The media pretend Manchester City could be RELEGATED and that Arsenal could benefit

Editor F365
Manchester City have been charged by the Premier League with breaches of FFP

Because that’s a lot more fun than accepting that nothing is going to happen to Manchester City for years and years…

 

RELEGATION trouble
Manchester City cannot get relegated by the Premier League. That seems key as we look at how The Sun are dealing with this story…

‘Pep Guardiola looks fed up at Man City training as he’s seen for first time since finding out club face RELEGATION’

To repeat, Manchester City cannot get relegated. Or RELEGATED. And any punishment at all is going to take years to mete out.

But why let that get in the way of talk of RELEGATION after Getty Images have posted two pictures of Pep Guardiola looking a little bit thoughtful.

‘PEP GUARDIOLA had a face of thunder when he was seen for the first time since the news of Manchester City’s alleged financial breaches broke.’

A ‘face of thunder’? Does this look like a ‘face of thunder’? Whoever wrote this – Joshua Jones – is clearly not a married man.

Pensive, yes. Thoughtful, yes. A ‘face of thunder’? F*** no.

‘Guardiola, 52, quickly had to put the bombshell, unprecedented allegations aside to prepare for Sunday’s home clash with Aston Villa.

‘The City boss was pictured sitting on a drinks cooler box as he watched his players in action, seemingly deep in touch.’

Deep in touch? Assuming it’s supposed to say ‘deep in thought’ then well, that’s exactly what he looks. And by any stretch of the imagination, that is not a news story.

‘On the pitches, his players got on with their drills, less than 24 hours after the defeat to Tottenham in North London.

‘Guardiola had complained about the “exhausting” trip to the capital – but clearly had little sympathy for his stars following the loss.

‘It seems those who did not start the match – such as Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Kalvin Phillips – were called in and put through their paces.’

They weren’t ‘called in’. It’s pretty standard that players who do not start a Sunday game would train on Monday, regardless of whether they have been on an ‘exhausting’ trip to London. And it’s got absolutely f*** all to do with City’s current issues.

 

RELEGATION fight
To repeat, Manchester City cannot be relegated. Here’s the Telegraph‘s James Ducker to explain…

But that doesn’t stop the fun because Manchester City being RELEGATED feels like the ultimate punishment (that would never happen).

And it absolutely must be capitalised…

‘Could Man City really be RELEGATED from the Premier League? Why the champions have been charged and what could happen to club and Pep Guardiola’ – TalkSPORT.

‘Manchester City’s Premier League charges MUST lead to RELEGATION if proven, says a former financial advisor to the champions – and they will have NO financial advantage on lawyers’ – MailOnline.

‘Premier League rivals demand Man City be RELEGATED if found guilty of staggering 100-plus FFP rule breaches’ – The Sun.

They will not be relegated. Or RELEGATED.

 

Sitting on the dock of the bay
One option for punishment is the docking of points, but that is not going to happen any time soon, with some estimates suggesting the process could take at least two years.

Everybody knows this and yet there is money to be made in pretending otherwise and that points will be deducted this season.

‘Man City charged: How Premier League table would look if docked same points as Juventus’ – Mirror Sport.

You might as well ask how the Premier League table would look if aliens came down and abducted Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Hickey.

But Goal really have leaned into the theme, welcomed by their Arsenal correspondent during a seven-day break between games.

‘Why Arsenal & Arteta do NOT want Man City to be deducted points – even if it would guarantee them the Premier League title’

Even if we ignore the fact – and it’s a pretty big fact – that there is no chance of Manchester City being deducted points this season, does Charles Watts profess to know the inner workings of Arsenal minds on this subject?

Well no, it’s basically what Watts thinks. And what we learn quite quickly is that he thinks this is a bollocks concept but presumably, he was asked to write about this because Manchester City stories are doing the numbers this week.

‘There are plenty at United and Liverpool calling for City’s titles to be taken off them, while there have been the inevitable jokes from Arsenal fans demanding that Pep Guardiola’s side are hit with an immediate points deduction.

‘Of course, that outcome feels impossible, given how long the impending legal process promises to be.

‘But hypothetically speaking, if City were docked points and Arsenal were left with a clear run to the title, would that really be something they want?

‘I don’t think so.’

So the whole piece is a guess of how Arsenal would react if an ‘impossible’ and ‘hypothetical’ situation happened. And the conclusion is that the Arsenal manager who has led his team to the position of being five points clear of champions Manchester City would probably quite like to win the title on their own merit.

Come back when you have a theory about whether Arteta would like those aliens to pick up a West Ham winger and a Brentford full-back. Fully expecting the answer to be ‘I don’t think so’.

 

Mediawatch