It seems unlikely that north Londoner TS Eliot was an Arsenal fan, but his poetry suggests otherwise.
“April is the cruelest month,” begins The Waste Land. “I’ve wept and fasted, wept and prayed,” laments J. Alfred Prufrock’s Love Song. “This is how the challenge ends. not with a bang but a whimper,” was probably the first draft of The Hollow Men.
Sunday was a disappointing day not only for Arsenal and Liverpool fans, but also for neutrals who wanted to see the treble title battle continue. Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace and Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Villa leave Manchester City two points clear at the top of the league and, as leaders, Pep Guardiola’s side are almost infallible.
“I’ve already met it all, I knew it all,” Elliot moans. But cheers, Tommy. There is still hope.
Here are 10 entirely realistic reasons why City could drop points.
This is a serious article, so let’s get down to business. Can a team do the treble twice in a row? With injuries mounting, games tripling, emotions running high — can City rise again?
There’s a reason why a triple – or a double, for that matter – is so rare. Playing in multiple competitions does have an impact. When the margins are so tight, fatigue levels, tactical planning and mental freshness are all the more crucial.
When cup competitions are straight knockouts, league games against lower-ranked opponents are naturally the games that can slip out of focus. City host Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday, play Chelsea in the FA Cup three days later, before traveling to Brighton five days later.
Guardiola has already said City are in “big, big trouble” with fatigue and injuries. Surely this is cause for hope for Liverpool and Arsenal?
Manchester City may need a bigger trophy room (Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
The Spurs
Won two, lost five. Has Guardiola ever had such a bad record? Facing Lionel Messi on the post? Credit card roulette at Manchester’s best restaurants? Family games of Uno?
City have always struggled at Spurs. Their Premier League record in north London is worse than any other game. Yes, they may have beaten them in the FA Cup this January — but that record doesn’t include their Champions League quarter-final defeat in 2019.
Every manager’s mind has a dark room where they store their worst defeats. Guardiola’s contains a Beavertown brewery and a retractable NFL field.
Tottenham may have been overwhelmed by Newcastle, but both of their meetings with City this season have been close. They still have the Champions League to chase and they won’t back down.
Guardiola tends to be stunned by league trips to Tottenham Stadium (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Is 30 goals in 37 matches really a low season? Since when did that make you, as Roy Keane suggested, a League Two player? Anyway.
If Haaland can’t score for the rest of the season, maybe afterward there is a discussion to be had. For now, City’s opponents just have to hope the wheels come off.
Pep is overcomplicating it
“I always think too much,” Guardiola said in 2022. “I always create new tactics and ideas, and tomorrow you will see a new one. I think a lot, that’s why I get very good results. I love it.”
“If it works, I’m brave, if it doesn’t, I’m overthinking,” he added a year later. So go on — be brave.
When you already play four centre-backs, why stop there?
Play a back four of Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol. John Stones is already essentially a central midfielder. Plonk Kyle Walker (yes, he can count as a center back) on the right wing.
Others; Recall Taylor Harwood-Bellis from Southampton and put him up front in Andy Carroll’s role. At 6ft 5in (196cm), Finlay Burns should be decent in net. Luke Mbete can return from Den Bosch and use his left foot from the left wing. Max Alleyne, at 18, has been on the bench this season. Want to join the Stones in the double pivot? There is already chatter about the technical quality of 16-year-old Stephen Mfuni. Put him at No. 10.
Guardiola believes in absolute football. It will be ok. When you’ve won them all, the only way left to win is to… win better.
Forest’s newest investment is finally paying off
Imagine the scenario: Nottingham Forest are fighting for Premier League survival and keeping City at bay. In the 71st, Phil Foden finally puts them in front. With 88 minutes gone, Chris Wood ties Forest back into it. Madhouse.
But before the cheers die down, the whistle blows. VAR review. Suspicious foul in the box. The referee goes to the monitor. City Ground has seen this story before. But then he spots something in the crowd – and walks away.
In the midst of the celebration, the supporters pause for a moment. What made the referee change his mind? They are looking for an answer – and they find it.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Mark Clattenburg.
