Manchester City clinched the Premier League title with the win required to finally end Liverpool’s relentless attempt to dethrone them as champions by crushing Brighton & Hove Albion 4-1 on the south-coast on Sunday.
City ended the season with 98 points, two shy of last season’s record-breaking 100, while Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield saw them finish on 97 — by far the largest tally for a Premier League runners-up spot.
Such was Liverpool’s tenacity in the title race that it took an incredible 14th straight league victory for Pep Guardiola’s City to become the first club for a decade to retain the title.
Goals from Sergio Aguero, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Guendogan gave City a comfortable victory in the end after a brief moment of panic in the visiting ranks when Glenn Murray’s header gave Brighton a surprise 27th minute lead.
Argentine striker Aguero, whose last-gasp goal secured City’s first Premier League title in heart-stopping fashion seven years ago, levelled 83 seconds later and Laporte’s thumping header put City ahead before the break.
With Liverpool, who began the day one point behind, leading against Wolves, the Anfield club would still have hoped for something extraordinary to happen in the south-coast sunshine.
But when City winger Mahrez drove an unstoppable shot past Brighton goalkeeper Mathew Ryan’s despairing dive just past the hour and Gundogan’s majestic free kick found the net in the 72nd minute the City fans could get the party started.
City have now won four league titles in eight seasons but captain Vincent Kompany, whose sublime shot earned a crucial 1-0 win over Leicester City on Monday to keep his side’s fate in their own hands, said this was the most satisfying of them all.
“Back to back, it was the hardest and most satisfying ever. Liverpool were exceptional this year. I don’t mean to rub it in — they didn’t deserve to lose,” Kompany said.
“But we played against such a good team all season and until now we were able to stay in front.”
Spaniard Guardiola can now became the first manager to claim the English domestic treble if City beat Watford in next week’s FA Cup final, having already scooped up the League Cup.
LIVERPOOL 2 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 0
LIVERPOOL, England, May 12 (Reuters)- Liverpool’s 29-year wait for a league title will continue after they had to settle for runners-up spot behind Manchester City despite Sadio Mane scoring twice in a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day of the Premier League season.
The victory for Juergen Klopp’s side on Sunday became irrelevant to the title outcome as City won 4-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion to ensure their second straight league crown.
It will be hard to stomach for Liverpool after such an excellent campaign but Klopp’s men, beaten just once in the Premier League this season, finished one point behind City with 97, a record total for a team coming runners-up.
The midweek drama of Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Barcelona, ensuring a place in the Champions League final on June 1 against Tottenham Hotspur, removed much of the sense of disappointment from the day which ended with a lap of honour from the Liverpool players and their families.
But the day began with the possibility that a first title since 1990 could be secured if a remarkable week of football ended with another upset, this time at Brighton.
Liverpool certainly played like they believed that could happen, especially when Mane put Liverpool ahead in the 17th minute, meeting a low cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold and sweeping home from close range.
News of Brighton taking the lead against City, brought inevitable roars from the crowd and even with Pep Guardiola’s side quickly replying, for 21 minutes until City got in front, Liverpool were temporarily in the top spot.
But as news of their rivals’ progress at Brighton filtered through, Liverpool’s intensity gradually faded.
Wolves keeper Rui Patricio was alert to keep out a 20-metre blast from left-back Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah volleyed over the bar from the edge of the area.
But after the break, it was the visitors who looked the more likely to add to the scoring, with Matt Doherty hitting the bar and, in the 69th minute, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson having to react quickly to foil Diogo Jota after a ball over the top
Liverpool eventually made sure of the win when Mane added his second in the 81st minute, again assisted by Alexander-Arnold whose deep cross was nodded home by the Senegalese at the back post.
Liverpool strikers Salah and Mane both ended the season on 22 goals, sharing the ‘Golden Boot’ award with Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Premiere League final day results 2018-2019
Brighton & Hove Albion (1) 1
Scorers: G. Murray 27
Subs used: Locadia 67 (Jahanbakhsh), Andone 68 (Murray),
Martín Montoya 84 (Bruno Saltor)
Manchester City (2) 4
Scorers: S. Agüero 28, A. Laporte 38, R. Mahrez 63, İ.
Gündoğan 72
Subs used: De Bruyne 78 (David Silva), Otamendi 86
(Kompany), Danilo 88 (Walker)
Attendance: 30,662
Referee: Michael Oliver
………………………………………………………..
