Arsenal hit self-destruct button as title race hots up

First things first: Arsenal’s destiny remains in their hands. If they win their final seven matches of the league season, they win the title. The problem is fate is on Manchester City’s side. The champions, who raced into a three-goal lead yesterday against Leicester, find themselves in an ideal position, knowing what needs to be done to retain their crown.

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Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead against West Ham on Sunday and for the second successive match are left to rue a missed opportunity to widen the gap. The business end of the season is not the ideal time to lose momentum, and Arsenal look like a team shot to pieces and confidence. By contrast, City aided by their experience of going the distance in a title race, look a team that can be trusted to finish the job.

Title run-ins are not for the faint hearted. Twists and turns are to be expected, matches do not always go the way form suggests, and doubts often creep into the minds of players. What is going through the minds of Arsenal players and manager Mikel Arteta, is no different to what teams of yesteryear had to endure in getting over the line. It does not help for Arsenal that their most influential defender, William Saliba, has been ruled out of action since the international break and there is no news yet on his return. Arteta will be hoping he could name him for the Manchester City clash in a fortnight’s time, but at what cost?

Manchester City’s ban lifted

Breaking this morning: Manchester City’s European football ban has been overturned by CAS. The club have been fined for not cooperating with the initial investigations; other charges were time barred over five years.

‘Up yours, UEFA!’

Surely this spells the end for Financial Fair Play?

 

Manchester City: down, but not necessarily out

Manchester City last night were banned from European club competitions for the next two seasons, having been found guilty of breaking Financial Fair Play rules, or in UEFA’s words committing “serious breaches” of their regulations.

The decision, of course, is pending and subject to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. So what comes to mind this very morning is whether it will stick or not. You would imagine City had expected a hefty fine at the very least and expulsion at the very worst given they chose not to cooperate with UEFA when the investigation was ongoing. City set a clear message that they did nothing wrong, everything was above and on board, but the leaked evidence was damning and spiteful to say the least.

When a member of FFP’s investigatory team died, City lawyer Simon Cliff emailed the club’s ownership with a short, but succinct message: ‘One down, six to go’. 

UEFA have sent out a clear message about clubs who have resorted to creative accounting, but the wealth and power that City hold is too much to overcome, just as it would if they came down hard at PSG. Prediction following the appeal? The hefty fine stays, but the ban gets cut to a year.

As Liverpool and Manchester City prepare to lock horns, rivals flounder

The table tends to take shape after 10 games. On the eleventh weekend, Liverpool and Manchester City scraped past Aston Villa and Southampton respectively to set up what already feels like a Premier League title decider this Sunday at Anfield. Fine margins decided where the title ended up last season, and it is conceivable that history should repeat itself. Liverpool’s win two days ago, sealed in stoppage time, echoed the spirit of league-winning sides from yesteryear, never knowing when they are quite beaten and taking their chances at the death. “It is lucky to score these goals of course, but when you look at the game, if either side deserved to win it is us,” Klopp assessed afterwards.

Pressure also brings the best out of Manchester City, who know a thing or two about winning trophies in dramatic fashion. Also a goal down, they rallied to a 2-1 victory. The gap to Liverpool remains six points, which is not a herculean task to chip away, but head-to-head results may define the season and there is not a better time for the champions to stamp their authority by beating their rivals. You would need to go back 16 years, to May 2003, to find Manchester City’s last victory at Anfield — although they were close to ending the barren run last year if it was not for a fluffed penalty by Riyad Mahrez.

The defeat for Liverpool put Champions League qualification out of their hands. Fast forward to the present day and the stakes to break into the top four could not be any higher. Tottenham and Manchester United have already been cut adrift and victory for Leicester City, who sit comfortably in third, against Arsenal this Saturday, may force the traditional ‘big’ rivals to act before Christmas.

Review: Treble without applause

The problem with success, as Manchester City fans now are all too accustomed to, is it doesn’t come with the accolades you think it warrants. As Pep Guardiola was busy navigating his team towards an unprecedented treble last month, he made a point to the media that on a certain news site, the top story wasn’t his team retaining the title, but instead the trials and tribulations of Paul Pogba. It irked him, even if he protested how the media coverage will always favour clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool for their positions in the English football hierarchy.

