Kyle Walker has said Manchester City have to claim the treble to join the list of all-time great sides after they lifted the Premier League trophy for a third successive year.
City won the league on Saturday as a result of Arsenal losing at Nottingham Forest and were given the trophy after the 1-0 win against Chelsea on Sunday. If City beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final and Internazionale in the Champions League final next month they will achieve a feat which only their crosstown rivals have claimed in English football.
Walker said: “We have two massive finals. To say we’re up there with the greatest Premier League teams of all time we have to go and conquer some of that. We’ve been called the fourmidables [four domestic trophies in a season, including the Community Shield] and the centurions [getting 100 points in the league] but to go and get this we can really stamp our mark on being one of the greatest teams of all time in the Premier League.”
The City manager, Pep Guardiola, said he is content if his players are now thinking of the treble. “They know it,” he said. “The feeling I have is that if [even] we win five Premier Leagues under me we still have the Champions League to win. But we have had fun in all that period here still – we cannot deny it. There is a part that sometimes can be unfair for the fact you have to win the Champions League to give credit or value to what you have done but you have to accept it and I think it’s good.
“I know it [my era] will not be complete if we don’t win the Champions League – sometimes, playing with this pressure is so nice and necessary. We tell each other a lot that we have to do it. But if we are not able to do it and the club continues in this way sooner or later we will do it. We have to try.”
No English team have claimed four consecutive league titles but Guardiola is already targeting such an achievement. “So next season all the teams want to beat us, it’s normal. We will defend our crown and mentally we have to be prepared: let’s go for the fourth and try to do it again because I’m pretty sure the way we’re going, to play with the clarity we have and the human quality all the players and staff have and may be new players: the quality will be there. The difference will still be to go to Crystal Palace and all the other tough games like we have done these years.”
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The victory against Chelsea was their 12th in row in the league and came in a party atmosphere that had been prevalent all day after the Arsenal result the previous day. Guardiola was the first person to receive his winner’s medal, given to him by Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, which in February brought more than 100 charges against City for financial wrongdoing – all denied by the club.
Asked if the triumph was sweeter because of the allegations and Arsenal’s challenge, Guardiola said: “I would say no. I don’t remember perfectly but we won a lot of games in a row to beat Liverpool in the past. The first leg [of the season] from Arsenal – they did 50 points. I had the feeling that it would take something special because it would be so difficult, they played exceptional football all season.”
The captain, Ilkay Gündogan, lifted the trophy and Erling Haaland, who has scored 36 league goals, was sprayed with champagne. “I feel unreal, I don’t know what to say, it’s just unreal, I’m so happy,” the Norwegian said. “These are memories I will remember for the rest of my life, we have been fighting so hard. It’s special, I’m just going to enjoy this day, it’s a special moment with this trophy with these fans and the whole club.”
Haaland said he can improve. “Of course, but my debut season, 36 goals so far, a Premier League trophy and two finals left, not a bad start,” he said. This was Guardiola’s 11th championship in 14 seasons as a coach. City’s win against Chelsea was a 28th of the campaign which takes them to 88 points, seven clear of Arsenal with two games left, having been 11 behind Mikel Arteta’s side at one stage.
Walker pinpointed the moment when he believed Arsenal could be overhauled. “I thought after coming back from the World Cup and we beat Liverpool here [3-2 in the League Cup], I thought that was a marker, we had a lot of the players missing and the manager had been working hard with the players that were here. From then on we always believed we could do it, we then went to Leeds and won there. This group of lads are second to none, they’re winners and that’s how we get across the line more times than not.
“But we’re not finished, we’ve got the FA Cup against our bitter rivals and the Champions League final on 10 June. We will enjoy it today, we will have a few glasses of champagne but then we move on to June.”
