Five reasons to believe City will make it a historic four-in-a-row Premier League titles
Manchester City have serious competition in this year’s Premier League title race, with Liverpool and Arsenal looking set to push them all the way.
But there are a number of big reasons to believe that Pep Guardiola’s side will come out on top to make it a historic four league titles in a row, something that’s never been done before in the history of English football.
Liverpool and Arsenal have their own cases to back themselves, but City have form and are the favourites to retain the title for good reason.
We’ve identified exactly why City will emerge victorious come the end of the season.
Guardiola’s mettle
This is Guardiola’s 15th season managing in Europe’s top leagues, and he’s currently eyeing up a 12th league title. That’s outrageous when you think about it.
Looking back, every time that Guardiola has entered the spring in a tight title race, he’s come out on top.
The only times that Guardiola hasn’t won the title (2011-12, 2016-17, 2019-20), his team paid the price for poor form in the first half of the season and were pretty much out of the picture come the run-in.
Whenever Guardiola’s teams have approached the final 10 matches competing for the title, they’ve put the accelerator down and gone on a relentless winning run. Just ask Arsenal last season, or Liverpool on multiple occasions.
Guardiola set the template for this kind of thing back in 2009-10, his second season in charge of Barcelona.
That year Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Madrid notched a club-record 96 points, a tally that would have been enough to win the title in any other season, but Barca came out on top with 99 points, dropping just four points over the final 15 matches.
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Form
You only need to look at the here and now to see City demonstrating that kind of relentless, title-winning form.
City have taken 28 points from the last 30 available, and won 16 of their last 17 outings in all competitions – a run that dates back to before Christmas. Over that run, they’ve kept eight clean sheets, conceded just 11 goals and scored 47.
We’ve been here before, and it always ends up with Man City lifting shiny pieces of silver in May.
Star quality
Liverpool and Arsenal are blessed with some truly wonderful individual players, from Bukayo Saka and William Saliba to Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.
But throughout the spine of their team, City boast proven quality standouts in their respective positions in world football – Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland in particular. You won’t find a better defensive midfielder, creator or goalscorer anywhere else.
Major question marks will be raised if Rodri suffers an injury, but City have already done well to navigate long periods with Haaland and De Bruyne to stay in the race.
It’s over a year since Rodri last tasted defeat when starting for City. Haaland has 54 goals in 57 Premier League appearances. De Bruyne has 10 assists in 11 games since returning from injury.
That’s not even mentioning Phil Foden, who Guardiola claimed is “the best player in the Premier League right now”.
Destiny in their own hands
City might find themselves a point behind current leaders Liverpool, but they go to Anfield on Sunday with an opportunity to leapfrog Jurgen Klopp’s men into the top spot.
Their record at Anfield is a little sketchy admittedly, but – as above – in their form, and with their star men firing on all cylinders, they’ll back themselves to come away with three points.
They also host chasers Arsenal at the end of the month, which they ought to see as a chance to put daylight between themselves and Mikel Arteta’s rampant Gunners.
City remain unbeaten at The Etihad this season, and last lost there in November 2022. Arsenal have lost on their last eight visits to the Etihad, and haven’t won there since 2015.
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Opta says so
Don’t take our word for it. Listen to Opta, the font of all footballing statistical knowledge.
The data firm’s ‘supercomputer’ algorithm makes City the favourites in the title race. Following the last set of fixtures – including City’s thumping win in the Manchester derby – they give Guardiola’s men a 50.6% chance of winning the title, compared to 36.1% for Liverpool and just 13.3%.
The bookmakers also make City odds-on favourites, with Liverpool priced around 2/1 and Liverpool around 3/1.
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