Pep Guardiola has successfully and masterly turned Manchester City into the great untouchables of the English Premier League, making them an mperious power, moving with a speed of force to win titles from a position of disadvantage.
Manchester City’s domination of the game in England is now so all-consuming that a historic fourth successive Premier League title is treated like an inevitable matter of routine.
City went into the final game of the season ahead for the sixth time in seven seasons needing only a win over West Ham United to secure the crown once again, and they fittingly delivered.
In doing so, Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering team have proven they are the immortal untouchables of the Premier League.
They seem impervious to normal pressures and the fact they have rewritten the record books will barely provoke excessive comment or deep-dive analysis. It was expected. The seismic shock would have been failure to complete their mission.
It is a stretch to say Manchester City have become so aligned with success that these unprecedented feats are met with a shrug of the shoulders, but the fact they have won 19 and drawn four of 23 league games since losing at Aston Villa in December has surprised very few.
This is where the elephant in the room must be mentioned because every City success will be accompanied by the narrative that they still face 115 Premier League charges for alleged financial irregularities – charges the club are at pains to stress they strenuously deny.
If the measure is football, however, there are no arguments.
City’s trademark end-of-season surge , the type of which broke Arsenal hearts as it did Liverpool’s before them , s now simply similar to muscle memory kicking in.