Burnley (0) 1
Scorers: A. Barnes 65
Yellow card: Heaton 3, Barnes 22, Tarkowski 48, Lowton 48,
Cork 75
Subs used: Guðmundsson 64 (McNeil), Crouch 77 (Wood), Brady
82 (Hendrick)
Arsenal (0) 3
Scorers: P. Aubameyang 52, P. Aubameyang 63, E. Nketiah 90+4
Yellow card: Guendouzi 52
Subs used: Koscielny 34 (Mavropanos), Nketiah 62 (Willock)
Attendance: 21,461
Referee: Mike Dean
………………………………………………………..
Crystal Palace (3) 5
Scorers: M. Batshuayi 24, M. Batshuayi 32, J. Simpson 37og,
P. van Aanholt 65, A. Townsend 80
Yellow card: Milivojević 63, McArthur 69, Zaha 79
Subs used: Sako 87 (Zaha), Wickham 89 (Batshuayi), Dreher 93
(Townsend)
AFC Bournemouth (1) 3
Scorers: J. Lerma 45, J. Ibe 56, J. King 73
Subs used: Mousset 70 (Ibe), Mepham 70 (Simpson), Surridge
89 (Clyne)
Attendance: 25,433
Referee: Roger East
………………………………………………………..
Fulham (0) 0
Yellow card: Bryan 59
Subs used: Babel 65 (Christie), Elliot 74 (Ayité), Kebano 81
(Sessegnon)
Newcastle United (2) 4
Scorers: J. Shelvey 9, Ayoze Pérez 11, F. Schär 61, S.
Rondón 90
Subs used: Muto 66 (Atsu), Fernández 69 (Hayden), Kenedy 81
(Dummett)
Attendance: 24,979
Referee: Kevin Friend
………………………………………………………..
Leicester City (0) 0
Subs used: Okazaki 66 (Ndidi), Simpson 76 (Albrighton),
Barnes 84 (Maddison)
Chelsea (0) 0
Yellow card: Jorginho 30
Subs used: Hazard 69 (Willian), Kovačić 76 (Barkley), Giroud
84 (Higuaín)
Referee: Anthony Taylor
………………………………………………………..
Liverpool (1) 2
Scorers: S. Mané 17, S. Mané 81
Subs used: Milner 64 (Origi), Gomez 84 (Robertson),
Oxlade-Chamberlain 88 (Wijnaldum)
Wolverhampton Wanderers (0) 0
Yellow card: Bennett 49, Diogo Jota 50
Subs used: Adama Traoré 80 (Doherty), Rúben Vinagre 84
(Jonny Castro), Gibbs-White 84 (João Moutinho)
Attendance: 53,331
Referee: Martin Atkinson
………………………………………………………..
Manchester United (0) 0
Yellow card: Andreas Pereira 44, Pogba 61, Lingard 71
Subs used: Martial 46 (Jones), Valencia 74 (Diogo Dalot),
Gomes 74 (Andreas Pereira)
Cardiff City (1) 2
Scorers: N. Mendez-Laing 23pen, N. Mendez-Laing 54
Yellow card: Bacuna 28, Josh Murphy 61, Morrison 91
Subs used: Richards 58 (Gunnarsson), Ward 74 (Zohorè),
Hoilett 80 (Mendez-Laing)
Attendance: 74,457
Referee: Jonathan Moss
………………………………………………………..
Southampton (1) 1
Scorers: N. Redmond 41
Subs used: Targett 46 (Long), Austin 76 (Ings), Sims 84
(Oriol Romeu)
Huddersfield Town (0) 1
Scorers: A. Pritchard 55
Yellow card: Hogg 84
Subs used: Daly 66 (Bacuna), Mounié 86 (Pritchard)
Attendance: 30,367
Referee: Lee Probert
………………………………………………………..
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2
Scorers: E. Dier 3, C. Eriksen 75
Subs used: Wanyama 46 (Alli), Janssen 77 (Llorente), Skipp
77 (Lamela)
Everton (0) 2
Scorers: T. Walcott 69, C. Tosun 72
Yellow card: Schneiderlin 71, Digne 90
Subs used: André Gomes 65 (Gueye), Lookman 65 (Bernard)
Attendance: 60,124
Referee: Andre Marriner
………………………………………………………..
Watford (0) 1
Scorers: Deulofeu 46
Red card: Holebas 48
Yellow card: Capoue 91
Subs used: Gray 59 (Deulofeu), Masina 67 (Hughes), Mariappa
78 (Kabasele)
West Ham United (2) 4
Scorers: M. Noble 15, M. Lanzini 39, M. Arnautović 71, M.
Noble 78pen
Subs used: Zabaleta 26 (Fredericks), Wilshere 67 (Lanzini),
Sánchez 79 (Rice)
Attendance: 20,067
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
REUTERS