MANCHESTER, England – Manchester City are heading into the final stretch of the Premier League title race after the international break, and the ease of their FA Cup quarterfinal victory over Newcastle United should be enough to worry both Arsenal and Liverpool.
City won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday to book a record sixth successive FA Cup semi-final and prepare as best they can for the visit of Arsenal on March 31. Once again, Pep Guardiola's team is accelerating the pace of its fight for the trophy at the right time. There are already 22 games without defeat in all competitions and, really, Newcastle never came close to becoming the first visiting team to win at the Etihad since November 2022.
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Two goals from Bernardo Silva before the break – both off target but still deserved – made for a comfortable night and it was the kind of calm, collected performance that could make Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp shudder at the thought of the battle ahead.
Newcastle are dealing with injuries to key players such as Kieran Trippier, but a team playing in the Champions League before Christmas was still expertly ignored as if they were a lower league team simply happy to be here.
“We always hope for the best for the team,” Guardiola said. “We won the treble, five titles and coming back from the last international break, in the last month or two, being in the fight means a lot.
“This Club has something special. It's incredible. I know we played to win the final, but to win it you have to win the previous rounds. We won four Carabao Cup finals in a row and now we are in six FA Cup semi-finals in a row. To run and play like they did is incredible, congratulations to the team, no one had done that before.
“We played very well, we were very confident with the ball. Mateo [Kovacic], Rodri and Bernardo kept the ball very well. The match was really good,” Guardiola added.
It's hard to overestimate the ruthlessness of this City team. Against Liverpool at Anfield, it was John Stones who scored a vital goal. A week earlier, against Manchester United, it was Phil Foden who led the match and scored two goals.
This time it was Bernardo, without scoring for more than a month before the game, who made the difference. Both of his first-half goals suffered such wide deflections that he looked a little embarrassed during the celebrations, but the Portuguese midfielder was praised for repeatedly finding space on the right edge of the penalty area rather than with his shots.
City have coped admirably with the departures of David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gündogan over the years, but Guardiola may find Bernardo the most difficult of all to replace. With an affordable release clause of around £50m added to the contract extension he signed last summer, City will be hoping for strong interest from Paris Saint-Germain ahead of next season, but while he is here, Silva will remain being the player Guardiola trusts more than anyone else in big games.
It says everything about Silva's class against Newcastle that Kevin De Bruyne, with a groin injury, was barely absent. “Everyone loves him and we love him, even if the goals are deflections,” Guardiola said.
“It is important that he stays with us. Kevin will be back soon, but when you look at the schedule (Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Real Madrid) it is really difficult and we need everyone. I have said many times how important Bernardo is. “
Afterwards, Howe was left lamenting that “the football gods were working against us” in reference to Silva's two lucky goals, but that ignored the fact that Newcastle had been limited to just two shots during the 90 minutes and just one from goal. Seeking his first trophy since 1955, Howe, who tried something different by changing his system to five at the back, admitted his team “hadn't been good enough”.
“Goals are difficult to score, especially the first one, which was a big deflection and went into the top corner,” he added.
“I don't know what to say. The boys gave everything. It's very difficult to play against Man City at any time, but especially when they pick those technical players. I thought we did well, we held firm and at times we unsettled them. “
In reality, however, it was another game that demonstrated City's ability to squeeze the life out of their opponents and the fear for Liverpool and Arsenal is that they could squeeze the life out of the title race after the international break.
Guardiola faces a nervous wait to see how many of his players return unharmed from their national teams ahead of Arsenal's visit to the Etihad when the Premier League returns, and it may take an unexpected injury to derail what appears, in the face of a like a charge towards another triplet.