City continue to create history apace. Last February they beat Chelsea on penalties to win back-to-back League Cups. They followed that up by winning their fourth Premier League title and second under Guardiola, in one of the closest ever title races. The double became a domestic treble when City swept Watford aside in the FA Cup final. Guardiola has taken the club to new heights, which this book, ‘Treble Without Applause’ highlights rather skilfully. Filled with a wide range of interesting opinions, it is a fan account of a season that has had plenty more ups than downs.

City fans may bemoan the lack of plaudits, especially when you consider what club has achieved this campaign. City needed 98 points to retain the title, and fought off a Liverpool side that matched their intensity and missed out by a fraction. And yet the season was barely three months old for Henry Winter, the Times’ football correspondent to call them “the most beautiful side we’ve seen”. Alan Shearer called them the best Premier League side ever. It is unfair to say they haven’t been showered with praise.

When City won the Carabao Cup, the focus was on Chelsea because there was an interesting story developing; the future of Maurizio Sarri, who reacted angrily to goalkeeper Kepa disobeying his commands. City picked up the trophy, but Chelsea were in the minds of the media. Likewise in the league when Liverpool finished runners-up. It seems that on the one hand City’s achievements have been taken for granted, but the club have been bankrolled by a billionaire for the best part of a decade. Winning trophies no longer becomes the story for journalists so much as a heatwave bringing increased sales of ice cream; it is a matter of when, not if.

Liverpool’s wait continues

Manchester City are the Premier League champions and deservedly so. The margins were tight – one point between themselves and Liverpool. Had the league been decided in the era of two points for a win, Liverpool would have won out by a single point (67 to 66).

The current system, three points for a win, was famously advocated by Jimmy Hill and came into play from 1981.

Shirt messages: Mario Balotelli vs Manchester United (2011)

There are so many funny stories written about Mario Balotelli that it can be hard to separate fact from fiction. There was that time he dressed up as Father Christmas and handed out money to passers-by in Manchester, which proved to be false. Or when he turned up at a school on behalf of a young lad to confront his bully. Last month it was reported Balotelli had worn a customised Marcus Rashford shirt underneath his Marseille top to taunt Paris Saint-Germain, who were knocked out of the Champions League to Manchester United. But again the story was rubbished.

Did Balotelli go to John Lewis on his mother’s orders and instead of buying a ironing board come back with a quad bike, a Scalectrix and a tennis table? “Yes,” he told Noel Gallagher in an interview. “But not a tennis table, it was a trampoline.” And what about letting off a firework at his home?

“So I got one bin, but a metal one, to put the fireworks inside. Nothing was going to happen so I left the room and left the fireworks inside but didn’t light them. I walked out and my friend went in the room and just started screaming. The fireworks were going off. They put out the fireworks in the toilet but just the curtain caught fire. That’s it.”

Why always him? Balotelli didn’t lend himself to dull behaviour and the British media loved reporting his antics. And he had his moments on the football pitch when playing for Manchester City. Perhaps the iconic moment in the last decade of the Premier League was him lifting his top and revealing another blue shirt which read “Why Always Me?” after scoring the opener in the Manchester Derby.

This was back in October 2011 and it felt like a seismic shift in the rivalry between the two clubs. Although City had beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford before, in fact three years previously under Sven-Göran Eriksson, they never ruthlessly exposed the home side as they did that day. It ended 6-1 to City and was a chastening experience for the home side; Sir Alex Ferguson later called it his “worst ever day”.

Tonight the two clubs meet again and the balance of power has shifted to the extent that City boss Pep Guardiola doesn’t consider going to Old Trafford as a daunting prospect. Since that day Balotelli scored twice, City have only lost once in six visits.

Champions League: And then there were four…

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Tottenham have not reached the promised land but Mauricio Pochettino and his players can see it beyond the horizon after a thrilling night in the Champions League. They are in the last four of the competition having overcome Manchester City and will now face Ajax, who impressively knocked the holders Real Madrid in the round of 16 and then Juventus last Tuesday.