Nottingham Forest's 25-year-old Nigerian Taiwo Awoniyi got the party going in Manchester and at the Etihad Stadium yesterday after beating Arsenal to mathematically make the Sky Blues Premier League champions for the ninth time in their history. a day before facing Chelsea (5pm). In this way, Pep Guardiola's citizens complete a fantastic week, in which they have exhausted praise after sweeping Real Madrid (4-0) and getting into their second Champions League final.
For the coach from Santpedor it is the 11th league as a coach, among the three he won with Barça (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11), the three with Bayern (from 2013 to 2016) and now the fifth with City.
Manchester City's acceleration in the Premier League has been spectacular: in the last three months, 14 games (since February 12), they have linked a streak of 14 unbeaten games, with 13 wins and a draw. In other words, from being 3 points behind Arsenal to surpassing them by 4 on the 36th matchday. So that City could be League champions if Arsenal lost in the visit to Nottingham Forest, which was playing for permanence. And the first premise was fulfilled.
On 19 minutes at the City Ground in Nottingham, Nigeria's Taiwo Awoniyi finished with a soft touch at Ramsdale's exit a dizzying counter and Morgan Gibbs-White's brilliant assist that would have been signed by Bernardo Silva in person or Kevin de Bruyne. Nottingham Forest escaped the relegation positions and City were automatically champions of the Premier League... They only had to wait another 70 minutes to certify the gunner defeat, the sixth of the season, the fourth of the last three months of wonder of their rivals citizens, against whom they had lost both league matches (1-3 and 4-1); another demonstration of authority from Guardiola's.
Mikel Arteta's team tried in every way, which was desperate on the wing. Trossard and the Brazilian Felipe had good chances, and in the second half Saka, but they always clashed against a Keylor Navas who teamed up with Manchester City to keep their goal to zero.
In other words, Pep Guardiola's team will jump into the Etihad Stadium today as champions of the Premier League for the fifth time in the last six years, "a fucking barbarity", as the coach from Santpedor said in one of his famous expressions , who has secured his 12th title since taking the sky blue bench , since the 2016-17 season, that is in seven seasons: five leagues, one FA Cup, four league cups and two Community Shields.
A dozen trophies to which he can still add the FA Cup on June 3 (the final, against Manchester United), and a week later, the icing on the cake, the Champions League, in Istanbul (June 10, against Inter) . It would be Guardiola's fantastic year in Manchester.
