Pep's demand for perfection fuels Manchester hunger

Manchester City's insatiable appetite for trophies spells bad news for any club hoping to break the stranglehold that Pep Guardiola's side continues to have on English soccer.

Admirably, Arsenal pushed it very close this season, but, once again, the sight of Guardiola's players cavorting with the Premier League trophy was the abiding image of the final day.

City's 3-1 victory over West Ham United on Sunday took it to a place not even the great Liverpool side of the 1980s, or the Manchester United team of the late 1990s and 2000s, inhabited.

A fourth successive English league title is unprecedented, and the big question is: Who will stop the City march?

It has averaged 89.7 points in its last four title-winning seasons and, while Guardiola's side again failed to threaten the 100 it amassed in 2017-18, City proved that, when the pressure is really on, it is almost indomitable.

Arsenal and Liverpool both led City in the standings during the final months of the campaign, but the champion put together a blistering run of 19 wins and four draws since its last league defeat by Aston Villa on Dec 6.

No one was really surprised, because, in 53-year-old Guardiola, City has a manager obsessed with perfection.

"It's a bit demanding at times. It's tough, but look what he's done. He demands a lot every single day," City's Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland said of playing for Guardiola. "If you don't live up to what he expects, you have a big problem."

The Spaniard has now won the Premier League title six times in his eight seasons at Etihad Stadium and, perhaps, the only glimmer of hope for the rest of the league is that he might decide to follow Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and step away.

"The reality is that I am closer to leaving than staying. I have talked with the club — my feeling is that I want to stay now. I will stay next season, and during the season we will talk," the former Barcelona boss said. "But eight or nine years — we'll see."

Incredibly, in the 152 Premier League matches City has played across the last four seasons, it has recorded 112 victories with just 17 defeats, racking up 372 goals.

That is in a league regarded as the toughest in Europe, where the huge broadcasting deals mean all 20 clubs have the spending power to sign some of the world's best talent.

"Pep Guardiola has designed a style of football that is being copied not just around this country, but all around Europe," former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville told Sky Sports.

"Most of all, he is a winning machine that instills that in everybody who works with him."

City's Belgian midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, who along with 23-year-old Phil Foden now has six Premier League titles to his name with City, explained that the secret was quite simple.

"The manager sets the tone, but this team, we enjoy playing with each other. It is not a team with big egos," he said.

"We play around with each other, we run like crazy and we just enjoy it. The enjoyment is lasting, so that's it."

It could yet get better for City, with next Saturday's FA Cup final against Manchester United still to come. There will be no slackening off until another trophy is in the bag and a double secured, hot on the heels of last year's treble.

REUTERS