Nigeria’s Taiwo Awoniyi has shattered Arsenal’s hopes of winning the English Premier League after his 19th minute goal against Arsenal confirmed Manchester City as Premier League champions for the fifth time in six seasons on Saturday.
What an irony! Manchester City did not even have to kick a ball to win the title as the second-placed Arsenal’s challenge ended in defeat away at Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal, who enjoyed an eighth-point lead over City as recently as mid-March, needed at least a point to stay mathematically in the hunt, but went down 1-0.
Their initial 248 days atop of the league table has now ended in disappointment.
City, who host Chelsea on Sunday, have 85 points with three games to play, while Arsenal are on 81 with one game left.
It is City’s seventh Premier League title since they were bought by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008 and they are now just two wins away from completing a treble only previously achieve by Manchester United in 1999.
City face Manchester United in the FA Cup final on June 3 and a week later take on Inter Milan in the Champions League final — starting big favourites in both games.
While Arsenal have threatened to knock City off their perch this season, it all proved an illusion in the end as Pep Guardiola’s side again proved relentless in the run-in.
Since losing to Tottenham Hotspur on Feb. 5 they have taken 40 points from the next 42 on offer and have won their last 11 matches. They have also comprehensively beaten Arsenal home and away
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