Title outcome inevitable as Guardiola's City keep raising the bar

LONDON : The only real surprise about Manchester City's march to a fifth Premier League crown in six seasons is that a callow Arsenal side managed to keep Pep Guardiola's serial winners honest for such a long time.

Even until a few weeks ago the outcome of the title race looked, on paper at least, too close to call.

The reality, however, is that once City engaged top gear, ironically about the same time they were charged with around 100 historical breaches of Premier League financial rules, the outcome has never really been in doubt.

Since that day in February when City's critics licked their lips at the prospect of the club bank-rolled by Sheikh Mansour's getting its comeuppance, they are unbeaten in all competitions.

They have amassed 40 points from the last 42 on offer in the Premier League, scoring 39 goals and conceding 10 and registering 3-1 and 4-1 victories over Arsenal.

They also sauntered into the FA Cup final and reached the Champions League final with crushing victories over Europe's old masters Bayern Munich and Real Madrid en route and are closing on a repeat of the treble achieved by Manchester United in 1999.

Arsenal led the table for large swathes of the season as a first title since 2004 looked possible, but ultimately buckled under the pressure of a relentless City.

"Manchester City are a team that have had the capacity to win by 10 points but they haven't done that this season because of what we have done," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of his side's brave attempt to stop City winning three titles in a row.

Arteta, like every other manager in the world, may cast an envious eye to the resources available to Guardiola.

The fact City can blow most of their rivals out of the water when it comes to spending