Joe Hart Backs Manchester City to Regain Title from Arsenal

A decade under Pep Guardiola hardwires certain habits into a football club. Control. Expectation. Relentless winning. So when Guardiola walked away at the end of last season, many expected Manchester City to wobble, maybe even fall.

They staggered early. Arsenal’s victory in the Community Shield was seized on as a sign of vulnerability, a hint that the old order might finally be shifting.

It hasn’t played out that way.

City have settled quickly under Enzo Maresca, reshaping themselves under a new voice without losing their old edge. The league table tells its own story: Arsenal, the defending champions, are currently looking up at them. The side that was supposed to be in transition has remembered how to do what it does best – win football matches.

Life after Pep – and a title race reborn

Replacing Guardiola was never going to be a gentle handover. Maresca walked into a dressing room built in another manager’s image, with a fanbase used to the highest standards and a league studying City for weakness.

So far, they have given very little away.

The patterns are different, the touchline figure has changed, but the mentality looks familiar. City have adapted to Maresca with a sharpness that has surprised those who expected a long, uneven bedding-in period. The “new manager bounce” has been the easy explanation, the lazy one. Their consistency suggests something deeper is taking hold.

The consequence is clear: City are right in the thick of the Premier League title race and shaping up as Arsenal’s primary obstacle to retaining the crown.

Arsenal favourites – but City refuse to step aside

As reigning champions, Arsenal still carry the weight of expectation. Many still tip Mikel Arteta’s side to finish on top again, convinced that City’s current surge is a product of novelty rather than durability.

The theory is simple: as the season wears on, the emotional lift of change fades, the tactical demands bite harder, and the cracks appear. That is the question hanging over Maresca’s team – can they maintain this level when the schedule tightens and pressure turns brutal?

For now, they are answering with results, not words.

Arsenal’s strength is no secret. Yet City’s response to their own upheaval has kept the title race alive and volatile. Every weekend feels like a test of who blinks first.

Hart’s verdict: “I’ll always back them”

One former City stalwart has no doubts where his loyalty lies.

Joe Hart, who lived through the early years of the club’s modern rise, remains convinced his old side can go all the way again this season. Speaking to City Xtra, the former goalkeeper made his stance plain.

“Why not? I’ll always back them!” he said. “I’ll always back them every single day of the week!”

It is a simple message, but it underlines something important: even in a season of upheaval, belief around City has not drained away. If anything, the way they have handled the post-Guardiola handover has reinforced the sense that this squad knows how to navigate a title race.

A race that will not let up

City now move into the heart of the campaign with momentum and scrutiny in equal measure. Their performances so far have forced their way into every conversation about the trophy, not as a curiosity under new management, but as a serious threat to Arsenal’s defence of the title.

Arsenal, for their part, are not going quietly. They remain locked into the fight, determined to prove last season was the start of an era, not a one-off.

So it comes down to endurance. Can Maresca’s City sustain their level deep into the run-in, or will Arsenal’s status as champions tell when the stakes are highest?

The answer will not come in a single headline game or a single slip. It will come in how long City can keep turning change into control – and whether that is enough to take the title back.