CITY TURN THE CLOCKS FORWARD
De Bruyne says trying to emulate the Arsenal Invincibles will be tough, but City’s Unbeatables are looking full of confidence and they have players who can score “with their eyes closed”
KEVIN DE BRUYNE reckons it’s tougher now to go unbeaten all season than it was when Arsenal did it 13 years ago. He may be wrong.
Forget the closeness of the scoreline, Manchester City swept West Brom out the way.
It was an easy win made less embarrassing for West Brom because the Blues gave them goals. All City had to do was score more themselves to go five points clear of envious Manchester United at the top.
As they say on Eggheads, who will ever stop them? With Shrewsbury losing their unbeaten record, Manchester City stand alone as the only team as the best in England.
Next up after the Champions League trip to Napoli on Wednesday? Arsenal at the Etihad on Sunday and a good chance to rate the Unbeatables against Arsene’s old Invincibles.
De Bruyne may be a cautious guy. But the way he plays his football, strong, bold and dangerous, would tell you differently so maybe he’s just following boss
P e p
Guardiola’s mantra that staying unbeaten is impossible. But that’s what Arsenal said until they swept through the 2003-4 season begun with a 2-1 win over Everton in August, and ended with a 2-1 victory over Leicester.
“To go unbeaten?” said De Bruyne, “It’s very hard. I don’t think it will be possible. The level of competition is so high, in every team. It’s not like, with all respect, 10 or 15 years ago where you had a couple of teams that wouldn’t be able to win against the top ones. “Every game is hard and you need to be mentally there. But as long as it keeps going it’s good.”
There’s certainly no chance of Magic Manchester doing a Preston and not losing a game i n league or cup, as they did in the 1888-89 days of long whiskers and long shorts. Preston only had to play 22 league games and five FA Cup ties. City have played 16. Is it tougher now than in Arsenal’s day?
West Brom are often awkward opponents and they’ve beaten them. Brighton, Bournemouth, Watford, Stoke, Burnley – potential banana skin teams – have been seen off. It’s the big clubs De Bruyne says City have to look out for.
“We were winning these games like against West Brom last season, we dropped points against the big clubs,” he said.
So let’s have a look again. Liverpool whipped this season 5-0 and Chelsea 1-0 away.
De Bruyne has a point. City haven’t played a lot against the big boys. After Arsenal there’s Manchester United, Spurs and Liverpool over December and into the New Year. But here’s the thing, and De Bruyne summed
it up nicely, adding: “We have guys who can score with their eyes closed. So we’ll always have a chance of winning.”
Leroy Sane, who was superb and has scored or made 11 goals in his last seven league games, got a cracker and Fernandinho, from Sane’s pass, got a fluky one. In between Gareth Barry, Albion’s best player, set up Jay Rodriguez for an equaliser made easier by City defender John Stones and his keeper Ederson. A swift City passing session ended with Raheem Sterling making it 3-1 and City conceded a daft second as Nicolas Otamendi failed to chest clear and Matt Phillips took his chance. And Sergio Aguero sat on the bench. Are you sure you can’t go unbeaten, Pep?