Manchester City have had a terrible season by their standards, yet Manchester United have constantly reassured them
Manchester City can somehow extend their lead on Manchester United
Manchester City can somehow extend their lead on Manchester United
Manchester City fans haven't had very much to smile about this season. They lost 15 out of 30 games between November and March, having previously taken three years to lose that many.
Pep Guardiola is presiding over the worst of his nine campaigns at the Etihad, and the first since the 2016/17 season where they haven't challenged properly for the Premier League and Champions League. New blood is required to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds in summer to get City back to where they want to be.
And yet, inexplicably, they have almost never been further ahead than their noisy neighbours in the modern era. Should the Blues win at Fulham and United lose against Aston Villa - probably the most likely set of results - the gulf between the teams will be 32 points; only in 2021/22, when it was 35 points, has the gap been wider.
Thanks to Pedro Porro's Tottenham, there is no chance of parity in Europe next season either. As City look to burst through the door of the Champions League, it has slammed shut on United for a second successive year.
In a season where City have stood out for mostly the wrong reasons, their supremacy over United is even more surprising - not least because of how little they did directly to make it happen. Defeat to United at the Etihad in December was one of the lowest points in the season, and the draw at Old Trafford wasn't much better.
When United won in December, the points gap was five points and many were talking about the fading giants struggling to cope with the resurgent force.
This was a month after a national newspaper had described incoming United coach Ruben Amorim - of interest to City before Guardiola signed an extension - in a way that made it sound like he was going to put the grand master out to pasture.
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Amorim seemed like a good appointment for United just as Omar Berrada seemed a good CEO for them when they took him from City and Jason Wilcox seemed a good appointment after his time in City's academy.
But they have all been swallowed up in the omnishambles that Old Trafford now stands for to mean that even in City's lowest point for years they still tower over a club whose peak this season has been unveiling plans for 200-metre masts for a new stadium that may or may not get built.
Even that shows how the difference between the two has grown. The first part of City's stadium redevelopment is nearing completion and a statue for club legend Kevin De Bruyne has been announced, while United have little to back up their talk.
However much City have tumbled, United's fall has somehow, unthinkably, been far bigger. And while the rebuild at the Etihad has already begun, it is unclear if their rivals are able to pick themselves back up again ahead of a summer with financial restrictions and a squad unsuited to the coach they spent millions to bring in.
That has made plenty of Blues happy this season even while their own team has struggled, and means that they will continue to sing about gaps being minded and United losing for a long time yet.