That was an utter humiliation. Man City absolutely destroyed Arsenal 4-1 to not only move to within two points of the Gunners having played two less games, but also show why they are the best team in England.
If you ever wonder why some teams win the Premier League and other always end up falling short, just look at the last 1/3 stretches of Manchester City’s seasons versus the rest of the league.
In what has to be the most decisive result of the Premier League season yet (yes, I’m even including all the 7-0 blowouts), Manchester City whipped around Arsenal 4-1 at the Etihad to climb closer up the table and get within two points of overtaking the Gunners in 1st place. Oh, and they have two games in hand.
Yeah, this title race is officially over!
Now, as I said after the 3-3 Arsenal vs. Southampton draw, I wanted the Gunners to win this title race as the Premier League has unfortunately been a two-horse showdown between City and Liverpool that Manchester City ultimately wins the last 5-6 years.
As, despite Liverpool’s best efforts, Manchester City have won 4/5 last league titles, 4/6 last EFL Cups, and the 2019 FA Cup, while City have only lost two title races (2016/17 to Chelsea; 2019/20 to Liverpool) in the six complete years (this year is the 7th) Pep Guardiola has managed the team.
Whether it’s Sergio Aguero, Erling Haaland, Julian Alverez, or a false 9 leading the line, a midfield trio of Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Fernandinho, Fabian Delph, David Silva, Kalvin Philips or Bernado Silva, a winger core of Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus, or Cole Palmer, and a defensive backline of Ruben Dias, John Stones, Americ Laporte, Vincent Kompany, Nicholas Otamendi, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo, Sergio Gomez, Oleksander Zinchenko, or Rico Lewis, this City side always wins.
No matter what.
Even though it really pains me to say it as a Man United fan, it’s incredible how Pep Guardiola is able to interchange, rotate, and replace valuable pieces of his squad with newer, younger, and hungrier transfer singings/youth academy players who not only fit in, but also take this City team to a new level.
Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Cole Palmer (in his brief appearances), Rico Lewis (in his brief appearances), Manuel Akanji, and Nathan Ake, the biggest additions to this City squad in the last two years, have been sensational this season as they’ve made the losses/replacement of Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksander Zinchenko, and Americ Laporte negligent.
I mean, did you even remember that Americ Laporte, who was one of the key center backs in the squad during the last two title wins (2020-21, 2021-22) and the 2021 Champions League Final run, was still playing for this team? No, of course not as that’s the magic of Pep Guardiola and this City side.
Nothing and no one stay the same as that only incites stagnation, complacency, and losing. He’s doing exactly what made Sir Alex Ferguson the greatest ever manager English football has ever seen, and he’s reaping the same rewards with 11 trophies in 6 years (and soon to be 12+ in 7 years).
Nevertheless, this dominate victory over Arsenal also proved once again that Man City are one of the few teams in the world to have a true winner’s mentality.
This title race against Arsenal has been one of the most exciting and challenging for City yet as they have pretty much sat in 2nd place since opening day. In fact, the only time Man City ended a Premier League weekend on top of the league came at the conclusion of Week 2…which was eight months ago.
We’ve had 33 weeks of Premier League football since then, the complete conclusion of the Carabao Cup competition, only the final has left to be played of the FA Cup competition, all matches in the Champions League except for the Semi-Finals and the Final rounds are over, the death of the U.K.’s monarch (R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II), a month-long winter break from club completion, and the completion of the World Cup competition.
Needless to say, it’s been a long time since City last sat atop the Premier League standings.
Yet, even with all the excuses in the world to fall behind in the title race, this Man City squad has never given up or stopped hunting down the Gunners as they’ve match after match since the Premier League resumed December 28th. In fact, since Dec. 28th, City have only lost three games (1-0 loss vs. Spurs, 2-1 loss vs. Man United, and a 2-0 EFL Cup loss vs. Southampton) as they have a record of 21-4-3 in all competitions.
That’s a win percentage of 81%!
So, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise when City come out like starved lions against a rather wimpy Arsenal side (after drawing three games in a row), leading to City scoring three goals in under 55 minutes and four in total to completely destroy Arsenal’s hopes of breaking their 20-year Premier League title drought.
And that’s why City deserve to win their third consecutive Premier League title as they just have a ruthless winning mentality that few teams in the world possess, let alone in the Premier League.
There’s only one word to deserve this team: winners.
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