Manchester City's 2011-12 campaign will go down in the club's history as arguably their best ever.
A title tug of war with local rivals United ultimately resulted in the blue half of Manchester winning their first league title in 44 years, but there were many twists and turns along the way.
Here, Sports Mole looks back at City's historic role in the greatest Premier League season ever.
August
In a sneak preview of the exciting season ahead, City's first match was a Manchester derby in the Community Shield. The Blues took a two-goal lead before United fought back to win 3-2 courtesy of a 94th minute winner from Nani.
Their opening league form was terrific, however, as they hit 12 goals in three games to pick up maximum points for August.
September
September brought with it a mixed bag of results for City. While they remained unbeaten in the league, with wins over Wigan and Everton, they also surrendered a two-goal lead to Fulham, drawing 2-2.
The club's Champions League debut wasn't going as planned either, as a draw against Napoli in their opening game was followed by a 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich.
The Munich game also provided one of the season's major talking points when Carlos Tevez reportedly refused to come on as a substitute. The 27-year-old would soon disappear back to his homeland without the club's permission.
Progress was, however, made in the Carling Cup as City knocked out holders Birmingham with a comfortable 2-0 win.
October
Arguably City's best month of their whole season, if only for one result in particular. The Blues netted 22 times in their five domestic games this month, and also tasted their first Champions League victory courtesy of a late Sergio Aguero winner against Villareal.
October 2011 will be remembered for just one thing amongst City fans, however, as they went to Old Trafford and thrashed the champions 6-1. Goals from Mario Balotelli, Aguero, Edin Dzeko and David Silva helped inflict United's worst home defeat in 56 years.
Elsewhere, City continued their progress in the league cup with a 5-2 win over Wolves.
November
City were able to tighten their grip on top spot during November, winning against QPR and Newcastle before drawing 1-1 with Liverpool, a match in which Balotelli was shown a red card.
In Europe, the month started with a 3-0 win over Villareal, but the subsequent 2-1 loss to Napoli meant that qualification from the group stages was no longer in their hands.
The Blues edged ever closer to domestic cup success with a 1-0 win over Arsenal in the Carling Cup, putting them into the semi-finals.
December
December brought with it City's first league defeat of the season and elimination from the Champions League.
The Blues comfortably beat Norwich and Stoke, as well as beating Arsenal 1-0, but a 2-1 loss to Chelsea and a goalless draw with West Brom allowed United to draw level on points with Roberto Mancini's men at the top of the table.
City were also demoted to the Europa League despite a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich.
January
January provided another mixed bag of results for City. The month was bookended with 1-0 defeats to Sunderland and Everton respectively, while they were also dumped out of the FA Cup and Carling Cup by United and Liverpool.
However, league wins over Liverpool, Wigan and Tottenham, the latter courtesy of an injury-time penalty from Balotelli, ensured that City remained top of the table at the end of the month.
February
City's indifferent form over the last two months was put behind them during February as they ended the month with a perfect record.
Convincing league wins over Blackburn, Fulham and Aston Villa saw them open a five-point gap between themselves and United by the start of March.
City also made a return to European competition, comprehensively beating Porto 6-1 on aggregate to progress to the next round of the Europa League.
March
March saw City lose their spot at the top of the Premier League for the first time in five months when they fell to a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Swansea.
A 2-1 win over Chelsea also saw the return of Carlos Tevez to the fold, but this was followed by successive draws against Stoke and Sunderland, the latter of which ended the Blues' perfect home record.
City were also dumped out of the Europa League on away goals at the hands of Sporting.
April
April began with a match that many thought had cost City the title as a late Mikel Arteta goal gave Arsenal a 1-0 win over Mancini's men.
However, the Blues ended their three game winless streak with an emphatic 4-0 win over West Brom, followed by a 6-1 triumph at Norwich in which Tevez scored a hat-trick.
City then moved to within three points of United with a 2-0 win over Wolves, a result that consigned the Midlands club to Championship football next season, before one of the biggest matches in Premier League history saw the Blues return to the top of the pile with a 1-0 win over United.
May
With the title now in their hands, City began May with a tough fixture against Champions League-chasing Newcastle.
Two goals from Yaya Toure guided the Blues through that test, before a final day victory over QPR clinched Manchester City's first league title since 1968.
Barney Corkhill
