Imagine what a title race this could be if only Manchester City didn’t exist. On Sunday, Arsenal and Tottenham played out an exciting and high-quality 2-2 draw; both have dropped just four points this season. Brighton scores an average of three goals per match and has dropped just three points in six matches. And while Manchester United and Chelsea are struggling – with at least one major team having to be in crisis to provide a sense of light and shade – Sunday’s win over West Ham would have put Liverpool top of the table after five to have won in a row. The rebuilding of the midfield is starting to come into harmony with the rejuvenated attacker.
But City do exist and thanks to their excellence, Liverpool are only in second place. City have won five of the last six league titles and every week it becomes more and more likely that they will reach six of the seven. And while much attention will – rightly – be paid to their ownership and the 115 charges they face in relation to alleged breaches of Premier League financial regulations as they have built this strong position, they are also an extraordinary football team.
City have won six out of six this season. Tottenham’s top-flight record of 11 wins in a row at the start of Tottenham’s 1960-61 season is under threat. And what’s perhaps most intimidating is the sense that City haven’t quite hit their stride yet, that they’re still in the middle of the season. John Stones is yet to play this campaign. Kevin De Bruyne was injured in the opening match. Jack Grealish has been limited to two starts. Bernardo Silva was injured against Red Star Belgrade last week. There have been plenty of possible excuses, but City haven’t needed them.
Perhaps Rodri’s suspension for being sent off against Nottingham Forest on Saturday will derail them, but they have Mateo Kovacic or Kalvin Phillips ready to step in. This isn’t an extensive roster, but the versatility of so many players makes it work well. deep. The only minor gripe about their start is that, apart from Newcastle – who have been strangely passive in the event – City have not played any of the other serious title contenders. After Wolves are gone next week, there’s a sudden run away from Arsenal, Brighton at home and then a Manchester derby at Old Trafford. With Rodri on a three-match suspension, there could be a wrinkle on the way.
But no one really expects it. It is indicative of how good City are and that it is now taken for granted that their start has attracted little comment. Saturday’s victory over Forest was defined by two goals of stunning quality in the first quarter of an hour and if there was a sense that Forest had the better of the second half following Rodri’s red card, it is also true that City held on comfortably. enough under the aerial bombardment.
They have an intransigence that puts pressure on other parties. After Sunday’s north London derby, Mikel Arteta was asked if he is concerned that there is already a four-point lead between his side and City. There is already a feeling that Arsenal cannot afford to lose to City in a fortnight: a seven-point lead seems almost insurmountable, even at this stage.
In the last five title-winning seasons, City have averaged 95.67 points. That means a team looking to challenge – when City are close to their best – cannot afford to drop more than 20 points. Arsenal have already leaked four. It may be that there is more quality in the top flight now, with the Big Six being joined by Brighton, Aston Villa and Newcastle, and that those high 90 point seasons are no longer possible, but still no one can expect to get 30 points drop. points and still win the title.
As for Liverpool, the team that would be the best in a Cityless world, their start to the season had a strangely frenetic quality. They have already conceded first on three occasions, while on Sunday against West Ham they conceded an equalizer that turned a simple afternoon into something more exciting. In seven games in all competitions this season, they have kept just one clean sheet.
That’s clearly a problem, and problems at the back of midfield could be costly, but there is an anger about Liverpool’s future that was lacking last season. Dominik Szoboszlai has found a solution remarkably quickly and there are a wealth of options. in the front line. Jürgen Klopp believes that something is starting to grow again.
But the question for all challengers is how long they can keep up a challenge, how long they can keep finding ways to win, whether they have the emotional energy to take on champions who never seem to quit, who never have a bad day to have. .
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On this day
Tom Finney was one of the greatest players England ever produced, a skilled and industrious winger in the golden age of English wing play, who made a total of 76 appearances for England, mostly on the left as Stanley Matthews took precedence on his favored right flank . He spent the vast majority of his career at Preston North End, winning the Second Division title with them in 1951 and then finishing second twice in the First Division. He was the first player to be voted Footballer of the Year twice. When he retired in 1960, he had amassed 433 appearances for Preston, despite losing the first five years of his career to the Second World War, when he served in Montgomery’s Eighth Army in Egypt and then Italy.
He seemed like the ultimate one-club man, but in 1962 he was briefly persuaded to come out of retirement to play for Toronto City in the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League. And then, on September 25, 1963, he played in the European Cup for the only time, playing for Northern Irish champions Distillery against great Benfica. Distillery drew the first leg 3-3, but lost 5-0 in Lisbon without Finney.
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This is an excerpt from Soccer With Jonathan Wilson, the Guardian US’s weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Do you have a question for Jonathan? Email footballwithjw@theguardian.com and he will provide the best answer in a future edition