Sport
Pep Guardiola’s problem-solving ability is putting Mikel Arteta in the shade in another title race
Manchester City’s celebrations at full time of Sunday’s win over Arsenal revealed their belief that the Premier League title race has now swung in their favour. While the Gunners held a 10-point lead at the top of the table as recently as mid-March, Pep Guardiola’s side can now leapfrog them with a win over Burnley on Wednesday.
Arsenal have won just one of their last six league games. City, on the other hand, are unbeaten in their last 10 games in the league and appear to have found momentum when it matters most. Guardiola deserves credit for the way he has evolved his team over the course of the campaign.
This was meant to be a transitional season for Manchester City. Last summer saw Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson, Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker depart the Etihad Stadium as Guardiola started rebuilding for the future. Replacements were signed in the shape of Rayan Cherki, Tijani Reijnders, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Rayan Ait-Nouri.
In January, the rebuild continued as Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo arrived. It took Guardiola some time to work out his best team with Cherki, Phil Foden, Omar Marmoush and others all brought in and out of the lineup. The Manchester City manager was going through a process.
City’s lack of creativity on the ball has been addressed by Cherki who became the first player to reach 10 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League this season by scoring the opener against Arsenal on Sunday. The French international has given Guardiola a different dimension to utilise.
In the first half of the season, Manchester City lacked balance in the wide areas. They had Jeremy Doku on the left, but were missing a comparable threat on the right until the arrival of Semenyo from Bournemouth. Under Guardiola, the Ghanaian has shown himself to be an all-round forward.
Nico O’Reilly’s runs from left back have added an element of unpredictability to Manchester City’s possession play with Rodri the number six holding everything together in the centre of the pitch and Bernardo Silva the glue as a roaming do-everything midfielder. Guardiola has struck upon the right balance.
This goes for his centre back pairing of Guehi and Abdukodir Khusanov who have forged a strong understanding since being thrown together as a duo only a matter of weeks ago. At this rate, the injured Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiola will find it difficult to get back in the team once fit again.
“People say we have momentum but when you see them [Arsenal] compete they are an extraordinary team, otherwise you cannot be all season top of the Premier League and unbeaten in the Champions League,” said Guardiola. “I know how difficult it is to beat them once, imagine twice. They stepped a little bit higher in the Carabao Cup final [which City won]. Who is top of the league? We are not. In goal difference, they are better. But of course, we have hopes and still extend the chance to fight until the end.”
Even on Sunday, with the match finely poised at 1-1 in the second half, Guardiola’s problem-solving ability came to the fore as Donnarumma bypassed the Arsenal press by throwing the ball into O’Reilly who burst forward into the opposition defence to set up Erling Haaland for the winner.
Guardiola had been imploring Donnarumma to play long to evade the Arsenal press for much of the match until that point. He found a solution to a problem being posed by the opposition and it’s been that way for the full season so far. This is where the biggest difference is between Guardiola and his former apprentice still being taught a lesson.
