Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, has hit out at critics who say City is only big because of money.
Guardiola said Manchester United and Chelsea would be challenging Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title if success only came down to money spent.
The City manager rejects the popular notion that his side’s success is getting boring and says if money was the only reason for it they would not be at the top.
City is two wins from a historic fourth successive English league title, and three wins from becoming the first club to do the domestic league and FA Cup Double in successive seasons.
There has seemed to be an air of inevitability about their success after a 21-match unbeaten run that has included just four draws.
They have shown their scoring prowess as they have won their past four games by an aggregate score of 15-1.
Although they have never scored a league goal at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, few expect City to drop points and they are definitely overwhelming favourites to beat West Ham on the final day.
Related Posts
- Manchester City Survives Being Locked in Bernabeu with Draw
- Man City Soars Past Fulham, Claims Pole Position in EPL Title Race
- FWA: City’s Foden, Shaw Scoop Major Awards
Guardiola said, “It’s not boring. It’s difficult.
“Before it was the money. For that reason, Manchester United should have won all the titles, Chelsea – all the titles, Arsenal – all the titles. They spend as much money in the last five years as us. They should be there. They are not there.
“For that reason Girona shouldn’t be in the Champions League [next season] and Leicester should win the Premier League.
“Not all about money” for City.
While City can hardly be characterised as the underdog, they believe the club is seventh in the list of net spend in the Premier League over the past five years, which is less than half that of Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal. However, it is trailing Tottenham, Newcastle, and Aston Villa.
A substantial factor in bringing their figure down to £259m has been their ability to sell players such as Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Riyad Mahrez, Aymeric Laporte, and Cole Palmer for huge sums.
However, none of these players would be regarded as automatic first choices while they are also part of the City journey. Without them, they are closing on becoming the first side since the English league was created in 1888 to win the top flight four seasons in a row.
Guardiola says the thought was not in the forefront of City minds at the start of the season. But now it is close, an understanding of what the achievement would mean is beginning to take shape.
“In the beginning of the season we didn’t think about it. But then we were in February, March and April, we were still there. After that it ignites something in all our heads.
“No team has done it. That shows how hard it is. Liverpool in the ’80s, Sir Alex Ferguson’s United in the ’90s. Chelsea with [Roman] Abramovich and Jose [Mourinho], Arsenal with [Arsene] Wenger didn’t do it,” he said.
Manchester City will face Tottenham Hotspur later today and then face West Ham on Sunday.
