Manchester City defeated West Ham 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium to reclaim their title as Premier League champions.
Phil Foden put City ahead in the second minute and then added another to calm any jitters. City needed to win to ensure they would keep their title and become the first team to win the English Premier League for four years in a row.
Rodri’s low goal early in the second half crushed any hope Arsenal supporters might have had that City would make a mistake on championship day and give them the trophy. Mohammed Kudus’ overhead kick late in the first half had briefly changed the game’s direction.
“I had that feeling last season,” Guardiola told reporters in the press conference after the game when asked if he had now completed English football.
“We were in Istanbul (after winning the Champions League) and I said, ‘It’s over. What am I doing here? There is nothing left.’ But I have a contract. I am here and I am still enjoying some of the moments, sometimes tired but some of them I love.
“And after a few days, we start playing good, winning games, different players, and we start to think about how no one has done four in a row. Why not try it?
“Now, I am feeling it is done. What next? I don’t know, right now. Well, I know it is FA Cup.
“I know no team in all history, Gary Lineker told me, I did not know it, no team has done back-to-back Premier Leagues and FA Cups.
“So, it is our rivals, and what I want is for my players to enjoy it for two or three days and then we have two or three days to prepare the final.
“But, next season, right now, I am not able to know what will be the motivation to do it. It is difficult sometimes to find it when everything is done.
“But I know that the players and myself will be there and think, why shouldn’t we win today? Why not? Why should we not work as much as possible to do what we have to do?
“And I know we are going to do it. I know.”
Even after Kai Havertz scored a late goal at the Emirates Stadium to give Arsenal a 2-1 victory over Everton, the team completed the season second behind Manchester City.
Idrissa Gueye’s deflected free-kick in the first half was cancelled out by Takehiro Tomiyasu’s goal, but Havertz’s close-range strike survived a protracted VAR check for handball.
The goal in the 89th minute secured Arsenal’s victory at the conclusion of the season, but they still needed City to lose to West Ham in order to win the championship, something Pep Guardiola’s team did not provide. Instead, Arsenal won 3-1.
Despite having the second-highest point total in Premier League history at the end of the season—89—the Gunners trail champions City by two points. Everton comes in fifteenth place.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta:
“I’m very proud. First of all congratulations to Manchester City, they are the champions, they’ve been incredible since December. We have tried with everything that we had. You can sense how much we wanted it, we really tried. It wasn’t enough unfortunately.”
On pushing Man City all the way: “It feels good because success can not only be measured by comparing to somebody else, we need to understand what we are doing. We’ve beat every record this club ever had apart from winning it. This is the most competitive league ever in history and we have to be better. Now we need to find ways we have to improve.
“Now we have to be more determined, very courageous, very ambitious, and we need to go to a different level. We need to deliver.”
At an emotional Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’s illustrious career as Liverpool’s manager came to an end with a 2-0 victory over Wolves.
With the sun shining on Anfield for his 491st and final game as manager of Liverpool, Klopp’s squad played with the fervour characteristic of his own brand of football.
Before halftime, Jarell Quansah bundled in a second goal, headed by Alexis Mac Allister in the opening frame. It was appropriate that Klopp’s team generated a substantial 5.20 goals worth of predicted goals since they created opportunity after opportunity but were unable to find any more.
Nelson Semedo’s 28-minute dismissal for a foul on Mac Allister—which VAR upgraded from a yellow to a red card—made Liverpool’s mission simpler.
With Liverpool finishing in the top three in five of the last six seasons under his direction, Klopp leaves Anfield with the greatest win % of any Liverpool manager in charge of more than 30 games, having led the team to a third-place finish in the Premier League this season.
Jurgen Klopp speaking at Anfield: “I’m completely surprised – I thought I was already in pieces, but I am so happy. I can’t believe it, about you all, the atmosphere, the game, about being part of this family, about us.
“How we celebrated this day, it’s just incredible – thank you so much.
“It doesn’t feel like an end. It feels like a start. Today, I saw a football team playing full of desire. That’s one part of development. That’s what you need.
“This attention is uncomfortable but in this time I realise some things. People told me that I turned them from doubters into believers – but that isn’t true. We have this stadium, training centre and you – the super power of world football!”
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