Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City has been in formidable form in 2019, taking many opponents to the slaughter without remorse as the reigning Premier League champions look to end the season with a quadruple – despite Guardiola’s best efforts to deflect suggestions that the team is consciously aiming to do so. Man. City ripped Chelsea apart in a 6-0 demolition in their last Premier League match, followed by a 4-1 humbling of Newport County in a fifth round match of the FA Cup last weekend.
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The win over Newport saw Man. City score at least three goals in a match for the eighth time in 12 games in 2019, a run that includes two 3-0 wins, a 5-0 win, the Chelsea win, as well as a 7-0 crushing of Rotherham United which came three days before a 9-0 annihilation of Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup. Such form has made majority make City favourite to win not just the league title but both domestic Cup competitions as well as go all the way in the UEFA Champions League.
Guardiola’s side resume their quest to win the Champions League on Wednesday night when they take on German Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04 in the first leg of a round of 16 clash, heading into the game with confidence high to the heavens on the back of 10 goals scored in their last two matches. But City have been warned against being overconfident by a former striker of the club, Emile Mpenza.
Speaking ahead of City’s clash on Wednesday against another of his former teams at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Mpenza warned City not to underestimate the threat posed by Schalke 04, though, he believes that Pep Guardiola’s side remains the favourite to retain the Premier League title due to Liverpool’s history of struggling against teams beneath them in the table. “We always try to go through, but we failed. This year it’s a very tough game against Schalke. People are saying that we are favourites, but it’s football, we never know,” said Mpenza.
On the domestic battle with City and Liverpool locked on 65 points at the summit of the Premier League, he added: “It’s possible [City will win the league]. Now they’re tied with Liverpool, but Liverpool are always in the race until the end for the past two-three years. And I think City could win again this year because they have a lot of experience … and Liverpool has been losing games they shouldn’t lose in the final stretch in the past. So I think City has an advantage when it comes to winning the league.”
