There’s no doubt that Manchester City’s title showdown with Arsenal was a case of men vs boys - but for Jermaine Jenas, it was also child vs dad.
The reigning Premier League champions swatted aside the Gunners at the Etihad, cruising to a 4-1 victory, which gives them one hand on the title. Arsenal arrived in Manchester as the league leaders, but the chasm between the two rivals was clear within minutes of the game getting underway.
Kevin De Bruyne sauntered through the visitors’ defence to open the scoring, before John Stones doubled their lead after a first half of almost complete control. De Bruyne made it three after the break before the irrepressible Erling Haaland completed the rout after a Rob Holding consolation.
Mikel Arteta was forced to admit that his side were simply beaten by a better one and few would have disagreed with his assessment. BT Sport pundit Jenas went in a slightly different direction, delivering an analogy for the ages, leaving viewers and his colleagues lost for words.
Jenas said: “I think the manner of the game said a lot to me as well. It was a bit like, you know when you’re a young teenager and you get to that age where you get a bit of bum fluff on your chin and you think ‘you know what? I could fight my dad here.’ Or you could fight your older brother, then they’ve got you in a headlock and you realise very quickly you can’t fight them anymore. It was a bit like that.”
He continued: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen - and bearing in mind Arsenal can still win this - but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that game where it’s like Liverpool vs Man City last year, but the gap just seemed so big. I think Arsenal have been so sensational this year and I just think if they have a good summer they’ll get closer, but the gap felt too big to me.”
After getting his head around Jenas’ explanation of things, Rio Ferdinand tried to go one better, with a comparison perhaps a little easier to follow along with.
“I thought it was a bit like, you know when you’re the oldest in the primary school and you think you’re the man and you’re the best?
“Then you go to secondary school and play against the seniors, and you go ‘Oh my god, there’s different levels.’ I thought there was a level yesterday that the Arsenal players looked at and thought ‘Woah, actually we’re quite a way off.’”
Arteta opted to not include fights with parents and playground matches, telling reporters: “I think it’s clear the better team won the game. They were probably at their best, especially in the first half and we weren’t at our level. The gap then becomes too big.
“In the first 30 minutes in terms of the basics you have to do against an exceptional team in terms of competing, in terms of winning duels, in terms of understanding what the game required we didn’t do it. We got punished and we could have been punished even more.”
