Pep Guardiola believes the Premier League is back to its competitive best and likened a new-found unpredictability to the NBA.
Guardiola’s Manchester City have dominated the division since 2017, winning six of the last eight titles, and are six points behind Arsenal going into Sunday’s clash with second-placed Bournemouth.
The City boss is an avid fan of basketball, with seven different teams crowned NBA champions in the last seven years, and can see similarities to an increasingly condensed Premier League.
‘I remember when I was in Munich, always I heard the rumour here in England that it is more difficult and that everyone can beat everyone,’ Guardiola said.
‘Always I had that sense. Maybe Liverpool and ourselves changed the dynamic in being so consistent with so many points – every season more than 90.
‘(Now) maybe the Premier League is back to what it always has been – everyone can beat everyone.
‘It’s good. Like the NBA, there isn’t a dominant team. In the last four or five years, always there has been a different team. For the spectators and for the show, it’s really good.’
There has not been a run of five different consecutive winners of the top flight since the 1970s but Arsenal or other challengers could take the current streak to three if they were to clinch the title this term.
Early-season challengers include Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth, one of the surprise packages in the opening nine games and two points ahead of City.
And despite losing three of their games so far, Guardiola – who has Erling Haaland back available – insisted that he can see green shoots within a squad he thinks can challenge Arsenal.
‘We are not at our best but we are close,’ he added. ‘I think I had the feeling, I said a month ago, that I had the smell.
‘It’s when I see the team, when I see in the dressing room, in the training sessions, and how we apply, how we want to try to do things, I had the feeling that when I think Rodri can come at his best, he can help us, and alongside all the alternatives I can have, we will be a team that will be difficult for the opponents to beat us.
‘This is what I want. Will we be there still close to the fight? I don’t know, but I said from the beginning, since the Club World Cup in the States, I’m really optimistic about the team this season.’
