Pep Guardiola set to make history: How good are Manchester City as they chase fourth title in a row

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.

Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain – December 3, 2023 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola REUTERS

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 world’s respect”, as though they already have not. But this would be his lasting legacy — like Arsenal’s unbeaten season, a rare and wondrous feat— one that had eluded Herbert Chapman, Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Ferguson. The Scot came within sniffing distance, denied then by Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko in the father, mother and the extended family of all comebacks. The symbolism of that moment grows with every passing year. A statue of the Argentine was worth it.

Denying Guardiola a fourth would be a glittering achievement, and Arsenal hearts would be warmed by the rather eccentric nature of some of City’s last-day games, with the title at stake. The Aguero one — hitherto known as the 93:20 moment — would be the most memorable instance. But more recently, the season before, Aston Villa gave them an almighty scare, leading them 2-0 at 76 minutes, before Ilkay Gundogan inspired a stunning turnaround, and City snatched the lead by the 82nd minute. All with a grim irresistible predictability, as if City holds the powers to not only their own destiny but those of others too, a belief that they are the central and ultimate protagonist in the narrative.

Sense of fatalism

Perhaps, West Ham can put up a sterner resistance, perhaps City, undefeated this year in the league, would fumble, bad luck would seize them, or the pins on the back of the voodoo doll could be working. But even when dreaming of a City slip-up, there is a sense of fatalism, a feeling of hoping against the wildest hope, a cold sweat of helplessness. City would want to keep such heightened drama asunder.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola speaks during a press conference. (File)

One man who knows this more than the most could be Klopp, who would lead Liverpool for the one last time in the league. No other manager had run Guardiola so close in his England tenure. Only Klopp and Antonio Conte have stopped him. The latter’s triumph happened when Guardiola was getting used to the ways of the English league. The German had to rack 99 points to hold aloft the trophy. Before that he had racked up 97 points, and later, he accrued 92. Yet, he fell short of Guardiola. Klopp could have sewn his own legacy by winning the quadruple in 2021-22, but he departs a rung short of greatness, not because he was not a great manager, but because Guardiola’s men had lifted the heights of greatness. The Premier League would miss his energy and belligerence, besides the brain that engineered a thrilling brand of football. He was the heavy metal to Guardiola’s classical tunes, order to chaos, energy to synergy.

Theirs was a rivalry that defined an era. Beneath their hard-edged rivalry on the field shone grudging admiration and envious respect. “The outstanding manager of my lifetime,” Klopp said before their last encounter. “The best rival I ever had in my life,” Guardiola reciprocated. He leaves a vacuum that a host of managers would aspire to fill. Arteta of course is there; Ange Postecoglou, Mauricio Pochettino and Unai Emery would all strive to take their level higher and shake the Guardiola empire. Lest, it would be a one-horse race, a cause of wider concern, because it could go as several leagues in Europe have gone, a monopoly.

But between now and then, there is one last act, perhaps one last twist, an Aguero moment, or one more time Manchester City doing what it always does.

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