Man City have made an official announcement that makes Arsenal even more likely to win the Premier League
Before the Community Shield in Cardiff, many people felt that Manchester City would be Arsenal’s biggest rivals for the Premier League title.
The Sky Blues finished second last season and pushed Mikel Arteta’s side to the very end, and they still have several incredible players.
However, in the Community Shield, Arsenal absolutely battered Manchester City, showing why they are many people’s favourites to become champions.
What City have now done makes it even more likely.
Arsenal become even bigger favourites to win the Premier League after Man City’s Rodri announcement
Manchester City have officially announced that Rodri has left the club.
The Spaniard has completed his move to Barcelona after seven years at the Etihad, and he makes the Catalans incredibly strong.
At the same time, Manchester City become weaker.
Yes, the Sky Blues have signed Elliot Anderson for £116 million, and they could yet bring in Ayyoub Bouaddi and Enzo Fernandez for similarly ridiculous fees.
However, are any of these players on the same level as Rodri? Far from it.
Anderson looked lost in midfield in the Community Shield, Bouaddi is still a teenager, and Fernandez is nowhere near consistent enough to be considered truly world-class.
For those reasons, Manchester City’s announcement that Rodri has left the club should be music to Arsenal fans’ ears.
As good as the Sky Blues are, they are not the same without the midfielder, and with Pep Guardiola no longer at the helm as well, they will not be serious contenders.
That makes Arsenal the absolute favourites to retain the league title, which is something they haven’t done since the 1930s.
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Manchester City’s record against Arsenal without Rodri speaks volumes
Since Rodri joined Manchester City in 2019, the Sky Blues have faced Arsenal 20 times in all competitions.
In those fixtures, the Cityzens only lost five games.
Rodri was unavailable for three of those five defeats, the most recent of which was the Community Shield in Cardiff on Sunday.
One of the two other fixtures was a draw in normal time and a defeat for City in the penalty shootout. The other? Rodri only played 24 minutes of that game.
It is clear that when Rodri isn’t available, Manchester City struggle. As a result, we expect Arsenal to be the big winners following his move away from the Etihad.
