Analyzing Man City’s ‘unstoppable’ form as they attempt three-pointers

Manchester City’s 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabéu in the Champions League semi-final first leg with Real Madrid brought their unbeaten run to 21 games.

Pep Guardiola’s side are unbeaten since early February, with 17 wins and four draws, as they peak at the end of the season and a potential treble.

Here, we look at his seemingly unstoppable form.

treble chase

City are chasing glory on three fronts, seeking to emulate the feat of winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season accomplished by local rivals Manchester United in 1998-99.

Thirty-seven points from the last 39 available have helped them clinch longtime league leaders Arsenal, winning by one point with four games remaining to the Gunners’ three.

They have beaten their title rivals twice in that time, 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium and 4-1 at home a fortnight ago.

Improbably relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest are the only team to have taken a point from them in that time after Chris Wood’s late equalizer.

Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Southampton, Leicester, Fulham, West Ham and Leeds are his other victims, with 36 goals scored in those 13 games and 10 conceded.

Their other draws have come in the first legs of their three Champions League ties, all 1-1 against RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Real.

Home games against the two Bundesliga teams saw Leipzig beaten 7-0 and Bayern 3-0, while in the FA Cup they beat former City captain Vincent Kompany’s Burnley 6-0 and two other teams. of the Championship, Bristol City and Sheffield United, 3-0 to prepare for a Manchester derby in the final.

Such lead-up form is nothing new for City, who won last season’s league title by one point after ending a 12-game unbeaten run, including nine wins, and also won their last 14 in a row for beat Liverpool in 2018-19. title – as part of a domestic treble.

Hot-shot Haaland leads the way

Erling Haaland is unsurprisingly City’s top scorer in the current run with 20 of City’s 61 goals.

That includes back-to-back hat-tricks against Leipzig, with a staggering five goals, and Burnley, helping them pass half a century of the season while holding a record 35 for a Premier League campaign.

Kevin De Bruyne’s upset against Real was his seventh goal of the streak, while Haaland’s substitute Julián Álvarez has six.

There have been five for Riyad Mahrez, who scored a hat-trick in the FA Cup semi-final against the Blades, Phil Foden and Ilkay Gundogan. Twelve City players have scored in all, plus an own goal from Bournemouth’s Chris Mepham.

“We feel unstoppable”

Winger Jack Grealish spoke after the draw at the Bernabéu about his confidence in reaching the Champions League final, based on City’s formidable record at home.

“Within us at the Etihad, we feel unstoppable there,” the England international told BT Sport after playing his role in a spirited first leg.

His view is confirmed by the statistics, City have won all 11 home games in their current run with 40 goals scored and just five conceded.

That sequence at the Etihad stretches to 15 straight wins since their New Year’s Eve draw with Everton and an unbeaten 17 since losing to Brentford in November.

Away from home, since Tottenham’s defeat, City have won six games and drawn four, scoring 21 goals and conceding eight.