From 14.5.23 - 21.5.23 - Manchester City’s week of success

Image courtesy of premierleague.com

Is there a way life could be better for Manchester City fans at this point in time? Surely not?

Actually, I can think of a few ways. City could beat neighbours Manchester United in a few weeks time to win the FA Cup, to go alongside the Premier League they have already sealed.

They could make it a treble by beating Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League final a week later, making it an historic treble.

The 115 financial fair play charges facing the club at the moment could be dropped, with a grovelling apology from the Premier League (although this seems near on impossible, I admit.)

Then there is the upcoming summer transfer window, where City are reportedly targeting players such as Joshua Kimmich, Kim Min-Jae, Gabri Veiga, Alexis MacAllister, Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol to take their squad to new heights.

And, to cap it all off, club captain Ilkay Gundogan could commit his future to the club by extending his contract, amid recent links to a move to Arsenal or Barcelona when his contract expires this summer.

It might seem like I'm striving for perfection. But this City squad, modelled and shaped to fit in with the Barcelona mould, are arguably the closest side to perfection in Premier League history.

City, whilst manager Pep Guardiola remains at the club, will be the team to beat in England. They can take their foot off the gas for the matches against Brighton and Brentford, but everyone knows they won’t.

Guardiola has built his team to be a relentless winning machine; anything else, no matter the circumstance, is a major disappointment. Momentum, over freshness, is key.

Last Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Ederson proved just that, A 30 minutes that can only be classified as frustrating - despite the Blues controlling possession and looking to carve out numerous chances - was put behind them thanks to Gundogan’s exquisite flick.

From this point, Everton sort of… collapsed. City have this effect on teams; they just have a period of dominance in a game where they seem untouchable at times, leaving their opponents chasing shadows. Soon after, one header from Erling Haaland and one excellent free kick from Gundogan meant City were out of sight.

Directly after the Everton game, Arsenal’s shocking 3-0 home defeat to Brighton just added fuel to the raging Manchester City fire. Their 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest six days later fully burned the house down.

From a neutral point of view, you can see why some look at City with despair. Arsenal have been magnificent all season, finding a way to win and allowing the young hunger and energy of their talented attacking players to shine through.

But, come the end of the season, City have won the league at a canter, officially sealing the title without kicking a ball, as the pressure seemed to just get the better of Mikel Arteta's side at the wrong part of the season.

Oh, and in between these two Arsenal defeats, City casually destroyed Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium last Wednesday, in a dominant 4-0 win.

The 14 time Champions of Europe were completely suffocated by the Manchester City atmosphere, barely getting out of their own box for the first 20 minutes. City won comfortably, and could have arguably scored a few more goals.

This means City will travel to Istanbul on June 10th, where they'll go into the final against Inter Milan as overwhelming favourites to win their first ever Champions League.

And then, to round it all off, City ran out as successful winners against an utterly dismal Chelsea side, in a game where the Blues could afford to rest key players such as Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish, Ederson and Bernardo Silva.

If you’d told Guardiola in February that in the last Premier League home match of the season, he'd be starting Kalvin Phillips, Cole Palmer, Sergio Gomez and Stefan Ortega-Moreno, then he’d have laughed. and I’d have been laughing along with him.

After the 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest in February, I was ready to concede the league title this season to what would’ve been the well deserving Arsenal, and put all our focus on winning the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Thankfully, the players have a much more elite, ambitious mentality than I do.

City are now in the position where winning all 3 trophies is not just the hope of a fantasising fan, but a genuinely realistic possibility. They face two more matches, in which they are strong favourites on paper, which will define the way they're observed by history. Will they be just another league winning side, or will they be treble winners? And will this be blighted by the ongoing FFP charges from the Premier League?

All of the charges that City face are dated between 2009-2018, meaning that any trophy won after that point could never be taken away retrospectively. Since the charges, this equates to 4 Premier League titles, 3 Carabao Cups, 1 FA Cup and and 1 Community Shield, with the prospect of a UEFA Champions League and FA Cup to be added this season.

Given the confidence Guardiola gives off in his press conference when speaking about the charges, as well as rumours about City trying to extend the contract of talisman Erling Haaland floating around, then surely the executives at the club are confident at winning in court.

The charges are also unlikely to affect City's transfer plans for the summer, as many journalists expect a big summer ahead for the Premier League champions.

Last week, City had a week of almost perfection, as they lifted one trophy, and put themselves in an exceptional position to lift another. It will all be forgotten about, however, it City don't follow through and win the Champions League at the very least, but if any team can make history, it's this team.