Will Man City win five in a row? What hurt Arsenal the most? Do you remember Mateta? – The briefing

Welcome to The briefingwhere every Monday during this season, The Athletics will discuss three of the biggest questions arising from this weekend’s football.

It was the weekend we lifted the lid on another long and eventful Premier League campaign. Manchester City were crowned champions, Arsenal fell short and Liverpool said goodbye to Jurgen Klopp.

Here we will wonder whether we can expect City’s record-breaking dominance to continue, whether Arsenal can take any consolation from finishing second and whether we should all have paid more attention to Jean-Philippe Mateta.

What chance does Manchester City have five in a row?

It’s actually that old Gary Lineker quote, isn’t it? Premier League football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a football in more than 380 matches and ultimately Manchester City wins the title.

Not only is it six titles in seven seasons for City, but now four in a row, an unprecedented level of dominance in English football history, let alone the post-1992 era. Jack Grealish wiping sky-blue ticker tape from his hair during a funny Sky Sports interview is now as regular as Christmas.

“This is our period,” Pep Guardiola said in response to his team making history. No one can argue with that and most worrying of all for City’s rivals is the feeling that they could quite easily extend this era of dominance further. What is the probability of five after four in a row?

That is not a foregone conclusion. City always experience bumps along the way in a title race and even if they ultimately triumph, there are sliding door moments that their biggest challengers can look back on and curse.

This season was no different in that regard. One win in six between November and December, following successive defeats in the autumn, left room for doubt. Throughout the season, City’s performances have only occasionally matched those seen during the run-up to last year’s treble.

And yet, after that wobble in the winter, Guardiola’s team took 57 of a possible 63 points. They overcame another temporary dip mid-season to eventually regain their place at the top. And every time they do, it becomes a little less surprising.

City have built this pedigree over more than a decade. This is the sixth proper Premier League title race they have been involved in – after 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022 and 2023. City have triumphed time and time again.

That Guardiola’s side have come close for the past three years in a row is the strongest argument against the idea that a league once widely regarded as the most competitive in the world has become a procession. The swings in fortunes we have seen this season prove that this is not yet the case.

Yet the end result was predictable. Since that first win under Guardiola in 2017/18 – their imperious, record-breaking 100-point campaign – most would have picked City as title favorites for each subsequent season and five times out of six they would have been right.

With Guardiola committed for at least another season, only small matters needed in the summer market and no timetable for a decision on the 115 alleged breaches of Premier League financial regulations (all of which they deny), who would bet against another festive Grealish -interview this time next year?

What was more difficult for Arsenal: collapsing or falling short?

There is no right way to lose a league title, nor is there an easy way to do it, but there are some ways that are better than others. Not that Arsenal’s players particularly wanted to hear that once the final whistles blew at the Etihad and the Emirates.

Mikel Arteta’s players have understandably taken their fate hard. Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Oleksandr Zinchenko joined many in the stands in shedding tears for coming up short.

Their total of 89 points equals the record for second place in the pre-Guardiola era – the same total as Manchester United in 2011-12. Only Liverpool have taken more and are still in second place, with a remarkable 97 points in 2018/19.

But like Liverpool that year, Arsenal can console themselves with the fact that they put the hardest pressure on City at the most critical stage of the campaign. As many expected, Arteta’s side had to be perfect throughout. They almost were, winning 15 of their last 17 games and dropping just five points.

Can Arsenal bounce back to finally win the league next season? (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)

The disappointment of last season was of a completely different nature: a lost lead, then a slow death spread over two wins in eight games and fifteen points lost in the decisive phase. The feeling of foreboding came gradually.

This time the knowledge that they would not become champions came sharply and suddenly when City learned of the victory. That will always hurt more at that moment.

But there was hope until the very end. And with the stronger finish to this season, there may be more reason for optimism. This is the third youngest side in the league, built on a core of developing talent, led by a brilliant coach who has learned at the master’s knee.

As difficult as it is to back Guardiola, even the City manager himself said this week that he is confident Arsenal will be his biggest challengers for the foreseeable future. It’s hard to disagree after watching Arteta’s side take the champions to the wire.

Is Mateta’s greatness in danger of disappearing into memory?

Did you know that Jean-Philippe Mateta has been the Premier League’s co-top scorer since the turn of the year?

The only players to match the Crystal Palace striker’s 14 goals since the start of 2024 are Phil Foden and Cole Palmer, who were named best player of the year and young player of the year respectively this weekend.

Now, no one is suggesting that Foden’s gong should be on Mateta’s mantelpiece instead, but the 26-year-old’s late flourish is something that could easily go unnoticed in the long run because it happens after the votes. have been submitted, the prizes have been handed out and the story of a season has already been written.

No player has scored more Premier League goals this year than Mateta (Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

That’s especially the case on the final day, when, with so much happening at once, events like Mateta’s hat-trick against Aston Villa and the rise up the scoring charts are easy to miss.

There were two goals in Sunday’s games that were worthy of being considered among the best of the season, Moises Caicedo scoring from the halfway line at Chelsea and Mohammed Kudus’ acrobatic bicycle kick against City.

By focusing himself on goal, there is an argument to be made that Kudus’ strike was even superior to Alejandro Garnacho’s against Everton in November.

The Premier League’s official ‘Goal of the Season’ award is not usually handed out until all is said and done, which should give Kudus the opportunity to pip Garnacho for the prize. As for Mateta, he may have to settle for the 2024/25 Golden Boot.

Shortly

• On Tuesday, Gareth Southgate will announce his England selection for next summer’s European Championship. It’s only a preliminary selection for now, but we’ll know which players on the fringes are hopeful of a spot on the plane and which will be watching from their couches this summer.
• Of course, Tuesday will be the much bigger deal The Athletics end-of-season awards, celebrating the best of the best from the Premier League, Women’s Super League, EFL and European football. Mateta may or may not be a winner
• Wednesday is the Europa League final at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium between Atalanta and treble-chasers Bayer Leverkusen, with Xabi Alonso’s side fresh off the back of completing an unbeaten Bundesliga season this weekend
• Once the small matter of a Manchester derby FA Cup final on Saturday is out of the way, we can start what everyone is looking forward to in the coming weeks: rampant, relentless speculation about Erik ten Hag’s future
• Defending champions Barcelona hope to win their third title in the Women’s Champions League against Lyon on Saturday
• And on Sunday it’s what we’re legally bound to call the most lucrative match in football: the Championship play-off final between Leeds and Southampton.