AFTER emulating neighbours Liverpool by hitting the treble last season, Pep Guardiola’s Man City side will set off for another long campaign with the aim of creating a bit of history all for themselves.
City get the Premier League season up-and-running away to newly-promoted Burnley – managed by former skipper Vincent Kompany – on Friday night, and will hope to end it by becoming the first team ever to do a quadruple of successive English League titles.
And such was their dominance over the second half of a disjointed season last term that there are very few reasons for their rivals to get excited about their chances of closing the gap.
The champions made it three on the bounce in May, turning what had looked like a title race with Arsenal into something of a procession, retaining their crown with three games to spare.
They then saw off United in the FA Cup decider and Inter Milan in the Champions League final to underline their status as the best club side in Europe, and there is no surprise to see them marked up as odds-on favourites before a ball is kicked in the English top flight.
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City actually made a faltering start to last term, but the aim was always just to stay in touch until things ground to halt for the World Cup in Qatar before they timed their run to perfection in the latter stages of the campaign, as they have done on numerous occasions previously.
Skipper Ilkay Gundogan was a key figure in that glut of trophies, but he has moved on to Barcelona, while Riyad Mahrez has joined the gold rush to Saudi Arabia, but Guardiola never worries about letting players move on if they want to go, and the depth in his squad should send shudders down the spines of the other managers at England’s big clubs.
Mateo Kovacic has come in from Chelsea to cover for Gundogan’s departure, while Josko Gvardiol will add to their defensive options, presumably allowing John Stones to spend more time in the hybrid midfield role he has excelled in.
The England man was arguably the best player in Europe in the second half of the season, but Erling Haaland took all the headlines as he ripped up the goalscoring record books, with his physical presence and insatiable appetite giving City a real spearhead to get on the end of the creative wizardry orchestrated by Kevin De Bruyne.
It is a potent blend that shows no signs of going off the boil, and at 5/6 City will have some backers, and the big question is whether anyone can even run them close.
Arsenal came closest last season under Mikel Arteta, and the bookies have them as the nearest challengers again at 5/1 to win their first league title since ‘The Invincibles’ season of 2003/04.
Considering the Gunners were 50/1 shots this time last year, there is no doubt Arteta has made real progress, and a return to the Champions League provides tangible consolation for falling short in the title fight.
The London club clearly want to strike while the iron is hot, with their signing of Declan Rice for upwards of £100m a huge signal of intent, while Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz have also been brought in for big money.
There is little doubt Arsenal have loads of talent, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli getting better all the time and captain Martin Odegaard a quality schemer, but I’d still have doubts about them defensively, with an injury to William Saliba totally derailing them at the business end of last term, when they won just three of their last nine games to finish a fine campaign with a whimper.
Arteta is also a maiden when it comes to trophies, and while I can see Arsenal maintaining their place in the top four, I’m not sure they will be quite as close to the pace
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