Haaland and Manchester City train for blockbuster Premier League opener - in pictures

All eyes will be on the Norwegian striker when Guardiola's team begin title defence against West Ham

Erling Haaland during a training session at Manchester City Football Academy. Getty

Manchester City's Rodrigo, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Kyle Walker during training. Getty

Manchester City's llkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva train for the new season. Getty

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne trains for the 2-2-23 season. Getty

Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips trains for Sunday's match against West Ham. Getty

Manchester City's Rodrigo during training. Getty

Rico Lewis at Manchester City Football Academy. Getty

Manager Pep Guardiola oversees training. Getty

When a club is as successful as Manchester City in the Premier League, setting new targets can be challenging.

Pep Guardiola's side won their fourth league title in five years in May, edging Liverpool on a dramatic final day by a mere point.

Such is the depth of talent at City that despite witnessing the departures of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal and Raheem Sterling to Chelsea, City retained their strength.

And that is down largely to the biggest signing of the summer - Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian striker was courted by Europe's top clubs after scoring 85 goals in 88 games for Borussia Dortmund, but he followed in the footsteps of his father and former City captain Alf Inge and moved to Manchester.

However, the pre-season build up hasn't exactly been smooth. City slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Community Shield but Guardiola insisted the team's confidence has not been affected.

In the match, it was Liverpool's new signing Darwin Nunez who stole the show after he came off the bench to win a penalty and score his first goal since the move from Benfica, while Haaland had a City debut to forget.

Haaland's difficult outing ended with him missing a sitter when Phil Foden's shot was pushed out by Adrian and the forward blasted his shot against the bar and over.

The 22-yar-old will undoubtedly be under increased scrutiny when City begin their league title defence against West Ham on Sunday, and he was hard at work with his teammates preparing for the season opener.

Check out the best photos from that training session in the photo gallery above. To move on to the next photo, click on the arrows or swipe.

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