New Delhi: Never mind the ongoing hearing on their alleged violations of Premier League’s financial regulations, Manchester City continue to look unstoppable on the field at the start of yet another season. Four games in, they are sitting pretty at the top with a perfect record. They have also banged in 11 goals, the most by any team so far. Having charted history last season by becoming the first team in the Premier League to win four successive titles, can the defending champions go a step further and make it five in a row?
“I’d like to think so,” said former Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, who’s currently in India on a Premier League trophy tour. “There is nothing wrong with them being able to win it again. The team is pretty much the same. You have got Sylvinho in and the amazing (Ilkay) Gundogan back. They give City a different edge and make them stronger in a different way. Obviously, it is sad when you lose someone as good as Julian Alvarez but it happens in football. City have a knack of finding a way to deal with it and the players who are in there step up and do what they need to do. City are in prime position. It’s just a few games into the season. At the moment, it is about getting fitter, sharper and taking every game as it comes.”
The diminutive winger, 42, had two stints with Manchester City during his playing career. While his first involvement — from 1999 to 2005 — came at a time when City were languishing, his re-signing in the summer of 2008 coincided with UAE’s Sheikh Mansour acquiring the club. City have gone on to taste unrivalled success in recent years, including winning the treble in 2022/23. Wright-Phillips puts their title-winning feats down to the mentality of the players and manager Pep Guardiola.
“The mentality they have for being at their best all the time is incredible. To win four in a row while also winning the treble, the mental strength and physical toll it takes is incredible,” he said.
Epitomising this appetite for success is striker Erling Haaland, who has begun the new season with nine goals in four matches. Haaland’s haul, which includes two hat-tricks, has taken his overall goal tally for City to 99 in just 104 appearances.
“He came to the club to score goals and he is doing exactly what he came to do. He is smashing every individual record that’s humanly possible to do in the space of two years. Yes, in many ways, he has improved as an all-round player as well. He has put himself among the Premier League greats in the space of two years. Nobody has done what he has done. It will be wrong not to put him in there. He is doing everything perfectly fine,” said Wright-Phillips.
Among the challengers to City for the title are Arsenal and Liverpool, believes Wright-Phillips. “You can’t write off Arsenal. They are a fantastic team with a fantastic manager. You can’t write off Liverpool even though they have a new manager. It will be within those three teams,” he said. “In many ways, City vs Arsenal has come too early. It would have been better 10-15 games in because the players would have been a lot sharper.”