Man City 115 charges and Premier League points deduction reality truth as Arsenal hope explained
It is already early in the season but Arsenal's two-point gap to Manchester City is ominous. By the end of the weekend, Mikel Arteta could find himself five behind Pep Guardiola as well.
Should the North London Derby go badly and City beat Brentford on Saturday, the four-time running champions will be clear of their recent nearest rivals once more. It is far from game over, just four matches into the season, but playing catchup is never the easiest thing to do.
Arsenal gained themselves an advantage in 2022/23 and it still wasn't enough. The week that they are now entering, coming back from an international break, the disappointment and Declan Rice red card-induced anger of drawing to Bournemouth, and suffering significant injury issues, is a big one in several ways.
Nothing in a grand scale can be won or lost for Arsenal, it is just a series of important games and events, but in the context of Manchester City, there is something bigger on the table. From Monday, their long-anticipated and by now much-maligned hearing with the league is due to start.
It could be pivotal for what comes and what has already happened. Should City be found guilty, whenever that a final verdict is given, then the punishments are likely.
From points deductions similar to that of Everton and Nottingham Forest (an outcome that would be relatively modest in the eyes of many opposition fans) all the way to relegation, expulsion, enormous fines, and the stripping of titles. The dark cloud of 115 charges still hangs above their head, and it won't go away.
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For Arsenal, it is just as significant to them as to any team in the league. As runners-up for the past two years, they have felt the force and battled the insurmountable beast of City. They have hardly made a wrong move but have been left with just a silver medal (which they don't even really get).
Should they be found guilty, should the Premier League act on the imposed war they have brought onto City, then perhaps in some way it will justify Arsenal's pain. It may still bring a retrospective punishment that gives them an asterisk title (although the period being investigated is for before Arsenal's ascension up the table).
It will be quite some battle to get to that stage, City have been levied with 115 charges (well, 130 actually), and they vary in seriousness. It is not as simple as one profitability and sustainability charge against Everton was six points, so on the same scale 115 charges are over 600 points, but the impact could be huge.
Again, it is a big if, but if City are found to be guilty or effectively cheating the Premier League over a decade, it would be unprecedented. The case, having been public for over a year, is finally set to be heard.
City maintain that they are totally innocent, the Premier League is after vindication for going after its most successful member over the past eight years. The outcome will be seismic one way or another.
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Arsenal just have to watch on, focus on the here and now, the football on the horizon, the trip to Tottenham. Because the scale of this thing is hard to comprehend. Across Europe, Juventus were punished for a match-fixing scandal that included all of a 15-point deduction, relegation, and retrospective titles being removed. Is this a warning to City?
Not quite, because the circumstances are different, but it's not unheard of that the biggest crimes are dealt with as so. This, for City, is all hypothetical, but it still matters.
Arsenal can't rely on this avalanche of court-room controversy helping them out there. Should retrospective titles be taken away (and it's an enormous should), then how that would be applied is not clear. Arsenal didn't once finish runners-up between 2008 and 2018, the period being looked at, but they have had to deal with the titan Guardiola and Co have built up during that period.
Bernardo Silva, for example, was purchased then and has played on, winning titles whilst strumming the tunes to another midfield operation. If City were to lose the 2018 title (as an example), then what of Silva' subsequent effect on the last two years? How is that weighed up?
These are all things that will have to be taken into consideration. Arsenal can't afford to let it enter their mind because that would be to engage in two title races at once.