Manchester City breached new ground last weekend when they became the first team in English football history to win four consecutive league titles.
They can do so again on Saturday. If Pep Guardiola’s side beat Manchester United in a re-run of last season’s FA Cup final, they will become the first team ever to win back-to-back domestic doubles in England.
City’s relentless brilliance has drawn a mixed response over recent days. For all the due praise given to Guardiola as the outstanding tactical mind of the 21st century, not to mention the brilliance of stars such as Phil Foden, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne, dissenting voices are not hard to find.
The 115 Premier League charges for alleged breaches of financial and competition rules that landed at City’s door last February remain unresolved. An independent commission will hear representations from the league and City later this year as a dense and complex case moves glacially towards its conclusion. More broadly, City’s sixth title out of seven has prompted talk of dominance that is unhealthy for the game at large.
For anyone of the latter persuasion, City captain Kyle Walker has an ominous message before leading his team out at Wembley on Saturday: we’re just getting started.
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“To be the first team to do the double-double, the first team to win four in a row, the first team since Manchester United to do the treble – we keep knocking down these hurdles and this is another that we need to knock down,” said the 33-year-old England defender.
“But it’s against our rivals who live in the same city and are going to want to rain on our parade. We need to make sure that we play the game we have been playing, particularly at the back end of this season.
“To go on the run that we went on when Arsenal were as they were is great credit to us and shows the enthusiasm and the work ethic is still there. We’ve come into training wanting to graft and work hard to put the icing on the cake for the season.”
Given how City have vanquished all domestic rivals since Guardiola’s arrival in Manchester, it is perhaps inevitable that Walker’s attention turns towards his team’s place in history. The Liverpool sides of the 1970s and 1980s and Sir Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering Manchester United are now the benchmarks for City’s dressing room leader.
“With each trophy we win and each major trophy we’re going to be closer,” Walker said. “Pep is now the manager who has won the most except Sir Alex Ferguson so we’re building this dynasty and legacy that people will look on this team for generations to come.
“When I first came here you saw a lot of United shirts and now you see a lot of kids wearing City shirts. We’re swinging the pendulum but we need to keep going because the United and Liverpool teams did it for years and years. We’re doing that now; long may it continue and we need to keep it continuing.”
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A knock-on effect of such dynasties, and a factor that can serve to keep them in place, is the erratic responses they can force from rivals. If reports on the eve of the final are to be believed, United are poised to appoint their sixth permanent manager since Ferguson and fourth of the Guardiola era.
Win or lose at the weekend, Erik ten Hag is seemingly bound for the exit door. Guardiola is contracted until the end of next season at the Etihad Stadium and will depart either then or, to be frank, whenever he wants.
“It’s a machine, a well-oiled machine, and he is the driving force,” Walker said of the 53-year-old Catalan. “It comes from the manager. He pushes you every day and I can assure you what he is like on a matchday, he is like every day in training.
“He doesn’t put it on for documentaries or anything, that’s him and it breeds into you. You’re like a sponge and feed off that. His energy rubs off on you and that’s down to us as players to follow his message and deliver on the pitch.”
Walker’s talk of perpetual winning jars a little against both his advancing years and the fact he came close to joining Bayern Munich last summer. This time around, the riches of the Saudi Pro League are purportedly calling for the man who swapped Tottenham for City in 2017 and became one of the most important signings of Guardiola’s tenure.
“I’ll go as long as I can go. This is a job that I love, I never wake up and think I don’t want to go in. I love playing football, it makes me happy, it’s my happy place,” he said.
“I’ve got two years [left on my contract] and I still think I can give more to the team. I might not play as much as I really want to but as long as I put in the performances that I feel I’ve done this season, and the work ethic in training, that’s down to who the manager wants to play in that position. I feel great so I’ll go for as long as possible.”
Walker added: “I can assure you when we come back here for pre-season it might take us a few days to get the cobwebs off but as soon as that first Premier League game comes we’re straight back into motion and trying to defend our crown. Why can’t we do five in a row?”
