Very interesting

 

Everywhere Pep Guardiola has been, especially as player and manager at Barcelona, it was the expectation that the club would win--not "compete", win. Win every game, win every trophy. It has been the same at City...until last season. Last season, City did not have that champion's mentality. It was a mystery to everybody. Bernardo Silva, I think it was, pointed to a game against Brighton (I think) as the start of the malaise, and to a later game against the same club when City cleared their heads. 

This is a down season for the Premier League: Liverpool, Arsenal Arsenaling (again), City--we are not as good as we have been. The winner of the league this season will not be considered a great club. It has looked more like an Alphonse-Gaston routine to get out of each other's way and through the door. Arsenal still lead the league (by three points), lead City on goal difference (one), and have the easier final games. But City have a game in hand. If City win their game in hand there goes Arsenal's point lead and goal difference. Do I have the confidence in City that I had during the Secretariat years? No, but this season does not require a "tremendous machine". I think City has regained a lot of its mojo, and I know that Arsenal has none. I expect City to win the Premier League now. Period. New sentence. But I would not be shocked if we Devon Loch instead of Secretariat it down the stretch.