Pep Guardiola’s team have yet to reach a Champions League final but the bookmakers fancy them to halt Real Madrid’s hot streak and outpace Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester UnitedThe Champions League is back this coming week, and easily the most striking aspect of the competition before the group stages commence is that Manchester City are the favourites to win it. With all respect to Pep Guardiola’s expensively assembled side, this seems odd. City have yet to even reach a Champions League final, yet bookmakers give them a better chance of carrying off the spoils this season than Real Madrid, who just happen to have won the last three finals and are looking to extend their record to four.Perhaps there are...
Spurs’ rough month could be extended by Liverpool, another perfect record is on the line at Watford and fears for West HamSeptember hasn’t exactly been great for Tottenham thus far. Defeat at Watford was followed by landing in Barcelona’s Champions League group, Daniel Levy confirming more costly delays to the new stadium and a night in Milton Keynes. Dele Alli got injured on international duty and their captain, Hugo Lloris, was ruled out with a thigh problem shortly after admitting being two times over the drink-drive limit. Ever a man to brighten the mood, Son Heung-min returns this week fresh from pulling the nutmeg of the year, with Asian Games gold (and military service exemption) also in the bag. How...
This weekend’s fixtures are as much about the past as the present and Huddersfield against Cardiff is the most evocative of the lotThe haiku is generally considered the shortest form of poem in the world. Related: Sergio Agüero embraces defending to erase Pep Guardiola’s doubts | Jonathan Wilson Related: Premier League managers should forget the mythical 40-point mark Continue reading...
As a Manchester City supporter it’s impossible not to take some pleasure in the documentary but it pulls its punches, fails to probe and is nothing but a gloriously glossy club commercialWhy am I so reluctant to watch All or Nothing: Manchester City? The eight-part Amazon documentary series covers my team’s season mirabilis – 2017-18 when we won the league with record points, wins and goals, playing the beautiful game more beautifully than it’s ever been played in the Premier League. Fellow fans tell me it’s incredible and rivals say it’s a must-see. Even non-football fans are waxing lyrical. Perhaps that’s part of the problem. Related: Football transfer rumours: Keylor Navas to Manchester City? Related: How Lazio’s ultras must wish...
City’s acclaimed behind-the-scenes documentary shows the soft power that has been bought by their Abu Dhabi ownersIt was the best of times, it was arguably not really the worst of times. Either way we once again have football public relations to thank for a tale of two cities. In Manchester we have Manchester City, whose enjoyable and interesting fly-on-the-wall Amazon documentary has received almost nothing but plaudits.Despite the series having been quite clearly subject to a form of copy approval by the club, City have been praised for their “risk-taking”. The results have been described as “not sanitised” in the Daily Mail, which was presumably still high on the Dettol fumes. I note one particular guy in Manchester did not...