City to the ‘four’ in bid to make history
WITH THE Premier League title long-since wrapped up for Manchester City, many will be wondering if the champions-elect can do the clean sweep and complete the elusive quadruple this season.
Easter weekend has come and gone and they’re still competing on four fronts, with the odds stacked firmly in their favour in most of the competitions.
They undoubtedly have the talent to achieve the unprecedented feat, and having won three of the four trophies in a single season before they should know what it takes to go one step further.
Manager Pep Guardiola has the luxury of being able to rotate his players without weakening his side, and avoiding burnout could make all the difference as we enter the business end of the season.
City kept John Stones, Joao Cancelo and Ilkay Gundogan on the bench for Saturday’s 2-0 win at Leicester, while Raheem Sterling played less than half an hour and Phil Foden only came on for a couple of minutes.
They already look to have a couple of trophies in the bag, with the Premier League done and dusted and a Carabao Cup final against a stuttering Tottenham Hotspur to look forward to.
City will travel to Wembley on April 25 as short-priced favourites to lift the trophy for the fourth year in a row, although you never know what might happen in a one-off cup tie.
José Mourinho will be desperate to lead Spurs to silverware to put a gloss on a disappointing season, but even the most optimistic of supporters would find it hard to make a strong case for the Londoners.
I think we can confidently chalk this one down to City.
Pep Guardiola’s side will have already visited Wembley Stadium a week earlier when they face Chelsea in the first of the FA Cup semi-finals.
Thomas Tuchel has certainly improved the Stamford Bridge outfit since his arrival, but on the evidence of Saturday’s thrashing at the hands of Big Sam and his West Brom side, there’s still much work to do.
It certainly won’t be a walk in the park, but on all known evidence you’d have to fancy City to come out on top and they then should have what it takes to see off either Leicester or Southampton in the final. That said, Manchester City were firm favourites when they met Arsenal in the last four of the competition last season, and we all know what happened there.
The Champions League is the most likely hurdle where we’ll see them fall short yet again.
They have made it to the last eight for the fourth year in a row but so far the ultimate prize has eluded them.
A 2015-’16 semi-final defeat by Real Madrid – when Manuel Pellegrini was in charge – is the closest they have come to cracking it, but since Guardiola has taken over they have gone out in the last 16 to Monaco, followed by quarter-final defeats to Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon.
On paper it hasn’t got any easier this time around, with the winner of the heavyweight clash between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain awaiting in the semi-final should they get past Borussia Dortmund.
That said, Munich aren’t looking as imperious as they did last term, while PSG have met plenty of bumps in the road in European competition over the years.
Pep Guardiola will be determined to silence the doubters, having struggled in the Champions League since he last tasted success in the competition, when leading Barcelona to glory ten years ago.
Having so much breathing space in the league this season is a major advantage for the City boss as it allows him to put extra emphasis on the big European nights.
Also, the experience of being in the running for multiple major trophies in recent seasons should stand to them, and if lessons have been learned from past near misses they could right the wrongs this time around.
City are certainly capable of pulling it off and they will probably never get a better opportunity to make history, but the suspicion is the Champions League could trip them up yet again.
It may be a tired old cliché, but taking it one game at a time will be the mantra around Manchester City right now. If they can do that, they just might achieve something very special.