The sprint to the finish line starts here. After the final interruption of the season it is now full throttle until the medals are all handed out, which Manchester City hope will be the night of Saturday, June 2, under the Wembley arches.. The sense of familiarity at the Etihad is inescapable. For a second successive year, they enter this stage of the season doing the chasing in the Premier League but are well aware that a treble is within their grasp. Twelve months ago they reeled in Arsenal with relative ease, won the first-ever Manchester derby FA Cup final and then collapsed over the line in Istanbul.. It still feels like a double treble is bordering on the impossible, but if any side can do it then it’s surely this City one under Pep Guardiola. They are favourites to win all of those crowns again.. ALSO READ: City can bust atmosphere myth but Etihad questions won’t go away. ALSO READ: Guardiola launches furious seven-minute rant amid City fixture farce. Real Madrid are next in their way in Europe but the La Liga champions were swatted aside in the semi-finals a year ago. Chelsea and, probably, Manchester United again block the route to the FA Cup. It’s in the league where life is a little more complicated. With 10 games to go the Blues are a point behind Liverpool and Sunday’s visitors Arsenal.. It is City who have recent history on their side, while Liverpool will bank on a fairytale ending for Jurgen Klopp. For Arsenal, it is the dream of a first title in 20 years that lies in sight. The Gunners were top at this stage last season but blew it, famously losing 4-1 at the Etihad in the run-in.. This weekend’s game should be closer, not least because of City’s injuries and Arsenal’s form under Mikel Arteta, but Guardiola has cranked up the pressure being felt in north London, claiming it is much easier to be chasing a first title than trying to win a fourth in a row, which is the unprecedented achievement his team are after.. “I said it a thousand million times, the biggest success of this club, organisation is that many years still we are there. People cannot imagine how difficult it is. Can’t figure this out for one second,” he said.. “To fight for one title that you haven’t won for many years is ‘wow, it is easy’; but now being for many many years still being there ‘wow’ – [it is] the benchmark for the new generations in this club.. “But after more than 20 years Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League, so they will have something to prove and that’s normal. When Liverpool won the title after many years without for Jurgen, that gives you something special,. “In our first year, it was like ‘oh God, we will give everything in every single game to win the Premier League.” But what we have to do in tomorrow’s game is be ourselves. Our people will bring what they need – like they did against United – to make it a good performance.”. City haven’t lost at home since losing to Brentford on November 13, 2022, before the break for the World Cup. It was their Etihad form that helped propel them to the treble last season, with 4-1 wins over Liverpool and Arsenal in the league and 3-0 and 4-0 victories against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the Champions League.. All of those games came after the March international break and although Guardiola’s options are weaker this season, with Kyle Walker and John Stones set for a spell on the sidelines, he is making no secret of how big this clash are. Defeat for City and an end to that stunning home record would leave them four points behind Arsenal and possibly the same number behind Liverpool. It would requite a substantial effort to then reel both back in.. “The quality Liverpool have, Arsenal too to win I don’t know how many games in a row, score a lot of goals, the quality they play so I don’t think [they will drop points],” he said.. “I know my team when its close to the end, phwoar, they do everything [to win] – they will do too so that’s why Sunday is the final absolutely, so we play a final tomorrow and with our people we’re going to do it.”
