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| Manchester City's Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku celebrate with the trophy after winning the Premier League [Molly Darlington/Reuters] |
Manchester City created English football history by overcoming West Ham 3-1 to win their fourth straight Premier League title and break Arsenal’s hearts as Jurgen Klopp made an emotional Liverpool exit.
Phil Foden scored two early goals at an expectant Etihad
Stadium on Sunday to put his side on the brink of the title before Mohammed
Kudus pulled one back with a spectacular overhead kick.
But Rodri struck just before the hour to restore City’s
two-goal cushion and the home side rarely looked troubled as they coasted to
the win.
Arsenal started the day two points behind their rivals and
praying for a miracle to deny City their coronation, knowing that a win against
Everton would not be enough if the champions won on home turf.
The Gunners, without a Premier League title since 2004, came
from a goal down to beat Everton 2-1 but had to content themselves with second
in the table for a second straight season.
City, who have now won six titles in seven years, stand
alone as the only English team to have won four straight top-flight titles,
eclipsing the achievements of the great Liverpool and Manchester United teams
of the past.
“It is so hard to put into words what we’ve done today,”
Foden told Sky Sports. “No team has ever done it [won four in a row]. We have
put ourselves into the history books.
“You see what it means to the fans and to us players working
all year for this moment. A special moment to share it with the fans.”
Elsewhere on the final day of the Premier League season,
Luton’s relegation was confirmed with a 4-2 loss at home to Fulham. They will
join Burnley and Sheffield United in the championship next season.
Tottenham beat relegated Sheffield United 3-0 to seal the
fifth spot and a place in next season’s Europa League while Chelsea guaranteed
a sixth-place finish with a 2-1 win against Bournemouth.
Newcastle’s 4-2 win at Brentford condemned Manchester United
to an eighth-place finish – their lowest since 1990.
Erik ten Hag’s United beat Brighton 2-0 in Roberto De
Zerbi’s final game in charge of the south coast club, but it was too little too
late to save a disastrous league season.
Foden, 23, has enjoyed his most impressive season yet for
City, taking his tally to 27 goals in all competitions on Sunday, together with
11 assists.
The England man opened the scoring on Sunday after just 79
seconds with a vicious left-footed shot from outside the penalty area, settling
nerves among the home fans. He then passed the ball into the net in the 18th
minute after an assist from Jeremy Doku.
City appeared to have one hand on the trophy and news then
filtered through that Everton had taken the lead at Arsenal, leaving Mikel
Arteta’s men leaving an unlikely sequence of events to come out on top.
But the title race came alive again within the space of a
few minutes when Takehiro Tomiyasu side-footed home to level at the Emirates
before Kudus pulled one back for West Ham.
The atmosphere became more subdued at the Etihad, but the
visitors rarely threatened again in David Moyes’s final game in charge and
Rodri’s goal in the 59th minute eased the pressure.
Arsenal fell behind to Idrissa Gueye’s 40th-minute
goal at home but Tomiyasu levelled just three minutes later and Kai Havertz
sealed a 2-1 win in the 89th minute.
The Klopp era ends
Klopp was given an emotional sendoff at Anfield after nine
trophy-filled years.
Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring in the 34th
minute and Jarell Quansah netted six minutes later for the Reds, who ended the
season in third place.
Dejan Kulusevski scored twice for Tottenham against
Sheffield United while Moises Caicedo scored a spectacular goal from the
halfway line to set Chelsea on their way against Bournemouth.
The win for Mauricio Pochettino’s men means they seal a
European place after a topsy-turvy season.