Imperious Manchester City beat West Ham 3-1 at Etihad Stadium to become the first team to win the English league title four seasons in a row. With
Imperious Manchester City beat West Ham 3-1 at Etihad Stadium to become the first team to win the English league title four seasons in a row.
With City needing a win to be sure of holding off Arsenal, who started the final day two points behind but with a better goal difference, Phil Foden put Pep Guardiola’s side ahead after just two minutes.
The England star added another before the break and although Mohammed Kudus pulled one back, midfielder Rodri restored the home side’s two-goal cushion with a shot from the edge of the area after 59 minutes.
City survived a late scare when West Ham had a second goal ruled out by VAR for handball.
However, their victory was never seriously in doubt
The win completed a staggering run of 19 wins and four draws since their last defeat in the league, at Aston Villa on 6 December.
City have now won six out of the past seven Premier League titles. Last term, they joined Huddersfield, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, twice, in winning the top flight three years in a row.
Now Guardiola’s team have achieved something no other side has managed since the English league was formed in 1888, 136 years ago.
On 25 May they will aim to become the first side to complete the domestic Double in successive seasons when they face Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley.
Foden one of England’s finest
Foden has already collected the Football Writers’ Association and Premier League Player of the Year awards. Few would argue against a clean sweep when the Professional Footballers’ Association eventually confirms theirs.
At 23, Foden now has six titles to his name. He is still a long way behind Ryan Giggs, who holds the record with 13.
However, it is worth noting Giggs did not achieve his sixth until he was 26 and while the Welshman was 39 when he got his last, given City’s current dominance, Foden is likely to keep chipping away at that total in the short term.
Guardiola feels there is further improvement in the England international, but he has already developed his all-round game, makes better runs with and without the ball, and his close control is sublime.
James Ward-Prowse must have felt he was chasing shadows as he closed in to make a tackle when Bernardo Silva provided Foden with a square pass. But with one touch, Foden ghosted away from the West Ham man before delivering the perfect finish.
There was no real evidence of nerves in the crowd before kick-off. City had not lost at home all season and they had a 100% winning record against West Ham on home soil since Guardiola arrived in 2016.
The visitors had nothing to play for, manager David Moyes is leaving and top-scorer Jarrod Bowen was ruled out with tonsillitis.
But any home anxiety that did exist was rapidly swept away.
Foden’s second – his 26th goal of the season – wasn’t long in arriving as Jeremy Doku delivered a slide-rule, square pass through a crowd of bodies to the edge of the six-yard area. Foden was calmness personified in a frantic situation and found the net with a first-time finish.
Only a bit of bad luck and West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola prevented West Ham being completely swept away in the first half hour.
The France keeper turned away De Bruyne’s vicious free-kick, repelled Doku twice and also denied Manuel Akanji. Rodri, Erling Haaland, acrobatically, and Josko Gvardiol all missed the target from reasonably close range.