Football News

Manchester City has reached a point where Manchester City does what it always does. That is to fire the hopes of their challengers and then with a swish of remorseless sadism, extinguish all their hopes and plunge them to an abyss of despair. No less an influential figure than Sir Alex Ferguson has tasted the vicious wheel of hope and despair flickering and disappearing in a blur, even in the pre-Guardiola era. So have Jurgen Klopp; so has Mikel Arteta, and so could he again this Sunday, the last act in the league this season.

But hope springs eternal when Arsenal host Everton. Miracles have winked on football in the past, and if West Ham United can wrestle a draw, and perhaps a win that could be the perfect gift for their adieuing manager David Moyes, Arsenal would return to the dreamland it last inhabited two decades ago. That they pushed City to the final itself is no mean achievement — should they beat Everton, they would accumulate their second highest points tally in a season (89) a point behind the Invincibles. They have already strung their best goal-scoring and defensive records ever.

Yet, it’s their cruel fate as well a testament to the dizzying standards that City have scaled, that they would end the season with notes of regret, shirking in the blue mist of City, arguably the most ruthless winning monster ever in the league, teasing and taunting their challengers to another inevitable march to the title.

Should they accomplish it on Sunday against a backline that has shipped in 71 goals, Guardiola would become the first manager to ever win four on the spin in the 135-year-history of the league. When the magnitude of the potential achievement was put forth to him, he casually said his team would “get the

Mikel Arteta Jurgen Klopp Alex Ferguson David Moyes Pep Guardiola Arsenal