The numbers behind a Premier League season that saw records tumble
In a domestic season like no other where City ultimately came out on top yet again, we take a look at some of the big records that were sent tumbling along the way.
Haaland has a laugh
When talking about Premier League records being shattered, it's hard to start anywhere else.
Everyone knew of Erling Haaland's impressive goalscoring efforts prior to his arrival at Manchester City, and most - if not all - felt the transfer would be a success.
Few would have predicted the Norwegian forward would make the English top flight look quite so easy, though.
Haaland scored a phenomenal 36 goals in 35 league appearances in his maiden season for Guardiola's City, as well as notching up eight assists. It was a ridiculous return for a player new to the league and just 22 years old.
Not only that, Haaland did it at a canter. With two Premier League games still to go, Haaland had already surpassed Mohamed Salah's record of 32 goals in a modern-day 38-game Premier League season, and he'd already beaten Alan Shearer and Andy Cole's joint record of 34 goals back when it was a 42-match competition in the mid-90s.
Despite a six-week break for the first-ever winter World Cup in Qatar, Haaland became the first player in Premier League history to score 20 goals before January.
By February he'd surpassed Sergio Aguero's record for the most goals in a single season for Manchester City in the Premier League, set in 2014/15.
Taking into account his goals in Europe and the cup competitions, he even went as far as surpassing Tom 'Pongo' Waring's record of scoring 50 goals for an English side in a single campaign, a tally that had stood since Waring did it for Aston Villa in 1931. Had he not been tactically substituted or rested at points in the season by his manager, Haaland may well have got close to Dixie Dean's all-time single-season English scoring record of 63 goals, managed for Everton in 1927-28.
It's good to have things to aim for, though, so there's always next season.
City match most consecutive title wins
While on the subject of Manchester City, their third consecutive title win matched the record of their city rivals Manchester United for most Premier League triumphs registered in a row.
United completed the feat twice, first in the 1998/99, 99/00 and 00/01 seasons and then again in 2006/07, 07/08 and 08/09. City will also be hoping to emulate their treble success in the coming weeks as well.
Harry Kane at it again
Despite his club suffering a dismal campaign that saw their season peter out and Spurs finish in a poor eighth place, star striker Harry Kane had a prolific and fruitful season in front of goal.
Kane netted 30 times in the Premier League for the season, the second time he's managed the feat. In doing so he became the first player to ever score 30 or more in two separate seasons, although both times he still missed out on the golden boot (to Mohammed Salah in 2017/18 and Haaland this year).
This year he finally broke legend Jimmy Greaves' all-time Tottenham goalscoring record - which stood at 267 and now sits at 280 - and he's now the second top goalscorer in Premier League history, leapfrogging Waye Rooney's 208 and with eyes firmly on Alan Shearer's all-time record of 260.
Domestically, he also scored the most headed goals in a Premier League season (10), became the first player to score a century of home and away goals in the Premier League, scored in more different games in a single season than anyone else (26 games), became the most prolific Boxing Day scorer in the league's history (11 goals) and also became the top final day goalscorer (11 goals).
Oh, and he also became his nation's all-time leading goalscorer this year to boot. Not too shabby.
Bournemouth's battering by Liverpool
Liverpool's bruising beating of Bournemouth way back in August, where Scott Parker's side were bludgeoned 9-0 at Anfield, matched the existing record for the biggest win in Premier League history.
It was the fourth time a 9-0 mauling had occurred, after Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich Town (in 1994/95), Southampton 0-9 Leicester City (in 1999/20) and Manchester United 9-0 Southampton (in 2020/21).
Record managerial changes
In a brutal season to be a football manager, there were no fewer than 14 managerial changes in the Premier League.
Chelsea, Leeds and Southampton went as far as sacking two managers each during the campaign.
Only nine of the 20 Premier League teams ended the season with the same manager who started, meaning a culling like we've never seen before in the league.
After factoring in caretakers, assistants and interims, a total of 39 people took charge of at least one Premier League game this season.
Chelsea record spending for an English club
The £300 million-plus spent in January and £270 million already dropped on players in the summer are two of the three biggest transfer window spends ever seen - sandwiching Real Madrid's £292 million in the summer of 2019 in between.
It's far and away the biggest-ever transfer splurge in the history of English football.
In the midst of it all, the Blues broke the British transfer fee in acquiring Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for a reported £106.8 million.
After buying the club from Roman Abramovich in May last year, the consortium led by Todd Boehly has spent £583 million on players and had four different managers - and finished 12th in the Premier League this campaign, their lowest placing since the 1995-96 season. Money can't always buy you happiness.
