IT was interesting to read our old friend Jamie Carragher in an eloquent column he definitely, definitely, definitely wrote all by himself for the Daily Telegraph in which he told us that neutrals wanted Manchester City to prevail because Arsenal fans were too hysterical.

If a genuine description of hysteria was needed, the encyclopaedia would only need a picture of Pep Guardiola’s performative emotions as his billion dollar team won the Carabao Cup on Sunday.

We are supposed to believe that a man who has won everything was suddenly the most ecstatic he’s ever been because he had won the League Cup. It won’t be Bafta-nominated, I saw better acting on the new Saturday Night Live UK, which is apparently better than expected because one guy did a good Princess Di impression.

Of course, I mentioned the money City have spent again just then and the worst pundits will rush to say that Arsenal are now spending A LOT on transfers too. This Pep arithmetic won’t do. City are blowing everybody else out of the water on wages, so it’s still true that however magical you think Guardiola is as a tactician, he has simply bought success.

And for that reason, Carragher – the one who spat at that girl that time – is plainly wrong when he says there is now an Anybody But Arsenal fever across the country.

Most fans, bored by City’s fake dominance in recent years, simply don’t recognise the apparent achievements on the grounds of how it was constructed. This is not helped by the fact that the outstanding charges against the club just hang there. There is little hope of anything being done about any foul play if it is proven. Chelsea effectively admitted cheating (under its previous successful management) and were fined £10million, to the shock of all those teams which have been docked points across the leagues.

Pep almost underlined how it all works by meeting his winter crisis by simply smashing a load of money on Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo, who earn more a week than nearly every Arsenal player.

Spurs fans aside, most people for good reason are Anybody But City.