Relentless Manchester City lays claim to being Premier Leagues. It seems increasingly conceivable that this Manchester City squad will be remembered as the finest in Premier League history when everything is said and done.
Arsenal’s shocking 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Saturday eliminated any chance for Pep Guardiola’s team in north London to overtake them in the race for the title, giving Manchester City its fifth title in as many years. Only Manchester United has ever accomplished this feat from 1995–1996 to 2000–01.
Additionally, this was City’s third straight championship, matching United as the only other team to do so. Alex Ferguson twice led the club to a hat trick of championships.
The fact that City also managed to juggle making it to the FA Cup and Champions League finals makes their championship all the more amazing. In fact, City defeated Real Madrid in the semifinals to advance to the final of Europe’s biggest cup competition and inch closer to bringing home one of the few trophies that have eluded the team thus far.
After winning the Premier League, City entered those two finals against Manchester United and Inter Milan as the clear favorite to win both and complete the “Treble,” joining United in 1998/99 as the only other English football team to have done so.
Relentless Manchester City lays claim to being Premier League’s
Over the years, City has broken numerous Premier League records, including becoming the first club to achieve 100 points, achieving the largest title-winning margin, and having the most victories in a single season. Under manager Guardiola, the squad has now won an amazing 10 major titles since 2016.
This season, there have been instances when even the opposing team’s supporters were compelled to sit and enjoy the football feast City had prepared.
Even Arsenal, the second-best team in the nation, was completely and utterly destroyed at the Etihad on April 26 in a 4-1 victory that all but guaranteed City another title. Arsenal’s early-season performances had their fans believing in January that they would be celebrating winning the Premier League come the end of the season.
Men versus boys, a popular football cliche, would not even begin to capture the caliber gap between the two teams that evening.
Though the season-ending standings may eventually make this championship win appear straightforward, that was undoubtedly not the case for the vast majority of the year.
According to the statistics website Opta, Arsenal led the league for 248 days of the season, which is a record for a side that finished second in the English top flight.
As recently as April, Arsenal had an eight-point lead over City at the top of the Premier League, but that advantage was utterly erased as a result of City’s relentless brilliance and the youthful, inexperienced team’s inability to handle the pressure. It helps explain why this championship victory was so stunning.
The inevitable City victories each week, led by the unquenchable hunger for goals of new recruit Erling Haaland, undoubtedly took their toll on an Arsenal club that was constantly watching the pursuing juggernaut.
All credit goes to Arsenal because they were great and pushed us to the limit. Kyle Walker, a defender for City, told the club’s website, “We just went on an amazing run. They had a few hitches, we took advantage of it, and we’ve managed to end up where we have.
The players we have are to blame. We are a group of young men who have accomplished a lot over the past several years, and we are aware of the high standards we have established.
