Title chasers have no room for error

LONDON • What was shaping up to be a gripping three-horse Premier League title race heading into Christmas is threatening to become a Manchester City romp to a fourth crown in five seasons.

Pep Guardiola's side opened up an eight-point gap on Wednesday, thanks to a 1-0 win at Brentford, and will seek to begin the new year as they ended the old when they go to Arsenal today seeking an 11th straight league win.

Should that happen they would be 11 points clear of Chelsea (42) and 12 ahead of Liverpool, who have a game in hand, before their two rivals clash at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.

While fourth-placed Arsenal have also been in impressive form with four successive wins, they have fallen short against the big boys and were thrashed 5-0 at City in August.

Guardiola rubbished suggestions that another title was more or less in the bag after their win at Brentford, but the evidence to the contrary is stacking up.

Only five times in the Premier League era have there been a gap of at least eight points at the top heading into Jan 1 and on each of those occasions the leaders won the title.

In eight of the last 12 seasons, the team at the summit at the turn of the year also proved uncatchable.

While their rivals have suffered from the Covid-19 surge that saw 16 games postponed last month, City managed to dodge that curve ball. They won seven games in the final month of the year, scoring 24 goals and conceding five.

Their tally of 50 points is their second highest after 20 games from their four Premier League title seasons - behind only the extraordinary 58 they managed in 2017-18.

City have also scored the most goals (51) and conceded the least (12) among all teams this term.

"The impressive thing is the number of goals they're scoring," Newcastle legend Alan Shearer said.

"But other than (the 6-3 win over) Leicester on Boxing Day, they are hardly conceding too... which is going to make it really difficult for Chelsea and Liverpool to get back into the race, particularly if you look at City's next two games (Arsenal and Chelsea). If they win those it is pretty much over."

Fellow pundit and former City stalwart Nigel de Jong added: "It's still a race, there's plenty of games still to be played and Chelsea and Liverpool won't make it easy.

"But Chelsea have been conceding too many goals and late goals and dropping points, which is making it easier for City."

Kyle Walker, Rodri and John Stones were all absent against the Bees owing to a lack of fitness, and the trio are doubts for today.

City also have concerns over Joao Cancelo, who said on Thursday that he was assaulted during a robbery and posted a picture of himself on Instagram with a cut above his right eye.

He did not mention where the incident took place but the club later said it happened at his home.

"Unfortunately today I was assaulted by four cowards," the Portugal defender said. "They managed to take all the jewellery and leave me with my face in this state. Luckily (my family) are all OK."

Arsenal, meanwhile, will again be without the injured Sead Kolasinac, while Calum Chambers, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Cedric Soares, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and manager Mikel Arteta are out with Covid-19.

City's surge means tomorrow's clash at Stamford Bridge could all but knock the losers out of the race. Liverpool are smarting from their 1-0 loss at Leicester on Tuesday, while Chelsea conceded a stoppage-time equaliser to Brighton on Wednesday.

After three draws in their last four games, Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta said a win over Liverpool would be the perfect way to kick-start the chase of City.

"Hopefully we can give our fans a good start to the new year in front of the fans here against Liverpool," he said. "It is a tough moment, but we need to stick together."

REUTERS

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