Man City are nowhere near their best form. For the last few seasons, many have questioned whether they are worthy of being feared anymore. Even in one of their worst seasons in recent history, Pep Guardiola's team is in touching distance of the Premier League title, in the Carabao Cup final, through to the Champions League knockouts and still in the FA Cup. That's exactly why they're so scary.
Heading into this season, rival fans were quick to write Man City off. The reason was simple: They had just come off the back of surrendering their Premier League title to Liverpool, and they still housed some of the same players that some would call "done."
Man City fans hit the nail on the head with the club's rebuild
Man City fans on Reddit have pointed out that Man City's "rebuild" year might just be one of their most exciting in recent years. Yes, that's even including the Premier League title winning years.
One fan said, "I’m thrilled with the squad this season. It’s a rebuilding year, and I think we’ve far exceeded expectations. We have our destiny in our hands for the Prem title: if we win all our games, we win the title. That’s an exceptionally good position to be in for the youth and inexperience we have in our squad. Next season we will be even better. Let’s make Arsenal perpetual runners-up."
Another fan then responded, "I believed we would compete for the title, but I can't say I predicted being in all 4 comps come March. The last time we had that was 2021."
Sometimes, taking a step back and looking at Man City's holistically is in order. It's easy to get caught up in the "Man City tax", by overlooking any achievement Man City hits just because they've set higher standards in recent years.
There is a lot of talk about Arsenal winning the quadruple this season, but the team stopping them in their tracks is Man City.
If Man City wins every remaining fixture this season (which, let's face it, isn't beyond the realms of possibility), then Arsenal will go trophyless, again. Don't let the league position sway you, Man City is still around, and they've been in this position before.
What's scarier is that this isn't the best version of Man City we've seen, and it's definitely not the best version we're about to see. The likes of Erling Haaland, Marc Guehi, Phil Foden and Nico O'Reilly are not in their peak years yet.