The Athletic FC: Man City suddenly look inevitable again and ‘Neverkusen’ no more

Manchester City and Haaland look inevitable for Premier League title
By Phil Hay
Apr 15, 2024

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Hello! Smile KDB, the Premier League title might be yours.

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In today’s newsletter:

🏆 Pep Talk — will City be champions again?

😰 Klopp and Arteta sound rattled

🇩🇪 Bundesliga redemption for ‘Neverkusen’

🤦 Goalkeeper howler — how on earth did it happen?

Manchester City take lead in title race

Gary Lineker’s quip about games involving England and Germany was that you played for 90 minutes and extra-time — and then the Germans won on penalties.

The Premier League has a touch of that inevitability. You play 30-odd times and then, when it matters, Manchester City step up and take the title.

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Only last week, Pep Guardiola was warning that City were in “big, big trouble” owing to injuries and fatigue. If you say so.

The title is not a done deal, far from it, but this juncture in the season is so often City’s time, precisely when they turn the screw — and after their victory on Saturday followed by defeats for Liverpool and Arsenal on Sunday, they have returned to the league summit. There was swagger in their win over Luton Town, and a couple of cracking goals too.

One thing to remember: in tight races like this, going back to 2012, City have never come off second best. Ever.

Are Arsenal feeling the heat?

Half the battle for a manager when the blood starts to drain is to look and sound like they are still in control.

After a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa yesterday, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta was asked why he had chosen to play Leandro Trossard ahead of Gabriel Martinelli.

“Because I’m the manager and I decide the line-up,” Arteta replied, firing back daggers. Hmm.

You can excuse him for being rattled. Arsenal have had an exceptional year but a flaky display against Bayern Munich and a wobbly showing against Villa, in which question marks over Oleksandr Zinchenko emerged again, have severely worsened their chances in both the Champions League and the Premier League.

Arteta has proven his ability to build a quality team. But he’s yet to prove he can take a team over the line.

A week is a long time in Liverpool

Speaking of choice quotes, Jurgen Klopp is sounding a little beaten. “I feel really, really rubbish,” he told Sky Sports in the wake of Liverpool losing to Crystal Palace. No wonder.

In the space of a week, Liverpool appear to have forgotten how to play, and how to finish. So dependable, so apparently confident — until Bruno Fernandes took that gift at Old Trafford, and the wheels came off.

Again, there might be lead left in their pencil but they are in the most trouble suddenly. Either the dressing room digs deep and digs up something, or Klopp is going quietly into the night.

‘Neverkusen’ no more

Farewell, then, Bayer ‘Neverkusen’, Germany’s perennial bridesmaids.

The nickname (‘Vizekusen’ in its German form) stamped itself on Bayer Leverkusen in 2002 after the club contrived to finish runners up in the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League. But say goodbye to it because Leverkusen are Bundesliga champions for the first time. And not by the skin of their teeth either.

A banger from ex-Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka epitomised a 5-0 rout of Werder Bremen yesterday, giving Leverkusen an unassailable 16-point lead over Bayern Munich. The story of their season is incredible.

In truth, Bayern’s race was run weeks ago and Leverkusen’s triumph breaks not only an 11-year run of titles in Munich but also the unhealthy trend of a small cabal of clubs dominating Europe’s top leagues.

As for coach Xabi Alonso (whose players treated him to the traditional beer shower after full time, above), he’s in top-job territory now. The future for him could well be Real Madrid, though not for a while longer.

Enjoy this bit of romance while it lasts.

Welcome to Wrexham… in League One

The strange thing about the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary series is that the football club make no money directly from it.

They do, however, benefit from the vast exposure it gives them, proven by a turnover of more than £20million ($25m) and United Airlines sponsoring their shirts.

With that clout behind them, the Hollywood ownership pairing of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have done it again. On Saturday, Wrexham were promoted for the second time in two years, jumping up to League One.

It’s a big achievement, no doubt, but one more promotion into the Championship is when this would get really interesting. Is Premier League football genuinely possible?

‘Keeper calamity

Managers will tell you being a goalkeeper takes a certain degree of lunacy. They train in isolation, they’re the last line of defence — and when they blunder, they’re completely alone, as we’re seeing with Burnley’s Arijanet Muric.

Muric is a good ‘keeper. He got Burnley promoted from the Championship last season. But presently, he’s having a nightmare.

A week ago, a slack clearance deflected off Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin into the net. Then, on Saturday, this happened against Brighton…

For US readers…

 

Play up front, kids. Here ends the first lesson.

ICYMI

The Athletic Archives

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Phil Hay

Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Leeds United. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. Follow Phil on Twitter @PhilHay_