Liverpool on 11 October, a better test of the new style than most of the opening fixtures.
Sustainability. A 2.6 average over five games usually settles. Over a full season, anything above 2.4 would put City back among their own historic range.

So, will the big-goal days return?

The honest answer is: the ingredients are there. The attack has a finisher who scores in volume, wide players with a clear role, and a manager who wants the team to be proactive. The numbers from the first five games are in line with City's best seasons. Whether that lasts through the winter, and through a congested calendar, is what the next few months will tell us. For now, the picture is hopeful, and it is a good time to watch City score.

How we wrote this

Season goal totals and final positions are Premier League records for each season; the 2026-27 figures are from the first five league games as of 6 October 2026 and will change as the season goes on. Details about Maresca's tactical approach and the summer squad changes come from published pre-season reporting. We have not used any projections or modelled predictions, and this article does not forecast results.