Coach Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are officially the champions of the 2017/18 English Premier League. Their championship follows the second-placed Manchester United being stunned 1-0 at home by Relegation threatened West Bromwich Albion.
The Red Devil’s shock defeat to the Baggies came after Jay Rodriguez’s 73rd-minute strike. They realistically needed to win all of their six remaining games and hope City lost their last five matches, that hasn’t happened as they were the first to loose.
City now remains un-catchable at the top of the table, with a 16-point lead with five games remaining to the end of the season.
It has been a remarkable Premier League season for the City, so far seeing them lose just twice, at Anfield to Liverpool by 4 – 3 and home to Manchester United by 3 – 2. They have won 28 of their 33 matches, including a record-breaking run of 18 successive victories between August and December that was put to a stop by Crystal Palace’s draw.
Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola has now won three titles in three different countries after three La Liga triumphs in Spain with Barcelona and three Bundesliga crowns with Bayern Munich and admitted it was one of his best achievements. It is also his 24th trophy in his managerial career and second for Man City following the Carabao Cup he won after beating Arsenal at Wembley. He has become the first Spanish Manager to win an English top flight trophy.
Manchester City Records
- This is the third Premier League success for the club after the titles won in 2012 under Roberto Mancini and 2014 under Manuel Pellegrini.
- Manchester City has now equalled the record for quickest title success held by United’s 2000-01 team, winning the league with five games remaining.
- Pep’s boys need just nine points from their final games to set a new record for most Premier League points, while another 11 goals would see them set a new goal-scoring record of 104 goals.
- Since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan took ownership of the club in 2008, City have won seven trophies, adding an FA Cup, two League Cups and an FA Community Shield to their league titles.
- Their match at Everton saw them retain 82.13% possession, the highest recorded in the Premier League, and they broke passing records, completing over 900 against Chelsea.
- They have only failed to score in a league match once this season and lead the stats in terms of possession, touches, passes, shots and goals.
- Manchester City are equal with Arsenal’s tally of three Premier League titles – only Manchester United (13) and Chelsea (5) have won more.
- They have already equalled their record tally of wins in a top-flight league season, with 28. The only previous occasion that they did this was in 2011-12, when they sealed their 28th victory on the final day.
- City have been at the top of the league for 240 days in 2017-18 – just one day fewer than Manchester United have spent at the top of the Premier League since Sergio Aguero’s goal won the title in May 2012.