In the end, they didn't even need to be there. Manchester City were that good.
Impressive for much of the season, Mikel Arteta's Arsenal were shown how tough it is to even keep up with the serial Premier League winners, first by Brighton and then at Nottingham Forest.
Relentless, remorseless, resolute, Pep Guardiola's team is an awe-invoking football machine that has bagged the world's toughest league thrice in succession and is one win in Europe away from joining the great club sides of all time.
Irrespective of what happens in Istanbul, or in the FA Cup final, Guardiola's position as one of the all-time great managers, one whose interpretations of the game have changed the way the world perceives football, is secured.
For the second season in a row, City have scored over 90 goals. This time, while yoked to 115 charges of financial foul play. It would have made many teams baulk. City bristled; Guardiola summoning every ounce of siege mentality he could. En route to the title, phenomenal goalscorer Erling Haaland was integrated into the team, new positions for players discovered, the torpor on either side of the World Cup shaken off and by May as Arsenal's run was petering out, City were purring. They could end up with four of the top seven points tally in Premier League history.
For only the second time - and adjusting with three points for a win, this can be stretched back to 1888-89-has a team not won the league after accumulating 50 points at the halfway stage. What City did to Arsenal this time, they had done to Liverpool in 2018-19.
Bu hikaye Hindustan Times dergisinin May 22, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Hindustan Times dergisinin May 22, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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