BEVERLY HILLS, March 02, (THEWILL) – On Tuesday, when Pep Guardiola, the Spanish Manager of English Premier League club Manchester City shuffled his squad for a fixture against a side that did the league double against him last season, Wolverhampton Wanderers, he seemed to have a point to prove. The last time his team tasted defeat was almost an age ago, a 2-0 away loss to Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur on November 21 last year.
At the time, it was Spurs displaying their title credentials and Mourinho was being toasted once again as a comeback kid with the progress he appeared to be crafting in north London. Spurs were unbeaten since the first day of the season and came into the game with the momentum of three straight wins while City had just drawn with defending champions Liverpool in the game before.
That game against Liverpool could have easily gone either way as the Reds lost chances but were held by a resolute City side that showed their mettle, if only Kevin De Bruyne had scored the penalty they won. Against Spurs, Riyad Mahrez featured in place of Raheem Sterling, whose calf kept him away, and Sergio Aguero was on the bench.
At full time, Spurs had set a marker for their title chances in the 2020/2021 season. They made a strong statement with the manner in which they dispatched City with a 2-0 victory as a fifth minute opener from Heung-min Son and another five minutes after the hour mark gave Spurs all three points which were sufficient to send them to the summit of the League, jumping over Frank Lampard’s Chelsea and condemning Guardiola to the worst possible start in his time as City manager.
After this defeat testified to their lethargic start by their incredibly high standards under the Spaniard, Guardiola tore the City playbook and went back to the drawing board to reframe afresh a formula to get back to winning ways and to, once again, be reckoned with as true title challengers. He decided to build up play from an impregnable defense while keeping possession of the ball and, if ever possession was lost, to gain it back within seconds.
With Guardiola having just signed a fresh contract at City, he was ready to go a to work to handle the mess they were in with this fresh formula. Their return of 12 points from eight games at the time and only 10 goals to show for it was extremely below par for the Cityzens. Guardiola’s intention was to arrest the slide and begin an arduous climb back up.
On Tuesday, after the triumph over Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves, there has been a wild change of fortunes in a way that can only be explained by the reversal of circumstances in the EPL table. While Mourinho’s Spurs have dropped to eighth and are a whole 26 points removed from the top of the table where City have built their residence, Guardiola has marked his 21st straight win in the EPL.
This means that, by thrashing Wolves 4-1 at the Etihad, City equalled their club record of going 28 games unbeaten in all competitions and makes them favourites for an unprecedented quadruple from the four cup competitions that they remain in contention for. They have also opened up a 15-point lead at the summit of the league standings which more or less confirms them as EPL Champions-Elect.
Even with the shuffling Guardiola did to his squad ahead of the Wolves tie, a glaring stat of how dominant the Blues of Manchester were in the match was that Wolves did not enter City’s area of the pitch in the entirety of the first half. Indeed, as contradictory as it may sound, the 4-1 scoreline is the least City deserve for their dominance, determination and overall panache.
Guardiola’s chargers have clearly made themselves red-hot favourites to win a third Premier League title in four years. With only 11 games left, the 2020/2021 EPL title is theirs to lose. Their impressive winning streak is the third-best streak among teams in Europe’s leading five leagues. It places them behind only Bayern Munich’s 23 in a row in 2020 and Real Madrid’s 22 successive victories in 2014.
They have two home matches next, the first against city rivals United and then Southampton, to be followed by away fixtures against Fulham and Everton in the league and there is nothing to suggest that City will lose any of these games given the form they are currently in. Therefore, they can still dream of surpassing Bayern Munich’s record mark of 23 straight wins for Europe’s top five leagues to become the overall top dogs and they will deserve it.
The most interesting aspect of the story of how City came to upstage every other team to the point of running home with the title is how, when they started the season slowly, many commentators forecasted that this most unusual season in the midst of the prevailing coronavirus pandemic, was going to be the closest Premier League title race for years. And, it did appear true to reality earlier on.
Not anymore. The men from the Etihad have risen and turned the race into a procession dusting everyone else and putting some “social distancing” between them and the rest of the chasing pack. Now, they have the chance to do it not only in the Premiership but the Carabao, the FA and the UCL Cups.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
