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Manchester City look set to battle it out with Arsenal in this season's Premier League title race.
Manchester City and Arsenal have been here before, and that will make the former feel a lot more comfortable than the latter. Having stuttered in the early weeks of the season, City have found their feet and look set to reclaim a place in the Premier League title race.
After Liverpool were crowned champions after just five league games, the Merseysiders have already been stripped of their title and it will seemingly be Arsenal who City do battle with in their bid to reclaim English football's top prize.
Interestingly, there are actually the same number of points between Liverpool and City as there are between Arsenal and City, yet after their early-season collapse it seems unlikely Liverpool will have a say in this season's title race, and City's record when it comes to hunting clubs down at the top of the table makes four points seem an easy gap to bridge.
Pep Guardiola's side's ability to finish the season strongly has been one of the cornerstones of the club's recent success. Even last season when their mid-season capitulation ended their title defence before Christmas, City still strung together a 10-game unbeaten run in the league to ensure they qualified for the Champions League.
A 23-game unbeaten run in the league in 2023/24 saw them waltz to the title, their final day defeat to Brentford in 2022/23 came after 16 games unbeaten in the league and with the title already in the bag, and their 2021/22 season ended with a 12-match unbeaten league run. Put simply: City know how to turn it on at the business end of the season.
And yet, we might have to see a different side to Guardiola's team this season. While Erling Haaland has been in unstoppable form and City have climbed up the table, there have still been blips along the way. The defeat at Aston Villa in late October was a reminder that this team perhaps isn't the unstoppable juggernaut we've seen at the Etihad in previous years. Just a few weeks prior there was the late slip at Monaco and who could forget the back-to-back defeats that had rival fans writing City off just three games into the season.
There's no doubting City are in the title race, but is this a City side capable of stringing together a run of 15 games unbeaten to sprint to the finish line? It's difficult to imagine it happening.
City might need to do things a little differently this season, but it's their ability to adapt and roll with the punches that has made them so brilliant under Guardiola.
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