The away team’s dressing room feels a little different to the rest of the Etihad Stadium, tucked away down a corridor and away from the hustle and bustle of a Premier League tunnel.
Once the bell rings, the journey to Manchester City’s unique steps begins. The players proceed to a corporate area that resembles an aquarium, where spectators with gold lanyards gaze through the reflective glass.
By the time they finally line up to leave, opponents have already been greeted by a wall-sized canvas of City’s Treble trophy lift, the first thing they see as they enter the main tunnel area. Just in case they didn’t know what lay ahead.
For many, this is a long road to impending doom. They know what is coming, players privately noting how team meetings held by their managers in the days leading up to the match can sometimes degenerate into a steady stream of snippets of how Pep Guardiola has destroyed this club and that one. It feeds a mentality that the Etihad is impenetrable and seeps into the psyche.
No visiting team has won here since November 2022, when Ivan Toney inspired Brentford to a 2-1 upset just before the mid-season World Cup. Forty-seven games and counting in all competitions. There have only been eight longer unbeaten home runs, in all divisions, in the history of English football.
Manchester City are on a 47-game unbeaten run at the Etihad and rivals are intimidated
For City it’s all routine, but for away teams the long delay can feel like impending doom.
City’s opponents have succumbed to the aura of what Pep Guardiola has created
One of them came in the 19th century. Liverpool’s Bootroom is another. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. Cloughie’s Forest. A Stockport County and Plymouth Argyle from the 1920s, when the Third Division was regionalised.
This is currently the most difficult stadium in Europe to enter as an opponent. Arsenal, who are on an 11-game unbeaten run, need to secure a win today if they are to put a serious line in the title race early on.
Premier League sources reject the suggestion that teams are being beaten before kick-off, but admit that succumbing to the aura of what Guardiola has created may prove inevitable. They talk of paranoia about conceding an early goal and a sense of powerlessness to stop the dam from breaking. One can quickly become two; two can quickly become three.
For City, it’s all routine. Meeting at the Ashton New Road training ground for a meal and a pre-match briefing; then taking the half-mile bus journey, greeted by supporters outside the main reception. Passing around family photos hung on the walls outside their dressing room. Guardiola had turned off the Wi-Fi in the inner sanctum in the early days before reversing his decision.
Relaxed, at odds with what’s happening further down the hall.
It was perhaps instructive to the general thought processes of coaches earlier this year when Unai Emery made the decision to change half of his preferred starting line-up for a visit to the North West.
Aston Villa, who are fourth in the league, prioritised other, more winnable games – and a Conference League tie against Lille – rather than trying to give the champions a bloody nose. It is remarkable given that Villa had beaten them in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
“It was important to be intelligent against Man City,” Emery said. And he doesn’t mean tactically. “We prepared the game by trying to win, but we also thought that with some injured players and [John] McGinn is suspended and is training with a number of players.
There is a paranoia that one goal for City could quickly lead to two or three goals and the dam bursting.
Other clubs have talked about the mental side of a visit to the Etihad Stadium.
It may not be the most intimidating of places, although the stands can be packed on big nights, particularly for games against Arsenal and Real Madrid in 2023. Federico Valverde admitted at the time that it was one of the toughest atmospheres he had ever experienced. But it does instill a suffocating sense of dread in those standing outside the stadium.
“It’s similar to Old Trafford when Man United were good,” said one source. “It’s daunting to see who you’re playing against and what they’ve done.”
The fear arises because you subconsciously stay on your hind legs and use survival mode as your default setting.
Inter played masterfully in their goalless Champions League draw on Wednesday night, but they have one of the best defences in the world. Not everyone is blessed with Alessandro Bastoni. Even then, on a night when City were far from their best, they missed at least three presentable chances to finish off the Italians.
Arsenal will have watched Inter’s approach with interest, a blueprint they themselves followed in what was billed as a title-deciding match last April. Mikel Arteta camped his team in their own third, eschewing the aggressive man-to-man pressing that had been their undoing in a 4-1 defeat the year before, and played for a point. Kai Havertz was the only player whose average position came inside City’s half that day.
“Sometimes in the past we were in those games and we went crazy, lost control, gave up the transitions and lost 1-0 or 2-0,” Guardiola said. “I’m still worried about how we can do better, create more, when teams defend so deep. That’s always my dream, my goal. On Sunday, in some moments, it’s going to happen, and it’s about how good we can be.”
Guardiola called himself the best pragmatic coach there was. An eyebrow-raiser, but his pragmatism means something different than our pragmatism: Guardiola’s iteration is to keep the ball as high up the pitch as possible. So, play normally.
Arsenal must now beat City if they are to make a serious early dent in the title race
Mikel Arteta camped with his team in their own half and took a point in March
“When people say that Pep only talks about how beautiful (football is)… no, no, no, not even in my time at Barcelona, not at all,” he said. “Do you know why? Because the ball is far, far, far away from Ederson, from our goalkeeper. When the ball is closer to my goal, I shake.”
Arsenal’s version of six months ago contained a good point and was seen at the time as a setback for City.
William Saliba and Gabriel did a great job with Erling Haaland and by creating such a strong defense, they significantly increased their chances of a draw.
Victory after all? The prospects of that diminished under Arteta’s plan – and the fine line is best described by Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola.
Iraola had overcome a 6-1 defeat last season. Bournemouth held on for half an hour, but one went in and there was carnage.
“We made a mistake because we felt falsely comfortable defending down low,” Iraola admitted. “We decided not to push, not to press – not to be so aggressive – and I don’t think that was the right decision.”
Bournemouth gave up their strength that day, as did Arsenal. Defending is fine, but without the threat of counterattacking – something Inter maintained all week – the Etihad is no longer that aquarium, but more of a slaughterhouse.
Last season was, somewhat surprisingly, the first in Guardiola’s career in which he went undefeated in all competitions.
Arteta’s approach to City training has changed dramatically since the arrival of Erling Haaland
And the long run without defeat coincides with Haaland’s arrival. As well as Arsenal handled him in April, defending has become trickier before Haaland’s introduction, and Arteta’s approach to City in training has changed dramatically since the Norwegian’s arrival.
In previous years, Arsenal had been constantly drilled in the classic Guardiola cutback – the winger gets to the byline, flashes across goal for someone to tap. Now, City’s ability to alter deliveries into the box, and how to go more direct, makes life a lot harder for a defensive coach during matchweek.
“It can be pass, pass, pass, but they really want you to play man for man and then throw it over the top,” complained one source. “You can’t anticipate them anymore.”