Manchester City are already on course to lift their record-extending fifth Premier League title come May. The reigning champions have opened the 2024-25 campaign with four wins out of four, scoring 11 goals, nine of which have been scored by their unstoppable Norwegian terminator, Erling Haaland.
Naturally, Haaland steals most of the headlines, but he’s just the figurehead in a squad brimming with word-class talent in every position. City would probably still win the league playing a second-string starting XI, such is their strength in depth. And as if that wasn’t enough, they also happen to have the best manager in the world sitting in the dugout.
Pep Guardiola has revolutionised the club, and indeed English football as a whole, since taking charge at the Etihad Stadium in 2016. City had already won the title twice before his arrival, but they’ve taken ownership of it under the Catalan coach. Unfortunately, though, because of that dominance, the Premier League is no longer the greatest competition in world football.
Rival fans are sick of City, and that’s why they are praying for the most severe sanctions at the end of football’s ‘Trial of the Century’, which began into the 115 charges that been laid at City’s door on Monday. If City are found guilty of breaching financial rules, there is a chance they will be taken out of the title picture for the foreseeable future.
But on the flip side of that coin, City have vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and may yet emerge from an exhausting saga unscathed. The landscape of the Premier League could be irrevocably changed, or the dynasty on the blue half of Manchester will be free to keep growing. The question is: which outcome is best for the game?