John Barnes has been discussing the current Premier League season and seems to have it as a two horse race. Strange that no one seems to be discussing his former club, Liverpool, but probably right!
He believes Arsenal have more of a chance this season, because they are ‘playing consistently well’, which his fair point but then, so are we.
Talking to Betway, he said:
“I think it’ll be more difficult [for Manchester City] this year.”
To be fair he does point out that with the bookies, we are still favourites, but warns “ it'll be more difficult for them because Arsenal are playing consistently well, and not surprisingly.”
“It’s been a steady improvement all the way along, which is to be expected. I've said all along, if you give the manager the power – and we've seen it when Sir Alex Ferguson left and even when Arsene Wenger left – you can see a dip in the team.”
All well and good, but I wouldn’t back against us, as we are used to clinching titles, getting that final push towards the end of the season especially, and have the experience. If we are talking about consistency, no one pulls that off better than Pep Guardiola and this fantastic squad.
And of course, although they have a great squad, we have a better one, and with more strength in depth. Oh, and the small matter of a lethal striker. Early signs for me as well, are that Jack Grealish is starting to stamp his authority in games as well, that could be invaluable for us in the title race.
Barnes goes on to say:
“If you look at any of the three top teams in the country at the moment, in no particular order Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool, those managers – and I’m talking about Jurgen as Arne has just come – have had complete autonomy in terms of everything within the club from a technical playing point of view. That’s why they're successful.
I’m not seeing a massive change from last season. They had that mentality last season, all the way through. Of course, Man City caught them, but in terms of what they did, they couldn't have asked any more of them. I saw a big difference last year in terms of the resilience, and I've just seen them continuing from last year.”
And then, albeit pointing out the obvious really, “Arsenal can't do anything more. It’s just about Man City dropping more points.”
Would you bet on us dropping more points? Well, we’ll find out through the season won’t we. I am not totally sure this will prove to be a two horse race either, the only thing I am sure of, is Manchester City will not bow to any of them and will top the league come the end of the season.