Kyle Walker has revealed when the Manchester City players were aware they could win the Premier League title.
Erling Haaland disclosed that after City beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0, his teammates knew they would get over the finish line.
Manchester City did in style by defeating West Ham United 3-1 in one of their best performances in weeks.
Walker reveals when the City players knew they could win the Premier League
Unlike Liverpool, Arsenal kept pace with City during the title race.
But Mikel Arteta’s side fell short of their target despite having an impressive points tally of 89 by the end of the campaign.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Kyle Walker disclosed when the Manchester City players felt they could retain their Premier League crown.
“I said at the start of the season, when we went on a really good run at the start, let’s not try to chase people all the time, let us set the mark and see if people can keep up with us. But Arsenal have played extremely, extremely well this season and so have Liverpool as well.”
The £50 million man added: “But we smelt the opportunity, the window of opportunity, I think probably in the Aston Villa game where Arsenal lost and we had to take it because great teams like Arsenal, actually, they’re a very, very good team now but it’s probably just a little bit unfortunate for them that they came up against a Manchester City team that seem to be a very well-oiled machine.”
Before the Gunners’ 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa, they still had a one-point advantage over City in what was a shock result.
Arsenal gave Manchester City hope at the worst possible time
Unlikely during the 2022/2023 season, the North London side’s season did not end up with them capitulating.
But as Kyle Walker stated, the Manchester City players “smelt blood” when Arsenal suffered a defeat to Aston Villa as they lost the game in April.
With one month left in the league campaign, City were given the opportunity to do what they tend to do — go on an end-of-the-season run.
Pep Guardiola’s men did just that, winning nine out of their last nine games.
Arsenal managed to keep pace with them, going on their own impressive run as well but that loss to Villa meant they were forced to play catch-up to City.
But often, title races are decided by the month in which the teams involved dropped points.
Manchester City are a team full of serial winners and once the door to win the league is kept ajar for them, they have a history of capitalising.