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5 reasons Manchester City will catch Chelsea

By David Cambridge

SWANSEA, WALES - SEPTEMBER 24: Manager of Manchester City, Josep Guardiola reacts during the Premier League match between Swansea City and Manchester City at The Liberty Stadium on September 24, 2016 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)
SWANSEA, WALES - SEPTEMBER 24: Manager of Manchester City, Josep Guardiola reacts during the Premier League match between Swansea City and Manchester City at The Liberty Stadium on September 24, 2016 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images) /
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 22: Josep Guardiola manager of Manchester City in discussion with Kevin De Bruyne during a Manchester City training session on the eve of their UEFA Champions League match against Borussia Moenchengladbach at Football Academy Campus on November 22, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 22: Josep Guardiola manager of Manchester City in discussion with Kevin De Bruyne during a Manchester City training session on the eve of their UEFA Champions League match against Borussia Moenchengladbach at Football Academy Campus on November 22, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images) /

The Pep effect

After a mixed start to life in the Premier League, the new Man City manager has asked the impatient English footballing world for the time to properly stamp his mark on his new team. Many are reluctant to go easy on the man who spent close to £150M in the off-season, but you can kind of see where he’s coming from.

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Pep has radically shifted the way City play – they weren’t exactly a long ball team under Pellegrini but the Chilean was not nearly as single-minded as his successor – and several members of the ageing squad he inherited are perhaps not as malleable as the hungry youngsters he’s worked with at his previous clubs.

At Barca, things weren’t as plain sailing in the early goings as some have claimed: the Catalans dropped just a handful of points during the first half of Pep’s maiden 2008-09 season, but they didn’t really hit their stride until the business end – as Manchester United found out during their Champions League final clash in Rome. All things being equal, City should find their best form during the hectic title run-in. The real test is staying within touching distance of the league leaders up until then, but their manager has a fiercely pragmatic streak to see him through.

Granted, Conte hasn’t exactly been slow to get his Chelsea team playing the way he wants them to, but, without so many games, he’s also had much more time on the training pitch – time that detail-obsessed Pep would kill for.

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