Few clubs have been as demonized as Manchester City of late. After all, they are evil thanks to Sheikh Mansour's billions and have made a farce of the sport. They buy their way to points, and last year, to the Premier League title. No club is a symbol for what is wrong with modern football more than City.
Arsenal vs. Manchester City preview: The Citizens spend more than the Gunners, if you hadn’t heard
City like to spend and Arsenal are “reasonable.” Oh, the outrage!
On the flip side is Arsenal. A top four club, the Gunners have maintained their place in the Champions League despite resisting big money buys, except in cases when the money funding the purchases come from sales. It is this crazy thing called "balancing your books," or at least the perverted football version of it.
All should be well at the Emirates then, right? They are the anti-Manchester City. The Gunners are successful and doing things “the right way.” So why is the club under fire?
Arsenal have not won a trophy since 2005 and are flirting with a non-top four finish this season, booting them from the Champions League. Most of the club’s best players have been sold off and the club has put making money above winning, bastardizing the “sport” aspect of football.
On Sunday, the two teams will square off and the money aspect of the two clubs will be discussed ad nauseum. In reality, the money doesn’t matter, at least not in the sense that it will be discussed. There is no right and wrong and there is no good or bad.
In the minds of most, both are demonized despite being on opposite ends of the spectrum and that is because they are “big clubs.” Nobody likes big clubs, no matter how they got big or how they stayed big. All anybody wants to see is that they fall.
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