Premier, Manchester City champions thanks to the knockout of Arsenal

From our correspondent Davide Chinellato

May, 20th
– Nottingham

More champions. The Premier League is Manchester City again, for the third year in a row and the fifth time in the last 6 seasons. The certainty of the title this time comes without playing, with Guardiola and his players in front of the TV watching Arsenal lose 1-0 at Nottingham Forest (which thus wins salvation). It was the result that was needed, the one that certifies the trio without the need for the reigning champions and new champions to beat Chelsea at home tomorrow. However, it will be a festive Sunday at the Etihad: Guardiola’s men will receive their medals two games beforehand and will lift the Premier League trophy in their last seasonal exhibition in front of their fans. The dream is that it is only the first piece of a historic treble, to be completed with the FA Cup (final on Saturday 3 June at Wembley against Manchester United) and with the Champions League obsession, Inter permitting (final on 10 June in Istanbul) to make this season legendary.

APOTHEOSIS

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Winning without playing will also take away a bit of emotion, but it is still the apotheosis of Guardiola’s team’s exceptional Premier comeback. Between the end of January and the beginning of February Pep was convinced that he had lost his City, with 16 players crushed by the World Cup in the legs and a team that, as he has said several times, had lost that hunger that Arsenal instead had, apparently the pacesetter impregnable with a first round of 50 points and forward several times even by 8 lengths. “We have become a rosy club: if we play with this desire and determination, Arsenal will tear us apart” he said before the first meeting of the season with the Gunners, on 27 January in the fourth round of the FA Cup. City weren’t crushed in that first H2H (a 1-0 win even though Arsenal deserved more), but they haven’t lost since 5 February, shifting gears with 13 wins in 14 games, including the last 11 consecutive. An exaggerated pace for Arsenal, who didn’t stand the comparison and gradually lost ground and condition: in the last direct match on 27 April at the Etihad, in what was presented as a sort of Premier final, City tore apart their title rivals with the same disarming superiority with which he overwhelmed Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final last Wednesday. And he definitely got his hands on the title.

THE PROTAGONISTS

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Erling Haaland is the strong candidate for player of the year in the Premier League: he scored 36 goals, shattering the record first set by Andy Cole and then Alan Shearer at the dawn of the Premier League and which seemed unbeatable. However, City didn’t win the title only because they scored on their Norwegian cyclone like no one had done before. This is the title of a magnificent team, which if they complete the treble could consecrate themselves not only the strongest of the Guardiola era, but would transform City into the greatest dynasty of English football, as many critics claim. It is the title of determination, of a reinvented team when Guardiola bet on John Stones as a hybrid full-back in his shape-shifting formation that from 4-3-3 becomes 3-2-4-1, with the England defender advancing alongside to Rodri freeing Gündogan for the attack. It is the title of the genius of De Bruyne, of the consecration of Grealish, of captain Gündogan who in the last month has played “like the best Zidane” (to put it like Kyle Walker), of the revelations of Akanji and Aké in defense. It is the title of Guardiola, of his creative genius, of his ability to team up, to find the perfect way to insert an easy-scoring center forward like Haaland in a tried and tested game without distorting either him or the team, to insert that small variation that in the end it makes a difference.

THE SURRENDER

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Up until March, Arsenal seemed to have the Premier in hand, then they began a slow and painful surrender, materialized by losing 3-0 at home to Brighton last Sunday and becoming official with this new slip in Nottingham, despite the 80% ball possession and a siege that lasted from the 19th minute, from when Awoniyi gave Forest the lead on the counterattack (5th goal in May for the Nigerian, more than anyone in the Premier League), who then defended him until the end, earning salvation to the delight of the ancient and sunny City Ground and its Garibaldi red fans. The fact that the Gunners have not managed to break through shows their involution: they have paid for injuries, a squad that is too short, the first time at this level for too many key elements of Arteta’s team which has no longer managed to be the brilliant one of the first part of the season. However, the disappointment of this title lost despite the 81 points must not erase what remains of the Gunners’ season of rebirth at high levels: they hadn’t put together so many points since 2007-08 and they have shown that they have what it takes to compete for something big. Except that to beat City, to beat the dynasty that is transforming the Premier League into that championship that in the end the blue part of Manchester always wins, you need to reach a level that is currently impossible for everyone else.