City waiting to be crowned
Man City have smashed 27 wins this season and need only one more victory to clinch the Premiership title. And they could do that this Saturday – against arch-rivals Manchester United.
There can be fewer satisfying experiences for any club, particularly their supporters, than securing the league title in a match against your hatred rivals, making Manchester City’s derby with Manchester United on Saturday a chance for fitting coronation A runaway campaign, where Pep Guardiola’s side have been simply sublime, bordering on brilliant at times, has seen Manchester City pulverise the opposition and move to within one win of the title.
Their victory at Everton on Saturday – their 27th of the season – means three more points will hand them a third championship in seven seasons in the confines of the Etihad Stadium against their closest rivals, and arch foes.
There is the small matter of the midweek Champions League quarter-final at Liverpool for City to negotiate first before the derby, but that seems an almost moderate assignment for a side who have beaten every one of the other Premier League teams this season.
Man United can gain some compensation for playing second fiddle by upsetting City’s party but have not shown the requisite flair and class to suggest that is possible in Saturday’s meeting.
It is likely to be a City celebration with the bulk of TAB punters’ monies going on Pep Guardiola’s team.
Once the title has been decided, the real focus will shift swiftly onto the race for Champions League places. Man United, Liverpool and Spurs sit in the top four with Chelsea the only realistic challengers. Arsenal, down in sixth, are too far off the pace now and can only hope to usurp Chelsea in fifth place and qualify for next season’s Europa League again.
It is the European club competition that offers them their chances for compensation this season as the future of Arsene Wenger continues to dominate their agenda.
Arsenal host CSKA Moscow in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final on Thursday, fancied to advance to the final four where the likes of Atletico Madrid, Lazio and RB Leipzig will be the clubs that betting money will be on to join them.
There are also the Champions League quarterfinals this week with the unusual all-English clash at Anfield, where Liverpool’s talisman Mohamed Salah could further prove his growing worth. The Egyptian extended his goal tally for the season to 37 at the weekend against Crystal Palace. Only Ian Rush (198384 and 1986-87) and Roger Hunt (1961-62) have scored more goals for Liverpool in a single campaign.