Man City win Premier League: Five games that made Pep Guardiola's side champions again
Guardiola's side have become the first team to retain the Premier League title in a decade
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Your support makes all the difference.Southampton 1 Manchester City 3
A win that could be easily forgotten in the final analysis but one that stopped the rot that had set in over a busy Christmas.
City went ahead early but were pegged back by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, a prodigy of Pep Guardiola during his time at Bayern Munich.
Another difficult afternoon seemed to be in store but James Ward-Prowse’s deflected own goal and a Sergio Aguero strike meant City returned to winning ways after two consecutive defeats.
Manchester City 2 Liverpool 1
Perhaps not the pivotal moment - that would come at Anfield later the same month - but the first time that the momentum swung back in City’s favour.
What was arguably the best game of the season turned on one John Stones goal-line clearance to deny Liverpool a 1-0 lead. Had it crossed the line, the remainder of the title race could have been very different.
But that should not detract from a ferocious all-round display by the champions, who did everything within their power to prevent Liverpool from opening up a 10-point lead.
Newcastle 2 Manchester City 1
City’s fourth defeat of the campaign came in late January but, remarkably, it would be the final one.
Guardiola believed Matt Ritchie’s late penalty had ended their title defence but Liverpool could only draw with Leicester at Anfield the following night. They then drew at West Ham.
City, meanwhile, would embark on a run of 14 straight wins. “Mentally, it is a big boost for us,” Bernardo Silva would say of Liverpool’s two stalemates. “We will try to keep doing our job and don’t relax as we did against Newcastle.”
Burnley 0 Manchester City 1
Stones’ clearance against Liverpool stopped the ball crossing the line by 11.7mm. Aguero’s goal at Turf Moor, scored after an hour of fraught, anxious football, crossed by 29.5mm. It is by those margins that this title race was won and lost.
The trip to Burnley was the last league game of City’s gruelling April and the one that caused them the most problems, with Sean Dyche’s side frustrating and denying them the openings they needed.
The decisive goal would eventually come but only by a matter of millimetres.
Manchester City 1 Leicester 0
With 20 minutes remaining, City’s run of 12 successive wins appeared under threat. It seemed as if a former Liverpool manager was going to hand the initiative back to his former club ahead of the final weekend.
What followed was an iconic moment of the Premier League era, with Vincent Kompany scoring from the first shot he has attempted from outside the penalty area since 2013.
It was a goal that effectively ended Liverpool's challenge and, on what could prove to be Kompany’s final Etihad appearance after 11 years of service, the perfect crowning moment.
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