Ray Parlour thinks Manchester City winning the league unbeaten this season would be an even bigger achievement than when the Gunners did it.
It seems very early to be talking about Manchester City as unbeaten league winners.
After all, they’re only five points ahead of second place right now, and we’re only 10 games in.
However, that hasn’t stopped people from talking about how impressive the team has been, and how they look like the kind of side that can’t be beaten [Edit – doesn’t this happen every season with one team or another?].
Ray Parlour says it would be harder to maintain that sort of form now over 38 games than it was in 2004, telling talkSPORT: “I’m not disrespecting our team, it was a brilliant team, but I just think it’s so much more competitive now.
“You look at the top six or seven teams in the Premier League [they’re all competitive]. When we did it in 2004 you had Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, and then after that the other teams weren’t as good as they are now.
“So, for me, it’s much harder to do it now.
“Manchester City at the moment are looking so good, they’re great to watch and great going forward.
“But it’s when they get that little bit of a blip, have they got the players to dig in in those moments and get a point out of the game?”
Parlour is right to point out that we haven’t really seen City’s resolve being tested yet.
Plenty of teams go on winning runs, then have one tough game and fall apart.
Guardiola’s side will be full of confidence at the moment, but if they find themselves frustrated up front and drop a goal against the run of play, it’ll be how they respond at that point that tells us if they might possibly go a whole season unbeaten.
As for whether the league is more competitive now, there are certainly more teams that think they should be fighting for the title than there were in 2004.
Plus, with the insane TV money, every club has a good chance of beating the top teams on any given day.
Perhaps it really would be a bigger achievement, but since there are so many clubs that could still beat City, I’m going to wait until we’ve had a few more of the remaining 28 league games before I start calling them ‘Invincibles Mark II’.
Like, say, another 28…