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Manchester City wins Premier League for the Third Time and Gunning for Treble this Year
City could do the treble, but critics have questioned how much of the Premier League champions' dominance is down to their boss Pep Guardiola or the kind of financial resources available to the team?
Gary Neville has had some strong words for those who claim any manager could achieve what Pep Guardiola has achieved with Manchester City.
City were crowned Premier League champions for the third season running after Arsenal lost to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Guardiola has led City to five of their seven Premier League titles and has them on course for an historic treble this term, with the FA Cup and Champions League finals to come next month.
Some have questioned how much of City's dominance is down to the great Catalan tactician, given the incredible strength of their squad and immense financial resources at their disposal – but Neville is having none of it.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the Manchester United legend said: "Honestly, this suggestion that you could give any manager these players and they could go and win three [trophies] is absolute nonsense. Only the greatest managers of all time have done this type of thing through the history of the last 100 years of English football, so don’t let any of that sink into your head."
Neville also praised Guardiola for getting City's campaign back on track – after they trailed Arsenal by 10 points in January. He added: "There was a tinkering from the manager that definitely played a big part in it. He didn’t play with a proper back four until March and then they started to get really good. There’s no doubt in that [early] period [of the season] they were nowhere near their level: three defeats, multiple draws.
"You don’t expect that type of run from Manchester City and I think that’s where everybody got encouragement that Arsenal could do it this year, because of City’s [poor] run."
The Premier League champions face Manchester United in the first ever all-Manchester FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday, June 3.
Guardiola and co. then take on Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul a week later.
City have never been crowned champions of Europe; they'll hope to go one better than they did two years ago, when they were beaten 1-0 in their first final by Chelsea.
