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Manchester City have been crowned champions of the Premier League for a fifth time after Manchester United were beaten at Old Trafford by Leicester City. With three games remaining in the season, Manchester City have an unassailable lead of ten points at the top of the Premier League table and the celebrations have begun in the blue half of Manchester.
Pep Guardiola has expressed his pride at having secured his toughest title yet. The City manager said:
“This has been a season and a Premier League title like no other. This was the hardest one. We will always remember this season for the way that we won. I am so proud to be the manager here and of this group of players."
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Manchester City win fifth Premier League title
It has been quite a testing season in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic but Manchester City's squad depth and the consistency of some of their players enabled them to outshine their rivals.
The season did not start all that well for Manchester City but since the turn of the year, there has been no stopping them. Without further ado, let's take a look at 10 amazing facts from Manchester City's Premier League triumph.
#10 Manchester City's seventh top-flight title
This was Manchester City's seventh English top-flight title. Back when they were just the 'noisy neighbours' of Manchester United, they had won two. Once in the 1936-37 season and then in the 1967-68 season.
#9 Manchester City are now joint-second most successful club in the Premier League with Chelsea
Manchester City have now won five league titles in the Premier League era and have as many titles as Chelsea. Only Manchester United have more but it's going to take the Cityzens a while to catch up with their neighbours.
#8 Meanwhile, Benjamin Mendy now has a strange record
While he has shown a lot of promise in glimpses, Benjamin Mendy's stint at Manchester City has been plagued by injuries, causing him to play just a bit-part role in the four seasons he has spent there. Mendy has played just 71 games so far for Manchester City but has won eight titles. Well, make of that what you will.
#7 Pep Guardiola up there with Kenny Dalglish
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City have looked unbeatable at times this season. That has, in fact, been the case with this Manchester City side in all of their title-winning campaigns under Pep Guardiola. He has only missed out on the Premier League title twice- once to Chelsea (2016-17) and once to Liverpool (2019-20).
#6 Riyad Mahrez has been one of Manchester City's standout performers this season
The Premier League has been home to some outstanding African players and Riyad Mahrez is the latest addition to that list. The Algerian has scored nine goals and provided four assists in 25 Premier League appearances this season.
He joins an elite group of players like Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure as the only African players who have won three or more Premier League titles.
#5 Premier League title decided at Old Trafford for a sixth time
Manchester United were the only club that even came close to putting up a fight against Manchester City's dominance. So it was fitting that they got to have a say over when the Premier League title was handed to their neighbours. This one would have hurt way less than a few of the earlier ones that were decided at Old Trafford.
Of the six Premier League titles that were decided at Old Trafford, Manchester United have won only three. Ouch.
#4 Manchester City won 15 Premier League games in a row this season
Manchester City turned their season around towards the end of 2020. They started on an unstoppable run after beating Southampton on December 19. The next time they dropped points in a Premier League game was almost three months later, on March 7. By then City had won 15 Premier League games in a row and 21 games in all competitions, which is a top-flight record.
#3 Pep Guardiola draws level with Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho as three-time Premier League champions
Remember when Jose Mourinho went on that tirade where he said he had won three Premier League titles and that's more than all the other managers in the Premier League at the time have won together? Well, he can't do that anymore.
Pep Guardiola has just equalled his record and has become the joint-second most successful manager in the Premier League with Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho.
Sir Alex Ferguson still holds a big lead over the trio.
#2 Pep Guardiola has now won nine league titles in 12 seasons
Pep Guardiola is inarguably one of the best managers in world football. He has absolutely transformed this Manchester City side and this could be the year where they finally break their Champions League curse as well.
Guardiola has managed Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City in his 12 year managing career and has won nine league titles. It's an astonishing achievement at the highest level of the game and it underscores Pep's status as a footballing genius.
#1 First team to win the Premier League title after being as low as eighth on the table on Christmas Day
Manchester City did not get off to a great start this season. They sat as low as eighth in the Premier League table on Christmas day. But they turned it around and was nearly unstoppable in the league in the second half of the season.
