Join The Club
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Five times a week
FourFourTwo Daily
Fantastic football content straight to your inbox! From the latest transfer news, quizzes, videos, features and interviews with the biggest names in the game, plus lots more.
Once a week
...And it’s LIVE!
Sign up to our FREE live football newsletter, tracking all of the biggest games available to watch on the device of your choice. Never miss a kick-off!
Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
Manchester City go into this weekend’s fixtures six points behind in the Premier League title race, ahead of a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.
City could only draw from 2-0 up at Spurs last weekend, to slip two points further behind league leaders Arsenal, although they’ve overtaken the Gunners in title races before.
Pep Guardiola’s side this week also confirmed their place in the Carabao Cup final, having previously sealed their spot in the FA Cup fourth round and the last 16 of the Champions League, where they’ll likely face Real Madrid or Inter.
"Will Arsenal bottle it?"
Mancunian Terry Phelan played more than 100 games for City between 1992 and 1995, and hopes they can return to winning trophies this season, having not claimed a major honour last term for the first time in eight years.
“If Arsenal do what Arsenal do well and bottle it, then they’ve got a chance in the league, but then you’ve got Aston Villa just behind them as well, so it could go any of three ways,” Phelan told FFT.
“The form Arsenal are in at the moment, it’s going to be difficult, although for me I think winning the Premier League is the most rewarding, because it’s a long old journey.
“In the Champions League, you need that stroke of luck. Are they good enough to win it, the way they’re playing? I wouldn’t think so.
“I think Man City are in a bit of a transitional moment – if they can scrape a domestic cup, the League Cup or the FA Cup, that’s a bit of success, then build on that.”
City have won only one of four Premier League games since Ruben Dias was ruled out with a hamstring injury, although he’s about to return to the pitch.
“He’s been a big miss as a central defender,” Phelan said, speaking in association with Gambling.com, who specialise in comparing trustworthy UK casinos.
“Marc Guehi coming in now could add that bit more steel, but I think Dias has been the cornerstone. That loss has really hampered Manchester City.”
Phelan's latest project
Phelan has spent several years working in India and has now got a link-up with Manchester City in his role as programme director with Bangalore-based Jain Sports, who provide coaching, infrastructure and education to nurture talented young footballers in the Asian country.
“We’ve got a collaboration with Manchester City now, and Jain as an education institute is one of the biggest,” he said.
“We’re going to have 60 boys on campus from the 18th to the 23rd of this month, and a couple of guys from Manchester City coming over. We’ve got try-outs in Mumbai and Delhi as well. I’ve kept very busy!
“When we say we started our apprenticeship as footballers, we didn’t start it at 16, we started it at seven or eight. A ball, a wall and a cobbled street, and the dreams we had from sitting there, watching football. We want to let students use their creativity and imagination.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
