Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has lamented that Liverpool and Arsenal are ahead of his side in the Premier League title race. “If we don’t win the Premier League, the only team that will fail is us,” Guardiola said a few days ago. “The city has to win. It’s not fair. “It’s hard to keep doing it week after week, every three days, year after year.
“Since then, Manchester City have beaten Luton Town and continued their four-game winless run, but are still four points behind Liverpool and three behind Arsenal in the Premier League. Even behind Aston Villa, Unai Emery’s side are currently third. There is still a long way to go, but it is enough that Guardiola has already made such a statement. Liverpool and Arsenal could argue that it is unfair to give Manchester City the wealth of the country, even if the Catalans will try to play a subordinate role.
Ultimately, it’s the finances that raise expectations for Etihad. While other rivals spend more at the top of the table (at least for now we can add Aston Villa), none of their rivals have as many resources as Manchester City. This is a very cold fact. If you’re the richest team and you’ve just won the treble, it’s a good idea to have high expectations for next season.
Despite Guardiola losing players this summer, his team remains the most popular in the transfer market. For example, Guardiola has a man worth $57 million in Phillips. That is why he never gets anyone’s sympathy with his complaints. One of the reasons why Manchester City don’t get as much credit as they would like is purely economic. The same goes for Guardiola’s own standards.It won’t matter if Manchester City win their fourth straight league title, Liverpool bounce back and catch up, or Arsenal win their first league title in 20 years. Aston Villa could stay there to compete. But sometimes you have to let someone else win to get back into the story.
There is still plenty of time to turn things around in the title race, but so far Liverpool have 88 points, Arsenal have 86 points and Manchester City have 78 points. But the stakes are higher for Guardiola. Is not bad. If Guardiola wants to take as much credit as possible to win another league title, a good fight and a good competition are the best results. His complaints may not prevent him from receiving plenty of attention, but if Jurgen Klopp and his men can see it through to the end, he could soon be closing in on his goal.
Pep Guardiola has complained about the “unfair” advantage Liverpool and Arsenal have, but the truth is clear. He might need Jurgen Klopp.
