Manchester City win 5th Premier League title as Leicester beat Man United

Manchester City clinched their third Premier League title in four years and their fifth overall after city rivals Manchester United were handed a 1-2 home loss by Leicester City on Tuesday. 

United were 10 points off the top prior to kickoff, with that gap becoming unassailable after goals from Luke Thomas and Caglar Soyuncu sealed the points for Brendan Rodgers’ men at Old Trafford. 

The title seemed
far from achievable for a team languishing in the 14th spot in November
after a topsy-turvy start to the 2020-21 season, winning just three of their first
eight games.

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But an
impressive run since, that has seen them register 11 consecutive away league wins, an English top-flight record, helped consolidate an unassailable
lead at the top of the table.

Defending champions
Liverpool’s title defence fell apart due to a raft of injuries to regular
starters, with key defenders Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all sidelined with long-term injuries. The Reds are now in an uphill battle to
secure Champions League qualification for next season, seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea with a game in hand.

City, on
the other hand, made up for their meek surrender to Jurgen Klopp’s men last season,
with a revamped line-up and increased defensive stability making them head-and-shoulders
above the rest of the league.

John Stones
and Ruben Dias formed an imperious centre-back pairing, as City have recorded the most clean-sheets (18) and the fewest goals conceded (24) so far in the season.

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Guardiola also implemented a ‘false 9’ setup with Phil Foden, Kevin de Bruyne and other fluid, inter-changing attackers making up for their lack of strikers for large chunks of the campaign.

Ilkay Gundogan discovered a new goal-scoring knack, scoring nine goals in February and March to bag consecutive player of the month awards, the first City player to acheive the feat. 

Having already added the 2020-21 League Cup to their kitty, City are on the brink of winning the Champions League for the first time in their history, defeating Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals to book a final showdown against Chelsea. 

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