Manchester City celebrated their third successive Premier League title following their 1-0 victory over Chelsea at the Etihad on Sunday evening.
On Saturday, when second-place Arsenal lost 1-0 at Nottingham Forest, Pep Guardiola’s squad clinched their fifth title in six seasons.
This allowed Guardiola to rest the majority of his star players with an eye on next month’s FA Cup and Champions League finals as City pursues the treble.
Julian Alvarez, who has spent the majority of the season as Erling Haaland’s backup, scored his 17th goal of the season to extend the English champions’ unbeaten streak to 24 matches across all competitions.
Despite pleas from the club to remain in the stands, tens of thousands of City fans rushed the field at the end of the game, marring an otherwise joyous afternoon.
Guardiola made a total of nine substitutions from the team that defeated Real Madrid 4-0 in midweek.
In the opening 12 minutes, the youthful hosts were still superior to the beleaguered visitors and took the lead.
The Argentine World Cup champion continued his sensational season for club and country by tapping in Cole Palmer’s pass.
Palmer capitalised on a rare Premier League start and was unlucky not to extend City’s lead when Trevoh Chalobah blocked his goal-bound shot.
A familiar lack of cutting edge in front of the net revealed why the Blues have struggled under three different managers this season. The loss confirmed that Chelsea will end a miserable season in the bottom half.
Raheem Sterling should have scored at least one goal upon his return to the Etihad, but was denied by a fine save by Stefan Ortega in a one-on-one situation with the German custodian.
Moments later, Conor Gallagher headed the ball past Ortega with only the custodian to beat.
However, the lack of danger for both teams was evident as the majority of the match was played at a snail’s pace in the unusually hot Manchester sun.
Not that the home fans cared as they chanted “champions” and performed the Poznan celebration with their backs to the pitch as they cheered on their team.
In the second half, Chelsea had the better opportunities to avoid a seventh loss in nine games under interim manager Frank Lampard.
Even when Sterling finally beat City’s substitute goalkeeper Ortega, John Stones was there to clear the ball off the goal line.
Mykhailo Mudryk and Cesar Azpilicueta missed late opportunities to salvage a draw.
At the other end, England midfielder Kalvin Phillips came within inches of scoring his first goal for City when his header struck the inside of the goalpost.
Alvarez had a second goal disallowed for handball by Riyad Mahrez with 20 minutes remaining before Guardiola gave the home crowd what they wanted by bringing on Haaland off the bench.
The Norwegian attempted a shot on goal with his first touch and nearly set up Rico Lewis for a shot across the net.
However, he was made to wait for his 53rd goal of the season as City calmly played out the final stages to open up a seven-point lead over Arsenal with only one game remaining.
Photo by EPA/Peter Powell
