There’s a sum total of zero people surprised by Manchester City’s Premier League title victory. There might be a couple City fans disappointed that it didn’t happen a week earlier in the Manchester Derby or maybe that it didn’t even happen in a City game at all, meaning they couldn’t be there to witness it, but these are small and quickly forgotten regrets when you’ve wrapped up the title with five whole games to go. Especially for anyone at the pub with Vincent Kompany. And the fact that it was so predictable is exactly what makes is such an incredible achievement.

Like, Leicester City were a stunner from start to finish. Gotta love an underdog story… but there’s a reason they weren’t able to repeat it. Manchester City, meanwhile, absolutely blitzed the field in Pep Guardiola’s second season in charge. They had one hand on the Premier League title before the turn of the year after a record 18 consecutive wins (and 22 unbeaten games to start the season) left the rest of them all eating dust.

It hasn’t even been close. City needed some late goals to keep that winning streak going and, sure, there have been set backs along the way. The biggest one is their Champions League exit, dropping out of the competition 5-1 on aggregate to Liverpool in the quarters. For some reason Jurgen Klopp is the only person with any idea how to stop Guardiola’s City, also beating them 4-2 in the league and the 5-0 win that City had at home in the fourth game of the season was heavily influenced by Sadio Mane’s first half red card. That feels like such a long time ago now.

City have been clear top since mid-September. They’re three wins away from the most ever in a Premier League season (and it’s tough to see them not winning at least three out of Swansea (H), West Ham (A), Huddersfield (H), Brighton (H) & Southampton (A)). With 93 goals already they’re ten shy of tying Chelsea’s record of 103 in their 2009-10 campaign and they’ll surely beat that side’s record +71 goal difference too (they’re at +68 as it stands). Similarly the all-time best 95 points that Chelsea took in 2004-05 is well in range… in fact they could still get to triple figures if they take 13 more from their last 15 available. To be honest, it’s been a clinic.

Funny thing is, a year ago people were talking about Guardiola like he’d finally met his match. God forbid a man could come third once in every decade. That was not a fully rounded squad he was working with either, his coaching ability was clear upon the likes of Raheem Stirling, Kevin de Bruyne and Fernandinho but he was dealing with a very ragged defence and an overreliance on Sergio Aguero up front, a player he didn’t particularly see as a perfect fit for his system anyway. The foundations of this 2017-18 side were laid with their possession schemes and attacking strategy but there was only so much he could do with that. Remember Claudio Bravo’s stint as the number one? Remember Ilkay Gundogan’s injury (and the silly t-shirts)? Remember Yaya Toure having to play a significant role? Yeah… not quite how Pep would script it.

So he did what needed to be done. City dipped into the transfer market for four highly priced (but not top shelf priced) new first team members, three of them fullbacks. Out went Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov and in came Kyle Walker, Danilo and Benjamin Mendy (and don’t forget old boy Fabian Delph, who apparently is a half decent left back these days). Ederson was signed to be the new keeper. Bernardo Silva arrived as a much better version of Nolito/Jesus Navas. And when they needed another centre-back in January, they splashed out on Aymeric Laporte.

Strange that what might turn out to be the best attacking team of the Premier League era was bolstered almost entirely with defensive players but that was the secret. Sure things up at the back, with the right kinds of players, and it all suddenly clicked. Fullbacks with pace and energy mean the attacking mids can drift inside and target those channels between the opposition CBs and FBs, the area where City absolutely feasts. Get dudes like Stirling, Sane, Aguero, Silva (either one will do) and Gabby Jesus dashing about there and there isn’t a backline in the world can survive. It’s the same old dance: one-two on the edge of the area, cut back across goal, easy tap-in. Bingo.

Obviously City keep the ball better than anyone else. That’s always been a Pep thing. An average of 65.9% possession is far and away the best and they’ve already crushed the record for completed passes in a Premier League game more than once. You’d think that playing David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne that deep would be inviting danger but you can’t get at their defensive frailties when you don’t have the ball and when City have that level of vision and passing range in the middle, bloody hell. Plus as a bonus these jokers are absolute masters at the quick foul. Take note next time you watch them, see how often somebody concedes a free kick right after they lose possession so they can get back in defensive shape. If you think that’s cheap, it’s only because your team didn’t think of it first.

City’s attack is no fluke. It’s a remarkably detailed thing implemented through meticulous hours on the training paddock. Guardiola marks out the training field in 20 zones in order to illustrate how players need to move on and off the ball. Their metronomic passing is always purposeful, they’re cleverly manipulating defenders to create space to pounce upon. If it doesn’t happen, well they just patiently keep going until it does.

Silva and KDB are the obvious conductors of all this and they’re getting all the credit they deserve. Similar goes to the attackers who so often benefit, guys like Sterling and Sane. It’s no lie that their defence is a bit brittle sometimes. Set pieces aren’t their favourite thing to deal with and the rapid nature of Liverpool’s heavy metal pressing caused issues the last three times they played (and lost to) the Reds. Manchester United briefly did the same when Paul Pogba was inexplicably let off his leash by Mourinho for half a game. Hey, no system is ever perfect. But Ederson’s been wonderful in goal, Nic Otamendi has become shockingly consistent all of a sudden and, the underrated hero here, Fernandinho is probably the best defensive midfielder in the Premier League. He certainly was this season, sorry N’Golo. That man is essential to it all. It’s his presence that allows Kyle Walker to attack as much as he does. It’s his presence that frees up Silva and KDB.

Pep Guardiola’s always been a perfectionist, it’s like his life’s goal is to take football into its ultimate evolution, 2001: A Space Odyssey styles. But football changes and adapts around him too. It was Jose Mourinho whose anti-football approach helped make Pep’s Barcelona stuff untenable, illustrating that you could defend deep and frustrate a team like that by blocking all those precious channels and maybe snatching a cheeky goal at the other end on the break. So Pep went to Bayern Munich and adapted things to include actual wingers and a striker and more traditional formational play. Now he’s evolved again with Manchester City and this is the result.

But somebody will catch up sooner or later, somebody will figure out the way to beat this team. Jurgen Klopp might convincingly argue somebody already has. The talk right now is very reasonably about whether City can repeat as champions next season but remember that every team has a shelf life too and we’ve got to appreciate what this one has done this season. Damn, they’re good. They’re soooo flippin’ good.

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