City make history as win over West Ham secures record fourth title | OneFootball

Manchester City made history as we became the first ever men’s team to win four titles in a row following our 3-1 win over West Ham United.

Phil Foden took just 79 seconds to fire us into the lead before doubling our advantage when he turned in Jeremy Doku’s pinpoint cross in the 18th minute.

West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus pulled a goal with a stunning overhead kick just before half-time before Rodrigo’s elegant finish restored our two-goal lead.

It secured the 10th top-flight title in our history and sixth in seven seasons and Pep Guardiola’s side wrapped up the Premier League by remaining unbeaten at the Etihad throughout the campaign.

WHAT HAPPENED

No matter how successful City have been in recent years, there’s always plenty of nerves around on big occasions such as these.

Guardiola was aiming for his 17th trophy since taking over at the Etihad and our third this season after lifting the UEFA European Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

City fans were hoping to be able to enjoy the glorious Manchester sunshine but famous last day title-winning occasions against QPR and Aston Villa have shown that these matches cannot be taken for granted.

We had to win to be assured of beating Arsenal to the Premier League and we made the perfect start with just over a minute gone when Foden fired us ahead.

In the week he was named Premier League Player of the Season to go with the FWA Footballer of the Year he won earlier, the Academy graduate smashed an unstoppable strike from 20 yards arrowing into the top corner, sending an already raucous Etihad into delirium.

It was one-way traffic in the early stages as we tried to kill off the game as soon as possible, with Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku twice bringing good saves from Alphonse Areola in the opening quarter of an hour.

A thrusting run from Hammers’ full-back Emerson Palmieri showed that the visitors weren’t here to make up the numbers on David Moyes last game in charge, but Kyle Walker was alert to clear the danger.

And shortly after, City cut through the Hammers again with a neat passing move that ended with Doku picking out Foden to sweep home our second in the 18th minute.

We immediately went in search of a third and went close. Haaland couldn’t quite connect with a spectacular attempt from close range while Areola punched away Foden’s vicious, swerving strike and got fingertips to De Bruyne’s curling effort.

But it wouldn’t be a final without a few twists and turns and a brilliant overhead kick from Kudus just before half-time brought the visitors back into the game.

De Bruyne and Foden went close to re-establishing our two-goal advantage after the break but their long-range strikes drifted agonisingly inches wide of the target.

Despite our lead and domination of the ball, fingernails were being gnawed with the potential of a West Ham second denying us the title.

Anxieties were finally eased a little when Rodrigo’s shot found a way through a packed penalty area to put us 3-1 ahead.

Edge-of-the-box sidefoot finishes against Aston Villa on the final day two years ago and in the Champions League final win over Inter from the Spanish midfielder have come at big moments for the Blues.

And it was another of those trademark clutch finishes from Rodri as he slid a shot into the bottom corner of the net with players and fans celebrating wildly at the breakthrough.

City kept pushing forward with Foden close to his third hat-trick of the season with a clever free-kick that hit the side-netting while Bernardo and Doku had shots blocked and Haaland’s header drifted narrowly wide.

But there was the threat of late drama when Tomas Soucek had the ball in the back of the net with the goal awarded.

Replays showed the defender had used his arm and the goal was rightly ruled out by VAR to spare us what could have been a very uncomfortable five minutes of stoppage time.

It meant we were able to count down the final few moments in style as Guardiola and his brilliant side claimed a record-breaking title.

TEAMS

City: Ortega Moreno, Walker, Akanji (Ake 71), Dias, Gvardiol, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden (Kovacic 90), Doku, Haaland

Subs not used: Carson, Stones, Grealish, Alvarez, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis

West Ham: Areola, Coufal, Zouma, Mavropanos, Cresswell, Emerson (E Alvarez 71), Ward-Prowse, Soucek, Paqueta (Ings 86), Kudus, Antonio (Earthy 81)

Subs not used: Fabianski, Johnson, Casey, Ogbonna, Cornet, Mubama

GUARDIOLA REACTION

Will follow shortly…

PLAYER REACTION

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WHAT IT MEANS

City are champions of the Premier League. We won the title by two points from Arsenal to secure it for the 10th time in our history.

WHAT’S NEXT

We go back to Wembley for our last game of the campaign as we face Manchester United in a repeat of last season's FA Cup final.

The kick-off in the capital is 15:00 (UK) on Saturday 25 May as we try to win the trophy for a second successive season and become the first Club in English history to win successive doubles.