Credit: Joanna Durkan/ThisisAnfield
This season, the Premier League title race has been a remarkable three-horsed race, with three Premier League giants more than capable of lifting the highly coveted trophy in one of the most hotly-contested title races in decades.
For the past 6 years, Manchester City has essentially run the show in the Premier League, winning five out of six possible league titles while seamlessly dominating the competition. With such a stacked group of players including but not limited to midfield maestro Kevin De Bruyne, goal-scoring machine Erling Haaland and young star Phil Foden, the Cityzens have been an unstoppable force for the better half of a decade.
Over the last six seasons, it is only thanks to Liverpool and Arsenal that we have had any excitement at the top of the Premier League. Manchester City have been dominant. They have unrivaled resources, a stacked lineup and a legendary coach in Pep Guardiola, which have combined to make it nearly impossible for anyone else to compete for a sustained period of time.
There have been a lot of pretenders over the past few seasons. Tottenham Hotspurs have been “in the title race” for about five minutes every season, Chelsea led the Premier League at this stage for a few consecutive years a couple of years ago, Manchester United was at the top at the midway point in the 2020-2021 season, but none of them mounted anything like a proper challenge to Manchester City. Last season, Arsenal made things pretty interesting for the nine-time league champions for the vast majority of the campaign, but City’s rise to the top was inevitable.
Only Liverpool has disrupted City’s consecutive run of league titles, and their doing so in 2019-20 required an almost unprecedented level of consistency at the top of the league for the entire season. But even when Liverpool gave City a run for their money, it was only them competing. Then, when Arsenal gave it a go last season, it was only them competing. To compete with the city nowadays, a team has to be so good that it separates them from the rest of the pack.
However, this season, maybe, just maybe a few teams could be in contention for one of the best title races the English Premier League has seen in decades. This season, Arsenal, Liverpool and of course, Manchester City are gearing up for a genuine three-way title race. With only four points separating the three teams as we pass the midway point of the season, fans are in for a very tight and entertaining latter half of the season.
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Last season, Arsenal was truly the only other team that gave Man City a run for their money, taking them deep into the back half of the 2023 campaign as true title contenders next to the Blues. It was back and forth in terms of who led the league, until Arsenal bottled a few key games, gifting Man City their third consecutive Premier League title as they went on their way to becoming the twenty-second football club to win a treble.
Following the end of the season, Arsenal knew they needed to make some changes to be able to compete with City and hold a level of consistency throughout the whole season. In the summer, they signed former West Ham captain Declan Rice for 100 million pounds, strengthening the Gunners midfield and adding some much-needed leadership to the squad. With that record signing, Arsenal came into this season with some massive expectations.
However, it seems so far that they have lived up to them. Star boy Bukayo Saka is back to his goal-scoring ways with the fifth most goals in the Premier League this season, their defensive line led by William Saliba and Ben White has been a brick wall, and Declan Rice has lived up to his expectations. They currently sit second in the league, two points behind Liverpool, but it seems the Gunners have built a squad under coach Mikel Arteta this season that could truly give City a run for their money.
Sitting two points behind Liverpool however, could prove to be an issue for the Gunners. This year’s Liverpool squad might be the ones to finally dethrone City, similar to how they did in the 2019-2020 season. With Mohamad Salah back to his top form, sitting in second for most Premier League goals this season with 15 and third in the league for assists with nine, it seems he has injected some attacking power back into a stacked Liverpool squad.
Also, legendary manager Jurgen Klopp, who has been with the Reds since 2015 and has won numerous titles from the Premier League to the UEFA Champions League, announced that he would be leaving the club and retiring from football at the end of this season. He is so loved by his squad, which is why it would be fair to assume that the players are playing with everything they have to send Klopp off on the highest of high notes.
Liverpool currently sits first in the league, with 55 points - two ahead of Arsenal and four ahead of City. This Liverpool squad is dangerous and hungry for a day in May. A day in May would see this squad in a double-decker bus parading around Liverpool, with some silverware wrapped around the legendary German manager’s neck, giving him the best send-off they possibly could.
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Standing before the two clubs, however, is probably the biggest dynasty English football has ever seen. Manchester City has been an unstoppable force since the 2017-18 season, winning almost everything there is to win in football. Since the 2017-18 season, they’ve won five Premier League titles, two Carabao Cups, two FA Cups, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. All of these awards were won under current coach Pep Guardiola, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest footballing minds and coaches of all time. He single-handedly turned the club into one of the most winningest sides in sports history, as they continue to dominate all aspects of football.
City seems poised to win another league title this year, as they continue to prove why they are one of the greatest teams assembled in footballing history. They currently sit third in the table, four points out of first place with a game in hand. However, if they win their game today against Brentford, they will sit only one point behind Liverpool and one ahead of Arsenal. Despite not leading the league currently, City always tends to assert their dominance through their late-season consistency. Where other teams begging to fall with injuries and lack of energy, City thrives off the pressure and continuously proves why you can never doubt the Blues.
However, it’s still early days. Arsenal might stop sneaking 1-0 wins, Liverpool might stop consistently recovering from a goal down and City could quite easily pull away within the next couple of months. But, there are good reasons to hope that this could very well be the best title race fans have seen in decades, so enjoy it while it lasts.
Edited By: Josh Reidelbach
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