"MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester City and Arsenal are on a collision course that could decide the destination of every major trophy this season. Pep Guardiola booked a meeting with former assistant Mikel Arteta at Wembley thanks to City's 3-1 win over Newcastle United in Wednesday's Carabao Cup semifinal second leg. The final is set for March 22, less than a month before a potential title decider between the top two teams in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium on April 18."
"With both clubs still in the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, there might be other must-see fixtures to come. A rivalry that has been bubbling ever since Arteta propelled Arsenal into title contention three years ago has all the ingredients necessary to reach another level in the last few months of the campaign. "It can happen," said Guardiola. "Of course, the Carabao Cup we are going to play [for] already. I don't know what's going to happen in the Champions League, and in the Premier League the fixture is there.""
"Guardiola has been here before. In 2011, his Barcelona team went head-to-head with Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid in three separate competitions during the run-in. Across 18 days in April and May, they played each other four times in LaLiga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Guardiola lost the battle in the Spanish cup final thanks to an extra-time winner from Cristiano Ronaldo, but he won the war in the league and Champions League. A 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium kept Real Madrid at arm's length in the title race, and Barcelona finished top by four points."
Manchester City beat Newcastle United 3-1 to reach the Carabao Cup final, setting up a meeting with Arsenal on March 22. A potential Premier League title decider between the two clubs could follow at the Etihad on April 18. Both teams remain active in the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, so additional consequential fixtures are possible. The rivalry intensified after Mikel Arteta guided Arsenal into title contention three years ago. Guardiola noted similar high-stakes run-ins from his 2011 Barcelona tenure, when multiple head-to-heads shaped the season outcome.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]