Manchester City have won a third Premier League title in a row, and a fifth in six seasons. After a relentless charge which unnerved Arsenal, with three games to go, the trophy is back in Manchester.
The Sky Blues have a home game against Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, but the pressure is off, the title is won and Pep Guardiola’s team will be presented with the Premier League trophy at the Etihad Stadium. The league was already done and dusted on Saturday evening because Arsenal went down 1-0 away to Nottingham Forest, a result which also meant a talented coach, Steve Cooper, has earned Forest another year in the top flight.
For Arsenal, it is hard to take as they have led the league for so much of the campaign, but a return of just nine points from eight games while Manchester City won all eight ended manager Mikel Arteta’s dreams. Nottingham Forest deserved their day in the sun and another shot at elite football as Taiwo Awoniyi’s 19th minute goal won the day in front of 29,000 passionate fans at the City Ground. The celebrations in Nottingham will go on long into the night.
And the same applies to the Sky Blue half of Manchester.
City have bagged the first segment of their triple target and, with the FA Cup and Champions League finals to come, Guardiola will consider resting his big players for the remaining Premier League games. The Sky Blues are hot favourites to beat both Manchester United and Inter Milan in the cup competitions; but, on Sunday, they will allow themselves to celebrate another spectacular league title.
Firmino’s Farewell Goal surely won’t be enough…will it?
While Manchester City’s dominance of the Premier League continues, the scramble for Champions League places involves two other big teams in the North West hotbed of English football. Manchester United thought they had guaranteed a place in Europe’s top competition when Liverpool trailed Aston Villa at Anfield with injury time looming. But then, a fairytale ending to Roberto Firmino’s career on Merseyside kept Pool’s season going.
Firmino, who is leaving Anfield in the summer, struck on 89 minutes to ensure Liverpool stayed within three points of the top four with a game to go. Keep your eyes on the SBOTOP odds for the last round of games, it’s a long shot for Liverpool but the Kop’s favourite Brazilian has just about kept the dream alive.
The Red Devils travelled to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon and they made hard work of beating the Cherries, whose season is already done. Casemiro’s early volley was enough to win the points but, with 20 shots in the game, Manchester United failed to put the match to bed. United’s form has been a little underwhelming of late, but a top four place is a good outcome for Erik Ten Hag in his first season at the helm and his team is almost there, alongside Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United.
Two big teams are set for the drop
Following the relegation of Southampton the battle to avoid the drop has intensified for the other four teams involved and, with Leicester City due to face Newcastle United on Monday, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United each had a chance to strengthen their chance to stay in the top flight.
Of course Forest pulled off a superb result to beat Arsenal thanks to Awoniyi’s early strike. In some ways it was one of the biggest Premier League 2023 results of the campaign, but then maybe it wasn’t a huge shock as Forest fought hard to keep a quickly fading Arsenal attack at bay. The pre-season Premier League 2023 betting odds didn’t give Forest much hope of survival and, just a few weeks ago, they looked doomed. But a brilliant return of ten points from five games has kept them up and Cooper deserves a lot of credit.
Sean Dyche’s Everton did themselves a favour too as they stole a late point in a 1-1 draw away to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Yerry Mina bundled the ball home after an almighty scramble to give Everton a 99th minute leveller to take them on to 33 points, two ahead of Leeds and three ahead of Leicester. The Toffees deserved their points, winning the shot count by 19 to 13, and now they are in a strong position to survive, with a home match against Bournemouth to come.
Now it’s over to Leeds United who face West Ham away on Sunday, and Leicester who come up against Newcastle on Monday. And, of course, our congratulations to Manchester City…and Nottingham Forest.
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