Manchester City's perfect start to the season is creating a headache for the Premier League over how to punish the club for its 115 charges. After a 6-0 start under Enzo Maresca, including a dominant win at Anfield, the league faces the prospect of a points deduction that may not have the intended effect.
City's form under Maresca
The Premier League already knew how difficult Manchester City could make things, with CEO Ferran Soriano, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and lawyer Lord Pannick all fighting the case. After the weekend, the league can add Maresca to that list, as any suggestion that the guilty verdict would impact the current side was dismissed in 90 minutes at Anfield.
Maresca has inspired a togetherness at his new club, and after the match he was as punchy as his bosses. His target, he basically said, was to ensure that for all the noise around his side, City fans are the only ones singing at full-time.
Timing of any punishment
Sunday's win may ultimately be meaningless unless the club can win their appeal. If they cannot, they will be sanctioned this season and almost certainly face a points deduction. However, punishments are unlikely to arrive before the appeal, so any penalty is still at least three months away, with many points still to be won.
With six wins from six, City are on course for 114 points, though they will not reach that total. They could still challenge for the title and be in first place when any punishment comes.
The points deduction dilemma
The later the punishment, the messier it is for the league, as any deduction would more directly impact Maresca's side. A 60-point penalty might have seemed fair at the start of the season, but if the survival threshold is around 30 or 40 points and City are exceptional, they could survive it.
That situation differs from one later in the campaign, where 60 points may still be fair but City would already have enough points to avoid relegation. There would be pressure to make the punishment more severe, but that would move away from a fair weighing of sanctions.
Given City have been found to have systematically cheated to the tune of an extra £900m invested over nine years, they would have little argument with other clubs that they were treated unfairly. But the current table should not influence the independent commission's decision, so it would be obvious if a deduction was tailored to confirm relegation or loss of a top-five place.
The Premier League needs City to drop off for the current fury around the league to tail off, but with Maresca around, that does not look likely any time soon.
