With an explosion of blue-and-white ticker tape, Manchester City바카라™s Premier League title celebrations erupted. (More Football News)
Victory against Chelsea extended City바카라™s unbeaten run to 24 games in all competitions. And even with Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and a host of star players named on the bench against Chelsea, a 12th straight win in the league was secured.
With an explosion of blue-and-white ticker tape, Manchester City바카라™s Premier League title celebrations erupted. (More Football News)
That바카라™s three league titles in a row, five out of six and who knows how many more for a team that keeps on reaching new heights?
바카라śThey바카라™ve set a benchmark that has pulled them apart,바카라ť Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said after his team was beaten 1-0 by the newly crowned champions on Sunday. 바카라śI think they바카라™re outstanding ... that바카라™s why they are on for a possible treble.바카라ť
The first leg of that three-pronged trophy pursuit is complete, with the finals of the FA Cup and Champions League still to come.
The concern for Manchester United and Inter Milan in those respective finals is that this City team only appears to be getting stronger as the season nears a spectacular climax for Pep Guardiola.
바카라śTo be considered one of the greatest teams we have to win Europe, win the Champions League,바카라ť the City manager said.
Victory against Chelsea extended City바카라™s unbeaten run to 24 games in all competitions. And even with Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and a host of star players named on the bench against Chelsea, a 12th straight win in the league was secured.
It was a run that proved too much for an Arsenal team that had led the way for much of the season, but buckled on the final stretch.
Nobody at City appears to be tiring of that winning feeling.
Certainly not Guardiola, who has now won 11 league titles in 14 seasons of management, spanning Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City.
Not the players either, who answered their coach바카라™s challenge earlier in the season by proving they had not lost their edge and sang 바카라śWe Are The Champions바카라ť in the locker room.
And not the supporters, who flooded the field after the final whistle at Etihad Stadium, letting off canisters of blue smoke and celebrating joyously as a period of unprecedented success for their beloved team goes on.
While this latest title 바카라” a seventh under the ownership of Abu Dhabi바카라™s ruling family 바카라” was duly relished, the overriding feeling within the stadium was about what comes next.
One banner, carried onto the field by fans, read: 바카라śThe treble is on바카라ť and Kyle Walker spoke of the team바카라™s determination to 바카라ścreate history.바카라ť
In that sense, it would feel like an underwhelming end to the campaign if City failed to add to the league title.
That is a natural consequence of Guardiola바카라™s dominance and why the pressure on him grows to finally conquer Europe with this team.
For City바카라™s English rivals, however, the title remains a dream and Arsenal 바카라” like Liverpool in recent years 바카라” has learned the hard way just how painful it can be to go head-to-head with Guardiola.
In the end, Mikel Arteta바카라™s side fell away all too easily, winning just two of its last eight games. But for much of the season, it felt like Arsenal would hold on for a first title in 19 years.
It might not get a better chance to beat City than this year when Guardiola바카라™s players struggled for consistency before going on a relentless march from February.
Even then, Arsenal led the table by eight points as recently as April 7, but still couldn바카라™t hold off City바카라™s charge.
바카라śArsenal brought us to our limits, otherwise (we) would not win these 12 games in a row,바카라ť Guardiola said. 바카라śWe didn바카라™t give up and they felt that we were there.바카라ť
It is possible to imagine City getting stronger next season, with 52-goal Haaland more settled in the team and the league.
New signings are also likely to come in during the off-season and Guardiola바카라™s new three-man defensive system may also be more refined after changing his formation during this campaign.
That is for the future. On Sunday it was all about City바카라™s latest party, but Guardiola hopes the end of season celebrations have only just begun.
LEEDS NEARS RELEGATION
The Sam Allardyce experiment looks destined to fail after Leeds바카라™ 3-1 loss at West Ham on Sunday pushed it to the brink of relegation.
Leeds needs to win against Tottenham on the last day of the season and hope that other results go its way to avoid the drop.
Rodrigo opened the scoring at London Stadium, but goals from Declan Rice, Jarrod Bowen and Manuel Lanzini consigned Leeds to a latest defeat.
Allardyce was tasked with the job of ensuring survival at the start of May, but has only picked up one point in his three games in charge.
바카라śIt was always going to be a difficult task,바카라ť the 68-year-old former England coach said. 바카라śLots of people said I바카라™m mad for taking it. I바카라™m not mad. I just love football and Leeds United was too big a job to turn down for me, however short it was.바카라ť
BRIGHTON INTO EUROPE
Roberto de Zerbi might be one of the most in-demand coaches around this summer 바카라” but he says he has his sights set on leading Brighton into Europe next season.
바카라śThe club, the players, me, my staff, and the fans, they have to organize their passports to travel in Europe next year because we have to grow together,바카라ť he said after a 3-1 win against relegated Southampton on Sunday.
Few could have predicted such a successful season for Brighton after manager Graham Potter left for Chelsea in September.
But De Zerbi has taken the club to new levels after leading it to Europe for the first time in its history.
That was secured against Southampton, with Evan Ferguson scoring twice in the first half to set up the win.
Mohamed Elyounoussi pulled one back after the break, but Pascal Gross바카라™ goal sealed a 3-1 victory.
Brighton can바카라™t now finish lower than seventh 바카라” in the Europa Conference League spot 바카라” though a sixth-place finish and a Europa League berth are all but mathematically guaranteed.