That David Moyes’s dismal away record against England’s biggest clubs appears to offer Arsenal little hope of a helping hand at the Etihad on Sunday comes with a cruel irony: were it a little worse, they would not need one.
West Ham’s victory over the Gunners in north London just after Christmas was Moyes’s first-ever away league win at one of the division’s ‘big four’ (Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool) and will be the easiest result to scapegoat as having cost Mikel Arteta’s side the title should the final day go to likeliest script.
There is little in Moyes’s recent history with City to suggest that it will not. Against a pre- and newly-monied club, there was some success, but since leaving Everton more than a decade ago, his only victory over the country’s dominant force came on penalties in the League Cup. A draw would, of course, do for Arsenal, but at the Etihad, as West Ham boss, Moyes has lost five out of five.
The Scot was not exactly in bullish mood last weekend when joking that his team might struggle to beat City’s Under-14s, a comment the conspiracy theorists will no doubt leap back to once they have finished determining the intent of Heung-min Son’s dramatic late miss for Tottenham on Tuesday night.
But while the comment did perhaps reveal the air of resignation that even managers of upper-mid-table clubs feel when faced with the aura of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering machine, only a fool would doubt Moyes’s determination to end his West Ham reign on a high, and the idealist would like to think that his squad will head north with similar resolve to send their manager off on cloud nine.
Moyes shares a personal link with Arteta, of course, in that he managed the Spaniard throughout his Everton career. To most of his West Ham players, Declan Rice is an old friend, Lukasz Fabianski is old Arsenal and there are international links across the squads: Thomas Partey and Mohammed Kudus, Emerson and Jorginho, to name a couple. Lucas Paqueta has some convincing to do if City are to cough-up his £85million release clause this summer after a poor few months, while Michail Antonio has a chance to put his money where his mouth is, having vowed on his podcast to end the champions’ reign.
So, it seems — and this should not need clarifying — that West Ham will be trying. But against City, simply “trying” does not guarantee much.
True, Guardiola will be without goalkeeper Ederson, though were it not for the heroics of deputy Stefan Ortega against Spurs, Arsenal might be going into the final day on pole.
True, they have wobbled in sight of the line before. On both occasions, though, they ultimately found a way to get the job done. And Arsenal have seen first-hand what a disciplined and committed Moyes side is capable of on its day, their rearguard at the Emirates easily their best defensive performance of the season. The current rabble, though, have not kept a clean sheet in 17 league games.
Any team chasing this City, however, knows it must rely on freak intervention more than logic or hope. One last stand from Moyes is about all that Arsenal have left.
