Unstoppable Manchester City on the road to greatness

SIX days before Christmas, Manchester City - an expensively-assembled team languishing in mid-table in the English Premier League (EPL) at the time - were set to face high-flying Southampton on a bitterly cold night in the south coast of England.

Pep Guardiola's players - champions in 2018 and 2019 but looking a pale shadow of their former flamboyant selves - seemed to be in for another torrid evening. As things turned out, however, a Raheem Sterling strike after 16 minutes was enough to settle a quite forgettable match.

Those three hard-earned points took them up to sixth position, eight points behind Liverpool, the defending champions who seemed poised to retain their trophy at a canter.

Few could have imagined what would happen over the next 10 weeks. That drab 1-0 victory over Southampton turned out to be extremely significant, as it kick-started a winning streak that now stands at 21 - and counting.

Handsome margins

The Citizens have claimed the scalps of opponents in four different competitions, including Arsenal (twice), Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Monchengladbach.

It doesn't matter if the match was played at home or away, Manchester City walked off the pitch as the victors. And often, they did so by handsome margins - 4-1, 3-0, 5-0 - with the strikers, midfielders and even defenders contributing to the goal tally.

In a dazzling squad with so much attacking talent, it's notable that midfielder Ilkay Gundogan of Germany leads the City goalscorers with 10 goals in the current winning run.

The latest victim in this sequence was Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday night, a team that held City at bay for most of the match until a late flurry of goals allowed Guardiola's men to cruise their way to a comfortable 4-1 win.

It might be premature to celebrate anything right now, with another two months of the season still to play, but it wouldn't be too far-fetched to say that Manchester City surely won't finish their campaign empty-handed.

In fact, some pockets of their spectators are even dreaming of an unprecedented quadruple haul of trophies when all is said and done.

Who can blame them for having such lofty dreams, really? City are now 14 points clear at the top of the EPL standings, and it would take a monumental collapse for them to not finish as champions.

What's more, they have already booked their place in next month's Carabao Cup final against Tottenham at Wembley Stadium, have one firm foot in the Champions League quarter-finals, and are the firm favourites to lift the FA Cup.

Impressive achievements

City's water-tight defence should also get much of the credit. The team has not trailed for a single minute in any of their last 19 Premier League games, a run that equals Arsenal's record set in the late-1990s.

These achievements are all the more impressive given how City started the season so poorly, that the critics were busy sharpening their knives and writing the team's obituaries.

A lacklustre City stumbled their way to some surprise draws and a couple of defeats in September, October and November. At one point, they were so far off the pace in the EPL that there was even talk that they might not even finish in the top four and miss out on a Champions League place.

Mere mortals might have thrown in the towel there and then, but Guardiola - ever the master tactician and experienced motivator - somehow managed to bring back that winning mentality in his players.

With 21 wins on the trot, Manchester City are not just eyeing a glut of trophies but also the chance to write their name in football history.

They already hold the record for the longest winning streak in all competitions among English clubs, and now they are relishing the chance to set the longest winning streak in professional football.

Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam owned that record for 44 long years with 26 wins, until Welsh team The New Saints won 27 in a row in 2016 - a feat recognised by Guinness World Records.

More recently, Bayern Munich sealed 23 consecutive wins in 2020 en route to winning the treble, while Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid's all-conquering side of 2014 led by Cristiano Ronaldo won 22 straight matches.

The next team to face Manchester City on their road to greatness are their cross-town rivals Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium (Monday 12.30am kick-off, Singapore time).

The second-placed Red Devils have already failed to score in two games against City this season, and they head into this derby with the aim extending a 21-match unbeaten away record in the EPL that stretches back to January 2020, and denting City's armour in the process.

But can anything halt this unstoppable bullet train that is Manchester City? The breathtaking performances of the past couple of months suggest not. Guardiola's hungry players are more than ready to devour everything in their path, starting with the scalp of their red-shirted neighbours.