And in the middle of the storm… Manchester City could lead the Premier next week

The shadow of malpractice in financial matters once again hovers over the Etihad Stadium. The Premier League accuses Manchester City of breaking a series of financial rules after an investigation that has lasted almost four years. A few days ago, Manchester City lost at Tottenham’s home and Guardiola feared “losing” his team. But football changes very fast. Next Wednesday the citizen they will be able to close the day as leaders of the Premier.

Arsenal have lost five points in a week, practically half of those that had been left up to this point in the competition. He lost to Everton on the day of Sean Dyche’s debut as coach of the Toffees and this saturday has drawn against the always combative Brentford of Thomas Frank. Also, before this bad run in the Premier League, City eliminated them from the FA Cup. Be that as it may, Arsenal still has a game to play.

From “I don’t care about the Premier” to being able to lead it

“I don’t care about the Premier. I don’t care about the Carabao Cup. We can’t win them. We’ve already won a lot, it’s not a problem. The problem is to behave and compete as we have done“. These were the surprising statements by Guardiola after City fell a month ago at Old Trafford. His team’s reaction was not long in coming. skyblue They came back from a 0-4 loss to Tottenham in what will be remembered as one of the great games of the season. But Guardiola continued with the same story.

At the end of the game, Guardiola acknowledged that nothing had changed at half-time. “Substitutions don’t matter, that’s not what it’s about. It’s about… We’re missing that. Right now, we don’t have it.”, slipped A few days before, she had praised the passion of Julián Álvarez, Aké or Rico Lewis. And the sensations were embodied in the following duel against Tottenham. City lost in London.

But soccer has a random and ineffable point. Guardiola’s story will not change if his team does not react -it is not about results-, but he has the option of telling it from the top of the table. If City beat Unai Emery’s Aston Villa on Sunday and beat Arsenal on Wednesday, they will be top on goal difference.

“It’s tough, we did everything well. Scoring against Brentford is not easy. We have to learn from this. There’s a game on Wednesday and we can switch things up. You can not always win. We have to work hard every day. There is a great atmosphere in the team and we have to maintain this momentum even when the results are not what we want”, reflected Arteta at the end of the game.

Whatever the result on Wednesday night, and with the asterisk of the pending game that the gunners, Manchester City has the opportunity to shake off the Premier League accusation by positioning itself as the leader. Before the star game, a duel against an Aston Villa that arrives on a good run: it is almost closer to Europe than to relegation.

Canchero. I went through La Media Inglesa, Panenka Magazine and Diari Ara. I look for stories to put together letters in the bars of the stadiums.