Man City 3 Brentford 0
Second half keeps Cities hope of a title alive. You could sense a nervous energy around the Etihad in the first half as City struggled to create clear-cut chances against a resolute Brentford side with Doku looking by far Cities best player in the first chance, Brentford did look dangerous on the break with Matheus Nunes very nearly getting sent off only getting a very small touch on the ball as Kevin Schade ran clean through. The second half continued the same way up until the man of the hour Jeremy Doku had the ball played short from a corner to him as he tried to play the ball back to Bernardo Silva with the ball ricocheting back to him in the box with the Belgian unleashing yet another beauty into the top corner to finally get the opening goal for City in the 60th minute, the Etihad was still on edge up until the 75th minute when City got the second as Semenyo ran down the line in the box cutting the ball back which found Haaland who bundled the ball home with a sort of backheel to give City some breathing room in the game. Just before the end of the game City nabbed another as Haaland picked up the ball and slipped in Marmoush who worked some space a finished well to give City some goals back in the goal-difference which could yet play a part in this title race, all the eyes now on Arsenal against West Ham tomorrow with both teams needing a win.
Nerves yet again in the City side. You really could sense the nerves in the City team today with some players looking really poor on the ball throughout the game, the likes of Cherki, Semenyo, Reijnders all had poor games which led to the game being at a stalemate up until Doku stepped up yet again and got City out of trouble. When you have a player in the form of their life like Jeremy Doku you have to keep giving him the ball and that’s what City did brilliantly today giving Doku a 1 on 1 opportunity with Kayode every chance they got which gave City some chances in that first half but none that were really clear-cut, the goal in the second half was just top class and got City going when it looked like they might not get that goal. Haaland got his goal as well which settled the nerves at 2-0 after bundling the ball in past Kelleher along with getting the assist for Marmoush which could be massive now that there’s only one in the goal difference between City and Arsenal, defensively I thought City might have problems with the absence of Khusanov but they dealt with Igor Thiago and Kevin Schade well despite there being some nervy moments back there from the likes of Donnarumma but they managed to keep the clean sheet. The win is all that matters but you get the feeling that if Arsenal win tomorrow it won’t matter as that will most likely seal the title with Burnley and Crystal Palace left to play.
Brentford’s hope of getting into Europe looking bleaker now. I don’t think Brentford played too badly today keeping City at bay until the wondergoal from Doku which ultimately killed them in the game, they did look dangerous on the counter with Thiago and Schade but the decision making in the final third let them down yet again like against United a few weeks ago. Their chances of finishing in Europe now are getting lower each week with both Brighton and Bournemouth winning earlier on which has Brentford in 8th which still could be a European position depending on Aston Villa in the Europa League, of course they would love to finish in a European position but it’s still been an unbelievable season for Brentford and Keith Andrews with a lot of people including me having them going down this year. Kudos to everyone at Brentford after losing their two best players and manager in the summer, there’s not many clubs that could survive after that.
Jeremy Doku has found that extra level in the last month. Ever since Doku has been at City he’s been fun to watch but has lacked that cutting edge that separates the top wingers with the rest, however over the last few games we’ve seen a side to Doku which could easily see him as one of the best wingers in the world if he can keep the consistency in front of goal. There was a game against Liverpool at the Etihad earlier on in the season when we saw this side of Doku for the first time where he absolutely blitzed Liverpool all game scoring a brilliant goal to cap it off but we haven’t seen it since up until the last few games where he has dug City out of a massive hole against Everton and now Brentford, it seems like City have a player hit form every time they are going for a title whether it’s Gvardiol in 2024, Foden in 2023 or now Doku in 2026 Pep just seems to get the best out of a player in crunch time in the title race. Will it be enough to win City the title? I don’t think so.
Where does this leave the title race? With this win City close the gap to two points on Arsenal who play West Ham at the London Stadium tomorrow in arguably the biggest game of the season for a plethora of reasons, in my opinion a win for Arsenal seals the title as they would have Burnley and Crystal Palace left which are two very winnable games considering Palace have the Conference League final three days after the game against Arsenal. City still have to go to Bournemouth who haven’t lost in four months in the Premier League so even if Arsenal don’t win tomorrow it might not matter, the goal difference will only matter if Arsenal draw the match tomorrow but if they do there will only be 1 in it so that Marmoush goal could be more important than you think. I’m sure Pep will be watching closely tomorrow in a game which could decide the Premier League at both ends, who do Spurs fans want to win?