Manchester City wrapped up another Premier League title last weekend and now have a Champions League and FA Cup final to prepare for.

But, first, they take on Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday.

We spoke with the Manchester Evening News' chief Man City writer Simon Bajkowski to get his thoughts ahead of the final game of the season in west London this weekend.


Manchester City were second for large periods of the season, but they nipped ahead of Arsenal when it mattered most and have now won the Premier League for the third time in a row. How would you sum up their season?

If you looked at the table now, the easy assumption to make would be that a City title was expected, but Arsenal led for about 90 per cent of the season and, for a long time, people expected them to run away with it.

City were in trouble as late as mid-February but, just as everybody reached the assumption that the team were not capable of putting a winning run together, such as the ones they have done in previous seasons, they pulled it out the bag. Pep Guardiola’s side are unstoppable at the moment.

They are on course for a treble, too, so it has been an incredible three-month period from February to May.

You touched on it there, but was there a genuine belief that the title was totally out of the question?

Around February, both Guardiola and the players were of the belief that they were one more bad result away from being out of the title race altogether. They lost at Tottenham at the beginning of February and Guardiola said they felt so far away from Arsenal that it was worrying.

City went top of the table in February by beating Arsenal, but then they threw it away again by drawing at Nottingham Forest and Arsenal were eight points clear in April, albeit having played one game more.

City have been playing catch up for a long time and it really has been in the last six weeks where they have finally got on top.

As impressive as another title win is, the FA Cup and the Champions League are still up for grabs. How much would it mean to win the latter?

It has become more and more important to win the Champions League, both for Guardiola and for the fans.

City’s history next to that of Manchester United’s means that, for a good while, the Premier League was seen as the biggest priority because City fans were not used to winning that, but after five titles in six years, the Champions League increasingly becomes the elephant in the room, so more attention has turned towards that this season.

The players really want to win it, the fans really want to win it and Guardiola obviously does too.

If they win the FA Cup final, the opportunity to win the treble, make history and create an even bigger legacy for this team is something that nobody wants to miss out on.

City have an embarrassment of riches, but if there was one player Brentford should keep an eye on, who would it be?

Erling Haaland, if he plays. It sounds obvious because he has scored so many goals, but Brentford are one of the few teams he has not scored against this season, and he will be looking to end strongly and give himself an even higher target to try and beat next term.

How is Guardiola likely to set up in west London?

It is more difficult to say than it might have been had the title been on the line because it would just be the strongest XI he has available, whereas now he has the opportunity to think about the FA Cup and the Champions League.

City have got to where they are by not taking their foot off the accelerator, but, at the same time, we have seen players like Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Riyad Mahrez come into the team and show what they can do as well.

I would expect it to be a strong team because City will want to end the season strongly, regardless of having already been crowned champions, so I would expect Haaland to play, but there could be some rotation behind him to keep everyone feeling valued.

Brentford picked up that famous 2-1 win at the Etihad just before the World Cup break in November. What’s your score prediction for this one?

I would say 2-1 to City. They will want to end the season strongly, but Brentford have given them and many other teams problems and will also want to finish on a high at home.

It should be a very good match and hopefully Brentford have something to celebrate as well at the end of it.