For now, at least, Arsenal can’t seem to end Manchester City’s stranglehold on the Premier League. It hasn’t been for the want of trying though with Mikel Arteta’s excellent team pushing the Sky Blues harder than any other Premier League club has managed to over the last 24 months.
City, to their credit, have been ruthlessly consistent when it mattered most, and following a rare slip-up against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium in mid-April, the initiative in yet another title race has been handed to Pep Guardiola’s team.
A familiar tale
Understandably, memories of last season’s run-in would have returned after City hauled the Gunners in with the finish line in touching distance. Still, trailing City by just two points after matchday 32 is by no means an insurmountable gap and there might yet be a twist in the tale.
With that said and while winning the league remains a reality, it is also true that seeing City surge past will be demoralizing for everyone connected to Arsenal after another wholehearted effort at winning the club’s first league title in 20 years looks to be in vain.
Indeed, it has become a tiresome sight for the rest of the Premier League and as things stand, a sense of the inevitable about what happens next is in the air. This fear of the worst happening is the direct result of City winning five titles in six seasons and building up a head of steam that is proving nearly impossible to stop.
Of course, the elephant in the room accompanying this unprecedented success is the 115 charges that City face regarding alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules from 2009 to 2018. If proven, these infringements could have potentially helped give the Cityzens the impetus to dominate English football to the extent they have.
Speaking in May last year, Pep Guardiola said he told Manchester City he would leave if he found out the club had lied to him about their financial affairs. pic.twitter.com/vgHqSbVY78
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) February 6, 2023
From an Arsenal standpoint, they might be coming up just short against what is admittedly a phenomenal team, but one that might also have built up a winning DNA on the back of potentially overspending.
It should be stressed that it is always wise to maintain an “innocent until proven” guilty view on these matters until a verdict is reached. In the case that one is, however, and it is returned as guilty, could the Gunners potentially seek compensation from City for not winning the Premier League during the 2022/2023 season?
This is, at least, what Leeds United, Leicester, and Burnley did when they were relegated and it was later confirmed that Everton had broken FFP rules in the season they all went down. In the eyes of these three clubs, Everton preserved their Premier League status by spending more than they were allowed on transfers.
In the end, the trio of aggrieved clubs agreed to negotiate a settlement with Everton who acknowledged their grievances. The point is that there is precedent and the stakes are as high as the top of the Premier League as they are at the bottom.
So, how might it work for Arsenal?
The process
In the event that City were not as obliging as Everton were, a third-party independent panel would be used to determine whether the Gunners had a case.
This type of process would be more or less similar to what is done if you needed to resolve an online gambling dispute and couldn’t reach any middle ground with the casino you’re in dialogue with. Typically, a third party would then step in to assess your claim to see if you were due any compensation.
In other words, there are avenues to explore when a party feels wronged.
There is still time to beat City on the field
For now, Arsenal’s thoughts will purely be on trying to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself this season in the quest to avoid being pipped to the title by City. Under the management of Arteta, the club is in the best hands to achieve this.
However, the day will come when the issue of compensation might need to be looked at if the Premier League are successful in their case against the current champions of England.
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