The current Premier League was unlike any other before it. The pandemic-related restrictions had caused havoc in all sports, not just football. As such, the start had been filled with unprecedented challenges that every team had to navigate.
Pep’s Third Premier League Title
Among the twenty teams in the English Premier League, only Manchester City had Pep Guardiola at the helm. The season ends with him and his men in blue have done it once more. Manchester City is now 10 points ahead of second-placed Manchester United, their fierce rivals. With 3 matches remaining, it is not mathematically possible to close the gap in any way.
The city rivals lost their home match against Leicester City on Tuesday 2-1, which made sure of the Premier League title. Of course, Manchester City can still win two more major trophies, one of them being the Champions League. They face Chelsea on 29th May in an all-English final.
However, the present Premier League Title is special. This time around City did not win it through objectives like their campaign in 2011-12. Nor did they break any records like in 2017-18. Rather, this time there has not been the stand-out striker that scores an enormous amount of goals who leads their team to the title. This is an exceptional occurrence in the three-decade-long history of the league.
Rather, the “false 9” position played out magnificently for the season. This idea is nothing new and is still the backbone of most tactics for teams that have achieved first place. Iikay Gundogan was this side’s best false 9. He has the most number of goals in the squad – 12. Following him is Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling at 9 each. Then there is Gabriel Jesus with eight. The side had a streak of 21 wins in all competitions as winter was coming to an end.