Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
NEW INVINCIBLES
Come away from Chelsea unscathed and we can say hello to Pep’s incredible...
LET’S ask the question many are thinking: Has Pep Guardiola built the new Invincibles?
Put it this way, if they don’t come unstuck at Chelsea today, I believe Manchester City will go through the whole Premier League season unbeaten, just as Arsenal did under Arsene Wenger in 2003-4.
I’ve always said Wenger built two of the finest sides we’ve ever seen – the Invincibles and the Double-winning team of 2002, the best I ever played against. Fergie’s Treble winners at Manchester United were a bit special, too, and Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side of 2004-5 were virtually unbeatable.
But this one assembled by Pep at City is the best of the lot. They are unstoppable, ridiculously easy on the eye, relentless. I honesty think they are the greatest team of the Premier League era.
If they come away from Stamford Bridge still unbeaten, I simply can’t see another fixture where they might lose.
This time last year, I said we might as well hand the title to City because no one was going to catch them. I was proved right. With respect to Liverpool, who’ve done wonderfully well to be within two points of City, I’m inclined to say the same again today, even though Liverpool could briefly go top if they beat Bournemouth in the early kick-off.
Only a couple of years ago, as Guardiola got his feet under the table at the Etihad, critics were sneering he couldn’t win the title in the style he always championed.
Well, they romped home with a record 100 points last season – and are even better to watch now. The frightening thing is they are two points worse off than at the same stage last term.
How can a team be better and yet have fewer points? Incredibly, City have only been behind for 12 minutes all season – in the 1-1 draw at Wolves. They won at Arsenal and Tottenham, and drew at Liverpool after missing a penalty.
So if Chelsea, whose long unbeaten run under Maurizio Sarri has unravelled of late, can’t stop City, who’s going to do it?
Apart from a late flurry, I saw a team in total control at Watford on Tuesday. They dominated for 80 minutes without Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero or Kevin de Bruyne.
Stylish doesn’t begin to cover it when you have Ederson playing no-look passes out of his own six-yard box, Vincent Kompany zipping passes up to Bernardo Silva and David Silva between the lines, and Riyad Mahrez looking every inch the winger who won the title at Leicester.
As I observed last week, City spent £800million on new players in the last five years and have jawdropping football, including a 44pass goal in the Manchester derby, to show for it. Across town, the picture is much, much gloomier.
Manchester is blue – and will be for the foreseeable future. Last season, United finished runners-up to City, but were 19 points adrift.
This term they already trail by 18 points after just 15 games. The gap is going to get wider.
United may be the biggest club in terms of history and heritage, but City are now the better team. By miles.
Can Guardiola win everything this season? Let’s see how he is placed when the Champions League knockout phase comes round in February, but on the touchline he was still demanding perfection when they were 2-0 up and cruising at Vicarage Road.
So I’m going to put it out there: Pep’s class of 2018-19 is better than Wenger’s Invincibles, better than United’s Treble-winners of 1999.
We’ll be debating it on my Saturday Morning Savage show on BT Sport, so feel free to join in.
They haven’t won any trophies yet this season, but right now I’ve no doubts: City are the best team I’ve ever seen in English football.