Pep Guardiola had predicted that he and Manchester City would suffer; it would be emotional, the nerves stretched taut because this is how it is supposed to go on the final day of the Premier League season when so much is at stake.
It had been that way in 2022 when City needed to beat Aston Villa here in the last game. They were 2-0 down with 15 minutes to play, flirting aggressively with disaster before the Ilkay Gündogan-inspired comeback for 3-2. City have previous for doing things the hard way. But did anybody truly believe that the occasion would get the better of them?
