With the Premier League title race beginning to heat up Manchester City has put themselves in a familiar position. The world champions have now won 9 consecutive games in all competitions as they begin to click into gear.
With Arsenal’s victory over Liverpool, Pep Guardiola’s side seized the opportunity to close the gap at the top to two points with their 3-1 victory over Brentford. They now sit only two points behind league leaders Liverpool with a game in hand and with 16 games to go City have their Premier League destiny in their hands. It is a position that the champions know well. They seem poised to put their foot down and see if their title rivals can keep pace.
The feats of Manchester City in previous seasons’ title wins puts added pressure on their title rivals. Liverpool and Arsenal both know they have to keep winning games to keep pace with Pep Guardiola’s winning machine. Jurgen Klopp spoke of this following his team’s loss to Arsenal. The outgoing Liverpool manager said: “I haven’t become nervous because of two games in hand for City. We always expect City to win all their games, to be 100% honest. We don’t even have to watch them. That’s all fine.”
While Klopp played down the threat of Manchester City chasing his side he knows Pep Guardiola’s side is building momentum while chasing his side. Arsenal also know in the back of their mind that they’ll have to be near perfect to claim the Premier League title. There is nothing certain in football but the momentum City is building does begin to feel like a freight train beginning to rumble.
There will be plenty of twists and turns in this season’s title race. Pep Guardiola’s side will face Arsenal and Liverpool later this season. But they are now in a familiar position as it begins to heat up.
