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Manchester City Wins Premier League On Thrilling Final Day
Manchester City won their fourth Premier League title in five years after coming from 2-0 down to defeat Aston Villa 3-2 on the final day.
With Liverpool just a point behind, City knew that any slip up would likely be fatal and they went into the half-time break 1-0 down at the Etihad Stadium after Matty Cash headed in Lucas Digne’s cross.
At this stage, Liverpool were drawing 1-1 at home to Wolves, with Petro Neto putting the visitors ahead and Sadio Mane equalising.
Things were to get worse for City when former Liverpool favourite Philippe Coutinho doubled Villa’s lead on 69 minutes.
The introduction by City manager Pep Guardiola of Ilkay Gundogan a minute earlier was to prove pivotal and he headed home in the 76th minute before Rodri fired low beyond Robin Olsen moments later.
With the wind in City’s sails, Gundogan was on hand to tap home a Kevin De Bruyne cross on 81 to completely turn the game on its head.
Liverpool scored two late goals against Wolves through Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson but they proved academic as the final whistle blew at the Etihad Stadium to trigger jubilant scenes among City supporters who flooded onto the pitch.
Guardiola says his players have taken on ‘legend’ status after yet another title.
“Four Premier Leagues – these guys are legends already; people have to admit it,” he said. “This group of players are absolutely eternal in this club because what we achieved is so difficult.
“First one 100 points [in 2017-18], second one in Brighton [final day, 2018-19], the third without people and this one with people [is] the best.
“This is the fifth anniversary of the Manchester Arena [bombing]. This is a special day for us; we want to share it with the families who suffered in this terrible event.
“I want to congratulate Liverpool for what they’ve done. The magnitude of our achievement is because of the magnitude of this rival. That makes us feel more proud because we know which team we face and we are incredibly happy.”
At the other end of the table Leeds United avoided relegation after defeating Brentford 2-1. They needed to better Burnley’s result to have a chance of staying up and they did just that after the Clarets lost 2-1 at home to Newcastle United.
Tottenham completed the formalities with a 5-0 win over Norwich to take the fourth Champions League place ahead of Arsenal who beat Everton 5-1. Son Heung-min scored twice for Spurs to finish as the Premier League’s joint top scorer with Salah on 23 goals.
Manchester United were defeated 1-0 by Crystal Palace but with West Ham losing 3-1 at Brighton, it was the Red Devils who took the final Europa League spot and the Hammers who will be in the Conference League next season.
/Stewart Sports news editor
