Leeds 0 Man City 1
No Haaland no problem for City. I guess that’s not really a fair representation as to how hard City had to fight to get the three points in this game but City just keep on winning at the minute to put the pressure on Arsenal ahead of their game against Chelsea tomorrow. Leeds were brilliant in the first half pressing City really high forcing mistake after mistake from the City players who kept giving the ball back to Leeds but they just couldn’t find that goal that their pressure really warranted in that first half. As the first half was drawing to a close City were starting to pile the pressure on and opened the scoring after Cherki played a brilliant ball down the line to Ait-Nouri who squared it to Semenyo who tapped it in for the only goal of the game just before half-time. Both teams had chances in the second half but City saw the game out to go just two points off Arsenal at the top of the table.
Cities January signings are propelling them towards this title. Once again Semenyo and Guehi were real standouts for City in this game and without them I highly doubt City come out of this one with all three points. There’s times in games were you don’t really notice Semenyo but he comes alive the box and was in that ‘Haaland’ esque position to give City the lead tonight which didn’t really look to be coming to be honest. On the other hand Marc Guehi has given City that much needed solidity at the back which they didn’t have at the beginning of the season as they kept a clean sheet at Elland Road which few have managed so far this season. I think it’s safe to say that City have kept their season alive by signing two of the best players in the Premier League at the minute.
Very impressed by Leeds yet again. I’m not afraid to admit that I had Leeds going down this year when I did my predictions in August and I’ve been surprised with just how competitive Leeds have been especially since that run of games in November which seemed to start their season when Daniel Farke was on the edge of being sacked according to reports. Since then they’ve climbed up the table and are now sat in 15th six points off West Ham in 18th which now that I’m writing it doesn’t seem as far as I thought they were from the relegation places but it would still be a really successful season as long as Leeds didn’t go down in my opinion. Jayden Bogle really caught my eye today as he’s done a few times this season down that right-hand-side and caused City quite a few problems particularly in that first half. Leeds do need a few more points before they can be sure of survival but I’m sure they’ll get them if they can keep up these performances.
How much can City win this season? When City did the treble back in 2023 you got the feeling around this time that they were building something special in that season with De Bruyne and Haaland having the seasons of their careers and although City are still in all 4 competitions I just don’t get the same feeling with this squad. I don’t know what it is but I just think this City team is missing something that’ll stop them from winning multiple trophies this year, of course I could be wrong and City could win the quadruple but I just don’t have that impending sense of doom that City are going match one of the biggest achievements that my club Manchester United ever managed back in 1999. I suppose only time will tell but I think we’ll find out pretty soon in that Carabao Cup final against Arsenal at the end of March as to who’s going to have the momentum in the last few months of the season.
The gap is back to two points. We are going to see just how much Arsenal have grown as a team over the next few weeks in my opinion as City keep winning games in the league which puts pressure onto this Arsenal side which have crumbled in the past and have shown signs of weakness over the last couple of weeks so we’ll see if Arsenal have the mental fortitude to cope with yet another title race with Man City. City just simply need to keep winning at keep that gap slim until that all important league match against Arsenal at the Etihad in April, there’s a long way to go until then with twists and turns around just about every corner in the Premier League with the onus well and truly on Arsenal and Mikel Arteta to finally get the job done and win this league, big game tomorrow against Chelsea to get that gap back to 5 points, looking forward to it.