Man City get into gear for another season finale run

LONDON, April 12 : Manchester City's 3-0 Premier League victory at Chelsea, hard on the heels of a League Cup final triumph over Arsenal and an FA Cup thrashing of Liverpool, suggests Pep Guardiola's men are embarking on another of their devastating late-season runs.

Although Sunday's win followed league draws against struggling West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, City's second-half dismantling of Chelsea and their recent cup exploits will send a shiver down the spines of table-toppers Arsenal.

The Gunners unexpectedly lost 2-1 at home to Bournemouth on Saturday and although the Londoners remain six points clear, second-placed City have a game in hand and will host Arsenal next weekend.

After seeing his side sweep Chelsea aside with three goals nL1N40V05L in 17 second-half minutes by Nico O'Reilly, Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku, Guardiola sought to downplay suggestions that his side had all the wind behind them.

"Well, we have done a good three games but the best team in England so far is Arsenal, the best team in Europe so far is Arsenal," the Spaniard said.

"To win (against) Arsenal once is so difficult - 49 games, they lost three in all competitions - imagine twice in the (space) of three weeks or one month," he said, referring to City's 2-0 League Cup win over the Gunners.

But, Guardiola also said things could change quickly. "The momentum shifts, like this," he said, clicking his fingers. "In one second, it shifts."

A look at the history books shows why Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal players have reasons to worry.

City have won 29 of their last 32 top-flight matches in the month of April under Guardiola and have lost only once during that period.

In the 2018/19 season, they won their last 14 league matches to pip Liverpool