Small is beautiful for Pep
GARY Neville admits City will never have a better chance to win the Quadruple – but has warned that it will not be easy as they approach the end-of-season run-in.
Sitting 14 points clear in the Premier League table, City are on the verge of regaining the title, needing just 14 points more at most to secure first place.
Pep Guardiola’s side are also in the final of the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup semi-finals and the quarterfinals of the Champions League, prompting talk of an unprecedented clean sweep of trophies this season.
City have been drawn against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and will face Chelsea in the FA Cup, and, speaking on his podcast, Neville warned that important games will start coming thick and fast after the current international break.
He said: “The league is theirs, you can’t say the FA Cup is, but what a chance.
“The Champions League is always the one that’s the most difficult to connect with the other two, the double has been done a couple of times, the league and FA Cup double, but the European Cup to connect with that has always been the problem.
“We’ll see what City can do, they’ve got the talent, they’ve got the squad, I just feel like in the Champions League, there’s always a team that can come and do you, and do what United did to them in the league a few weeks ago.
“It’s tough to do because it will come to a point where, as the season ends, every week is a big week and every week you can be out of a competition.
“Those cup competitions will come thick and fast and it will become like every game you lose at that point, the treble is off, or the treble is on and that’s where it got to with us. I don’t think they’ll ever get a better chance, it’s there for them, particularly in two competitions: it’s as comfortable as it could be, I think.
“I can’t write Chelsea off but I think they can beat Chelsea. I saw the Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge and City were so much better.”
After the international break, barring any unexpected results in the Premier League, City’s first chance at silverware will be in the Carabao Cup final against Spurs on April 25.
Looking ahead to that game, Neville said he expects City to win, but warned that Spurs are the sort of team who could pose a threat.
He said: “I do think Tottenham on a one-off day can do something, they’ve got match-winners. They’ve got players that can counter-attack, players that can live off three or four attacks.
“The teams that do well against City are the teams that have really electric players that can get back into their shape quickly but can then get up to the other end of the pitch quickly and break.”