Can Anyone Stop Manchester City’s Dominance?

Since joining the club back in 2016, Pep Guardiola has taken Manchester City to the top of the footballing world. The iconic manager is now on the verge of winning his 4th Premier League title in a row, which will make it 6X Premier League titles, 1X Champions League, 2X FA Cups, 4X Carabao Cups, 1X UEFA Super Cup, and 1X FIFA Club World Cup in 7 years.

With Pep still having another year to go on his contract (2024/25) and a contract extension looking likely in the summer, more trophies are yet on the horizon — which isn’t good news for fans of other Premier League teams. For now, the bookies on minimumdepositbettingsites.com have City down as favorites to win the league this season, with City also expected to be favorites for the upcoming 2024/25 campaign.

Can Anyone Stop Pep’s Manchester City?

Manchester City are currently facing 115 charges related to breaches of Premier League regulations. If the club is found to be guilty in the 2025 verdict, it could lead to massive points deduction and even see Manchester City get kicked out of the Premier League. From a fan’s perspective, this is the only way that Manchester City’s dominance in the modern era could be stopped.

Fans can also cling onto the hope that other Premier League clubs could get taken over by rich investors from Saudi Arabia, as recently seen with Newcastle. This would then allow teams to compete financially with City. However, financial fair play restrictions mean that new investors can’t splash the cash the way they used to be able to. For example, when Manchester City originally got taken over by Sheikh Mansour in 2008, they could spend their  money however they liked — but this is something that clubs with new owners can no longer do today. In a sense, City have a financial and footballing monopoly on the Premier League, which makes life for the other 19 teams incredibly difficult.

During Pep’s time with Manchester City, only Jürgen Klopp and his Liverpool men have stopped City from having complete control over English football. In most seasons, Liverpool have been able to push City down to the wire and even managed to delight Kopites by winning the 2019/20 Premier League title. However, Liverpool have fallen off slightly over recent years, which has led to Arsenal filling in the gap. Despite performing exceptionally well, Arsenal have struggled to put an end to City’s dominance, too, with Mikel Arteta falling short in the 2022/23 campaign and struggling to stay ahead of The Blues during the 2023/24 season as well.

Will Manchester City Be Relegated?

The controversy surrounding Manchester City’s 115 charges is hotting up. Before the summer of 2025, an official verdict is expected on the case, which is believed to be one of the main reasons why Pep Guardiola has yet to sign a new contract. Nobody knows for certain what will happen, although reports keep circling that there’s a realistic possibility that City will be punished. Most recently, Pete O’Rourke from the Football Insider wrote that city are “unlikely to be relegated to League Two but could be demoted to the Championship”. If this was to happen, it would almost certainly lead to Pep Guardiola and all of City’s star players, from Rhodri to Phil Foden, leaving the club.

Who Can Challenge Manchester City Moving Forward?

If City are to beat the 115 charges and remain in the Premier League, the teams most likely to challenge them moving forward are Arsenal, Newcastle, Aston Villa, and Chelsea.

Arsenal have experienced a major resurgence under Mikel Arteta and have pushed Manchester City for the past couple of seasons. With Newcastle, you have a team with mega-rich owners, exciting players, and an ambitious manager in Eddie Howe. Aston Villa are currently on their best run of form in recent memory and have been inspired ever since the arrival of Unai Emery, a successful manager intent on bringing trophies to Villa Park. Finally, you have Mauricio Pochettino’s young and highly expensive Chelsea squad that (despite being incredibly inconsistent for the past 2 years) have all the potential in the world to challenge for Premier League titles. Whether you’re a passionate Premier League supporter or a fan of all football, it will certainly be interesting to see if one of these teams can successfully put an end to City’s near decade-long dominance.

Categorised in: All Blogs, The Football Forum Blog

This post was written by Powered by thefootballforum.net