City’s treble chase heats up
LONDON:
Manchester City face Burnley today at the start of a four-match spell that could see City manager Pep Guardiola write a remarkable new chapter in English football history.
Guardiola’s side follow the crucial Premier League fixture at Turf Moor with games against Leicester and Brighton, as City seek to hold off Liverpool in a thrilling title race.
City are two points behind Liverpool after the leaders regained top spot with their 5-0 win over Huddersfield on Friday.
But the champions, who also have an FA Cup final date with Watford on May 18, will be guaranteed to retain the title if they win their last three matches.
That means a City team that has won 26 of their last 28 games, a run dating back to the end of last year, now stands just four victories away from becoming the first side in the history of English football to win all three domestic trophies in the same season.
It is a feat Guardiola has already achieved in his career — with Barcelona 10 years ago.
“We are out of the Champions League and at Barcelona we were in,” said Guardiola when asked to compare the two campaigns.
“Now we are not thinking too much the FA Cup Final against Watford. I’m concerned with Burnley, Leicester, Brighton.
“Just focus on that. We will analyse at the end of the season how many titles. It’s not going to change my opinion of what we’ve done this season... how many titles we win. All respect for my players and of course what Liverpool have done.”
Guardiola himself has won the even more prestigious treble of domestic league and cup combined with the Champions League. He pulled off that feat with Barcelona in 2008-09.
Manchester United pulled off the most famous treble in English football history a decade earlier when current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the dramatic goal that won the club the Champions League Final against Bayern Munich.
But that season, Alex Ferguson’s side were denied a domestic treble — and an unprecedented quadruple — by losing to Tottenham in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.
Guardiola, meanwhile, said City have raised Premier League standards and any team looking to beat them to the title next season will have to target 100 points.
City were the first team to win the Premier League title with a record 100 points last season and would finish with 98 this season if they win their three remaining games.
Liverpool will finish with 97 if they win their two remaining matches, a tally that would have been enough to win the title in any other Premier League season apart from the 2017-18 campaign.
“The standards we created last year at Manchester City, people know that you have to be close to 100 (to win the league),” he said. “Before it was 90.
“This standard was last season, we helped Liverpool to achieve it and Liverpool helped us to keep going (this season). It is thanks to Liverpool that we are competing.”