Pep Guardiola hit a major milestone last Sunday as Man City beat West Ham 3-1 to clinch their fourth Premier League trophy in a row. He became the first manager in the history of the League to win the trophy four times in a row. Pep’s utter domination of the league for the past seven years was only slightly mitigated by Klopp’s Liverpool. Liverpool had to have a near-perfect season in the 2019/2020 season to wrest the Premier League trophy from Pep. Ever since then, it’s been Pep’s competition. If not for Liverpool, Pep would have won seven in a row.
Pep was named Manager of the Season after he won the League with 91 points. Man City is tied with second-placed Arsenal for the highest goal difference (62) and highest number of matches won (28). He lost only three games all season and drew seven.
Pep is a serious contender for the best manager in the history of football. He is closing in on Sir Alex Ferguson’s records in the Premier League and in a shorter time frame too. The only thing Sir Alex has over Pep now is the volume of trophies he has won which is understandable given his Longevity in the League. Pep has only been in the Premier League for eight years and in that time, he won the league six times, came second once, and third once. His worst finish since his arrival in the Premier League was third position! And even that was in his debut season.
Last season, Pep’s Man City threepeated the Premier League and won the treble becoming the only English side to do so after Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United won the treble in 1999. He became the first manager to win the treble with two different teams last season.
In his entire coaching career, Pep has never finished outside the top three. He has now threepeated La Liga, Bundesliga, and won the the Premier League four times in a row; a record only he can boast of. Certainly, Pep is the best manager of his generation and Jürgen Klopp attested to this in his final interview as Liverpool manager. In his 15-year top-flight managerial career, he won the League 12 times. And since he has been managing Manchester City the lowest points he has accumulated at the end of the season is the 78-point tally of his debut season (2016/2017). Pep broke the League’s point record in the 2017/2018 season when he finished the season with 100 points and deservedly won the Premier League for the first time.
Image source; onefootball on X
It seems Arsenal is the new Liverpool. Liverpool has suffered at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s Liverpool in the past eight years. They have an excellent season, accumulate an insane number of points but it’s still not enough to win the League. For more than one season, it was Liverpool’s story. They finished with 92 points in the 2021/2022 season when Pep won the League in a final-day comeback with 93 points. Again in the 2018/2019 season, Liverpool ended the season with 97 points but Pep’s Man City won the League with 98 points.Â
It now seems to be Arsenal’s fate as well as they finish behind Pep’s Man City for the second season in a row. Unfortunately, Arsenal will finish this season without a trophy despite playing their best football in ages and coming within touching distance of Premier League glory.
The Premier League is Pep’s competition and with Klopp leaving Liverpool, it doesn’t look like next season will be much different. As it stands only Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal can put up any semblance of a fight against Man City but we will only find out whether it will be enough to end Man City’s monopoly of the league at the end of next season. Certainly, City will be looking to strengthen their already excellent squad in the summer so it won’t be an easy task for any club looking to challenge for the title.
Klopp deserves massive credit for winning the league in 2020. As Arsenal fans and supporters have found out, even having the best season in the history of your club may not be enough to beat him. Arteta deserves massive credit for finishing second place. Unfortunately, this is the premier league and there is no prize for second place. They’ll just have to make do with Champions League football for now, improve their squad, and try again next year. Do you think Arsenal can end City’s monopoly next season?