Man City lift Premier League trophy for fifth time in six seasons

Pep Guardiola rested most of his best players and still watched Manchester City ease past Chelsea as they marked their title coronation with a 12th consecutive Premier League win.

Thousands of City fans – some letting off blue flares– stormed the pitch at the final whistle as security staff rushed to get the players to safety at the Etihad Stadium before the trophy parade.

A title race that had threatened to go to the wire only seven weeks ago ultimately turned into a procession for City as they secured a fifth title in six seasons with three games to spare.

Julian Alvarez’s goal extended City’s unbeaten run to 24 matches but any jeopardy on the day had been removed the night before after Arsenal lost at Nottingham Forest to hand the title to Guardiola’s men.

The atmosphere was in stark contrast to 12 months ago, when anxious City supporters had to watch their team City come from 2-0 down on the final day to beat Aston Villa late on thanks to three goals in five minutes and pip Liverpool to the title by a point. 

This time around, City fans could bask in the warm sunshine knowing the title was already under lock and key, and potentially with more silverware to follow in what could be a historic season for the club.

 “The Treble Is On, 1 Down 2 To Go” read one banner as City now look forward to an FA Cup final against Manchester United on Saturday week and the Champions League final against Inter Milan in Istanbul seven days later.

They must first conclude the league campaign with games away to Brighton and Brentford when it remains to be seen if Guardiola again opts to shuffle the pack.

Guardiola started with £484 million of talent on the bench, with Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Rodri, Bernardo, captain Ilkay Gundogan, Ruben Dias, John Stones and Ederson all substitutes, but City’s second string were still too strong for their opponents.

For Chelsea, the misery is almost at an end. If this season had been another six weeks longer, they could have found themselves sucked into a relegation battle, so poor has their form been since the turn of the year.

This was their 10th defeat in 21 Premier League matches, during which time they have mustered just 19 points, despite the most expensive transfer splurge in football history over the past year.

There has been just one win in their last 10 league outings and the campaign cannot finish quickly enough for Frank Lampard and his sorry group of players