The opening of the English season in the Super Bowl was not as bright as many would like, but the epilogue was a success. Manchester City opened the scoring in the 77th minute, Arsenal bounced back in the 101st with a rebound and then had a perfect shootout.
Erling Holland is getting in shape, or maybe he finally ate his cherished kebab while on vacation (an obsession with the level of Harley Quinn and her perfect sandwich, which is so hard to eat in Gotham).
Arsenal were not favorites for the match from the opening of the line until the end. The line startedat around 4.30to win and ended with a penalty shootout, where the odds for winningwas at 1.94.
However, Manchester City took the Super Bowl without any problems before Pep arrived, but then they could not prove themselves during the season, but now everything is different. Under Guardiola, three season-opening trophies were lost in a row, but most importantly, they took the championship last season. And for a long time, Arsenal did not show itself, although it strengthened qualitatively, both in terms of composition and game.
What’s on the treble this season?
Analysts of experts appreciate the chances that one of the teams will take the championship, the Cup of the country and the Champions League,odds on this 6.00(does not take – goesfor 1.13). At the same time, City is only in second place in the list of possible contenders, the leader is PSG. And it looks weird. What hope for a team that failed to get along with Leo Messi (and arranged everything so that it was his fault), breaks up with Neymar and tries to forcibly keep Kylian Mbappe? Do not forget about the resignation of Christophe Galtier “of his own free will”, a change in the course of purchases and other things. Maybe this is subtle trolling on the part of bookmakers?
The second place with City is shared by Bayern, which is also problematic, like the neighbors from Paris. It all comes down to two home trophies that the Bavarians have not been able to take since 2020. If there are 11 victories in a row in the championship and the well-deserved title of “record master”, then in the Cup RB Leipzig set its own order, playing in the final three times in a row and lifting the trophy twice.
While the long process of persuading Levy to release Kane from slavery is underway, and Tuchel is trying to establish a game, the main thing is not to break what is left of Nagelsmann. It is hard to consider the Germans as potential treble seekers.
Was there anyone who took the treble two seasons in a row?
In Europe, never. Barcelona tried in the golden days of Guardiola’s tiki-taki, but failed in a row. But it became the first team to win the treble twice at different times (seasons 2008/09 and 2014/15). Bayern repeated this achievement, but, alas, did not become the first.
But there are two cases in the world when teams were able to take the treble twice in a row! We fix:
• Egyptian “Al-Ahly”, seasons 2005/06 and 2006/07, the champion of Egypt, the winner of the Cup of the country and the Champions League;
• Auckland City New Zealand, 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons, New Zealand champions, NZ Championship playoff and Champions League winners.
Among English clubs, except for Manchester City, three trophies in the 1998/99 season were issued by Manchester United. The blue part of Manchester has a chance to become the first club to achieve a couple of such achievements.
What’s the season for City? Really?
Yes, nothing is unrealistic for this team, especially after the arrival of the smart and good Kovacic and the future of defense for a decade, Josko Guardiol. The internal reserves of the team tightened up, and after breaking into the basis of Phil Foden, he gradually grew up to the main one and Cole Palmer.
Last year’s history is already repeating itself, in the 2022/23 season, City lost to Liverpool 1:3, although there was no such density as in the game with Arsenal, the Reds went through the rink. What happened next is already part of history, only in the Premier League the struggle was until the end of the season, in other competitions everything was on the side of the “citizens”. And the victories in the Champions League playoffs over Bayern and Real Madrid only strengthened the belief that everything would work out.
In the English Championship, City are the undisputed favorite of the tournament with coefficient 1.90. Arsenal’s closest pursuers from 7.00 and Liverpool –9.00. In the Cup too, the odds for Guardiola to win quoted for 4.00, at Liverpool9.00, “Arsenal” – 10.00. With such a composition and teamwork, there are practically no prerequisites for the fact that in England someone will impose a fight on the current champion. There were none last season, but Mikel Arteta and his team ruffled City’s nerves.
In the Champions League, the Citizens are also favorites with coefficient 3.50. Traditionally followed by Bayern (7.00) and Real Madrid (11.00), that’s just again surfaced from somewhere PSG with odds of 10.00. They still seem to believe that Mbappe will come to his senses for the millions of persuasion of President Macron.
Over the past six years, the team has scored only once under 90 in a season, in the 2020/21 championship. The rest of the time, strictly above 93 goals, this is the total set by bookmaker analysts. With such an attacking group and Haaland, who will reach the peak around the first match of the new championship, the total of over 92.5 goals per season looks like a nice bonus to the long term.