Sport
Man City – Leicester City: City needs to win to stay in the title race
Manchester City destroyed Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. What should have been a confrontation between two top teams ended up being a show of power of Manchester City. Arsenal sacked manager Unai Emery after a disastrous run of form but the team isn’t doing much better with interim manager Ljungberg. Arsenal had just one shot on target against Man City.
With two goals and one assist, Kevin De Bruyne once again showed how important he is for City. The Belgian international divides and rules for the Sky Blues when 100% fit. City were out of sight by half time as KDB struck twice. Raheem Sterling also scored to secure a 3-0 victory for the Premier League champions. 0-3 after 40 minutes, Arsenal didn’t stand a chance.
Manchester City clearly bounced back to form with a 3-0 win at Arsenal but Pep Guardiola is refusing to get carried away. City still have 14 points to catch up as Liverpool won with 2-0 at home against Watford. With Liverpool on a roll, Manchester can’t make any mistakes in the latter half of the season. Even if the team wins all its games, Man City needs a miracle to catch up with Liverpool.
Should Man City focus on the Champions League?
Most of their focus will surely be on the Champions League now, being strong favorites again this season. So how will they now approach the upcoming game against Leicester City? Can they possibly play with the same intensity in the Champions League and the Premier League? Pep Guardiola’s greatest challenge this season will be to motivate a team that knows a third Premier League title is likely not going to happen.
Or could this actually turn out to be a good thing for the Citizens? Perhaps knowing that the chances of a third consecutive title for Man City are rather low could actually free City. Against Arsenal, we saw a team playing with nothing more to lose, somehow performing more like the team of the last two seasons. Though even if City is able to keep on winning, only a total collapse from Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool will give Pep Guardiola’s side even a small chance.
The upcoming game against Leicester City will be another tough test for Man City. Leicester has been unbeaten for 10 games now (all competitions combined). The last Leicester loss was incurred on the 5th of October, when The Foxes lost 2-1 at Liverpool. Guardiola needs to win at home against Leicester City to stay in the title race. If the team is not able to grab the three points, Manchester City’s ambitions of retaining the Premier League title are over.
