Premier League 2022/23 season is almost over and we already have a champion.
Manchester City are the Premier League champions!
This sentence is not really a surprise as City have become the league champions for the 3rd time in the past three years. Overall, Pep Guardiola's side have become champions for five times in the past six years.
The title race for this campaign was between Arsenal and City as the Gunners were leading the table for some time. However, after dropping points, the Gunners blew their chances of becoming English top flight champions.
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This year, City are aiming for a treble as they are currently in the FA Cup final where they will face Manchester United, and the Champions League final where they will face Inter Milan.
City's path to the Champions League final is remarkable as they celebrated a victory over 14 times UCL champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals. Guardiola's side faced Madrid during their previous UCL campaign as well, however, suffered a defeat in the semi-finals.
As the Cityzens are preparing for glory, we have asked several independent media accounts for their opinion on City's 2022/23 campaign.
City Xtra (@City_Xtra)
"Pep Guardiola. Once again, the City boss has proven himself as a transformational and generational coach, adapting his tactics and systems to suit his players and find new ways of winning. The implementation of John Stones into a midfield role, as well as Rico Lewis' stint in the position earlier on in the year, has taken City's control of matches to a whole new level, whilst not having a negative effect on the defensive side of the game.
"On this occasion, we're going to say no, but that's not to say we don't think he should be winning it. Erling Haaland has been nothing short of sensational this side, vastly exceeding our wildest dreams when it comes to his goalscoring output. It's worrying to think where we would have been this season without the Norwegian's goal tally. With that being said however, Lionel Messi exists, and his performances to win the World Cup for Argentina will likely win over a lot of people at the awards. Nevertheless, it'll come very, very close, and perhaps the City man could pip the legendary forward to the crown... who knows!
"Given the form we're in at the moment, and the football we're playing, when you combine those two with the confidence within the squad, it's very hard to not get excited about a treble. Finals are all about fine margins, and a single stroke of luck - or even bad luck - could cost you massively. But when it comes down to pure football quality, Manchester City should now go on to make history!"
Manchestericonic (@manchestriconic)
"With all honestly it wasn't something new to us so there was no tension although we performed below the usual standard for significant part of the season we had good faith that we'll turn our fortunes around once everyone started clicking together.
"One of the best individual seasons we've ever seen and his only 22... so if Erling won Ballon d'Or it wouldn't be undeserved.
"Like Guardiola said: "we will be there"."
City Zone (@City_Zone_)
"It's difficult to pick out one particular key. One could say the mentality, as this club has past experiences in title races, chasing down Liverpool in 2019 from as much as 7 points behind, or staying ahead of Liverpool in 2022. However, Pep Guardiola has made a few small changes in the way the team plays, introducing this new 3-2-4-1 formation that hasn't been seen in the English game for a century. The change in style has maximised the talents of a player like Jack Grealish. The versatility in the squad means John Stones, a centre-back by trade, can even play in a holding midfield role next to Rodri.
"It would be hard to imagine him not winning the Ballon d'Or if City win the Champions League, especially because that could be one part of a historic season ending in a treble.
"Pep Guardiola and his players have stressed the need to take it one game at a time. It's easy to say "City are three wins from the treble," but it's also important to stay grounded because anything can happen in football. However, to suggest the treble (as well as a first Champions League title) can't happen would also be ridiculous due to how close they are to happening."