Man City are champions in waiting

As hard as it sounds, I am here to hail Manchester City, the champions-elect of England. This is no whimsical reaction brought about by the seduction of David Silva and company, it is actually the continuation of a prediction I made way back in August last year. Back then I stated that Manchester City would overcome everyone by the sheer weight of quantity and quality to become champions of England for the first time in 44 years.

Despite Manchester United’s stubborn resolve to hang on to their coat tails I still believe that this will be the case indeed and as a matter of fact the one ingredient that has been missing in Manchester City’s recipe for champions finally got into the mix last weekend – and that folks is luck! Let us all agree that the hallmark of any champion is to win when you must, and win when you really should not.

And I dare say that City would not have beaten Tottenham if Emmanuel Adebayor had been at the end of that Gareth Bales cross, but as luck would have it, players on loan can’t play against their parent clubs! More tellingly the only place Mario Balettoli would have been gesturing in front of would have been the bathroom mirrors and not the 6 yard box after yet another successful penalty and his increasingly annoying ritual that follows.

Once again as luck would have it Howard Webb had missed the incident that would have earned ‘Super Mario’ an early shower and denied City the match winner. So Manchester City maintained their three-point advantage, and in so doing completely negated what I thought was a worthwhile effort from their seriously depleted rivals at The Emirates.

The status quo had been maintained and there is very little that can be done about what lies in the past. But even then my belief that Manchester-City are destined to be champions is reinforced by other isolated incidents of good fortune. To start off with is the never ending case of Carlos Tevez. At the start of this season, many, I inclusive believed that Roberto Mancini’s proof of worth would be his ability to gel this loose collection of talent. There is still Balotelli to deal with, but as luck would have it Tevez’ juvenile behaviour handed Mancini the perfect opportunity to demonstrate to all playing staff how dissent would be dealt with. It was an opportunity he grabbed like a starving dog that finds itself in a busy abattoir!

Lastly look at the fixtures and you shall find a line-up that favours Manchester City. For example, all but four of City’s next 15 Premiership games between now and the end of the season are against clubs outside the top seven. United may share similar fixtures statistics but they are already three points off.

Still we just can’t say Manchester City have been purely lucky as it is known that fortune favours the brave. If they have been lucky along the way, it is perhaps because they have made their own luck.
Through grit and tact they have ensured that Manchester United’s ferocity remains that of an old lion which senses the end is near!

banturakim@gmail.com