This superhero doesn’t have a cape, but Forrest’s referee adviser has the rules in front of him and justice behind him. Gotham City is safe from PGMOL. The Premier League table has been leveled once again.
This is Clattenburg’s time (Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Rodri’s break turns into a gap year
Rodri said he needs a break, but remember this is a player living the student lifestyle. He lived in student accommodation. He has a degree in business administration. He was driving a used Opel Corsa. It’s a step away from selling you £2 entry to Tuesday club nights at Pryzm.
“You spend time with young people like you,” he told Manchester City’s website when asked why he considered university the best time of his life. “Studying and going out sometimes. It was good… a great moment.”
But in recent months, with the intensity of the campaign – he has played 3,498 minutes for City in all competitions this season – some of that purity must have slipped.
“I need rest,” he told reporters after City’s 3-3 draw with Real Madrid, with the dazed air of anyone who has attended a 9am lecture with a hangover.
A week is a short break, sure. But why not take three months? Why not find yourself? You’re only in your twenties once. British Airways offers student discounts on flights. There is a world out there for you to discover.
Rodry is struggling and needs a year off (Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)
“Jarod, soooohow is it going why?”
“Gerochorian? Gerochorian? Gerochorian? Moyesy?”
“Calvin… how are the new digs? Did you renew your passport?’
Declan Rice’s phone bill has never been higher.
City host West Ham on the final day. Until it starts, Rice can do little more than mind his own business. The real work, then, begins beforehand. West Ham have nothing to play for – it’s time to change that. Every trading card is on the table.
He sold his car to Lucas Paketa. He is willing to withdraw from the England squad in favor of Phillips. David Sullivan has made a promise to his firstborn son. West Ham win.
Roberto De Zerbi’s job interview is worth remembering
This season has been slightly lackluster for Brighton & Hove Albion, who are 10th in the league and without a win in four. Roberto De Gerbi continues to be one of the most impressive managers of the last 18 months. Arguably, only Guardiola surpasses De Gerby in sheer maddening, tactical improvisation.
The big jobs open in the summer. Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona.
The Athlete It may have been reported on Saturday that Brighton are increasingly confident of De Gerby’s stay, but this comes amid talk of a new contract being put on the back burner and the manager has not publicly committed to his future.
Showing rather than telling is the first rule of job interviews — and De Gerby has a chance to show his tactical acumen by outplaying Guardiola.
City were initially concerned with Brighton’s innovative use of an overlapping sweeper and a pressure pattern based on the Fibonacci sequence, but are disgusted by the inspired introduction of Jason Steele as an inverted trequartista.
No De Zerbi hilarious (Mike Morese/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Gary O’Neil’s fortunes are turning
Gary O’Neil seems an unlikely candidate to be on MTV’s Welcome To My Crib, but let’s imagine for a moment that he’s opening the doors to his Wolverhampton mansion.
The mat is a four-leaf clover. As you enter, seven lucky cats wave their hellos. Rabbits’ feet hang from the kitchen rafters. No mirrors, O’Neil tells you, showing him brushing his teeth in the reflection from the bathroom window.
There is an almost overwhelming smell of incense.
No team has been unluckier than Wolves this season. O’Neill has tried logic, he has tried rationalization. Try to avoid the stairs. All that remains is faith… and Nathan Fraser.
Foden hits the post. Jeremy Doku trips over his shoelaces. A wild shot from Max Kilman is deflected by Hwang Hee-chan’s bum. Molineux erupts.
City’s 115 charges come to a sudden conclusion
The metaphorical hammer falls. White smoke is rising from the Premier League ceiling. That day was thought to be months away – but a decision has been made.
City face 115 charges of breaching Premier League financial rules over nine different seasons. If found guilty of at least some of these, point deductions are a realistic outcome.
Of course, City will say that’s impossible, the most ridiculous proposition on this list. After all, they categorically deny the accusations and work hard to prove their innocence.
GO DEEPER
The update: Arsenal and Liverpool must show title race not over, just two points away
(Top photos: Getty Images)
