Man City can smell blood in the Arsenal water and Pep is intoxicated

If the 24/25 season had an overriding theme it was the ending of trophy droughts.

Crystal Palace won the first major silverware in their history. Newcastle won their first trophy that wasn’t in, well, black and white and even Tottenham ended the most discussed trophy drought of all, in the most Tottenham way imaginable and have since sacked or moved on almost everyone involved in such a hideously off-brand endeavour.

But there was another story rumbling along in the background of all this drought-ending catharsis and joy. And it might have been, in its own roundabout way, just as necessary.

For while all those droughts were ending, something almost as unthinkable was happening in Manchester: Guardiola and City won absolutely nothing,…