Man City wins English Premier League after Arsenal loses at Forest
Football
By
Associated Press
| May 21, 2023
Manchester City clinched a third straight English Premier League title after second-placed Arsenal lost at Nottingham Forest 1-0 to cap its end-of-season collapse on Saturday.
City holds an unassailable four-point lead, with Arsenal - the once long-time leader - having only one game remaining.
It is City's seventh league crown in a 12-year period during which the Abu Dhabi-owned club has changed the face of the English game.
City's latest title is the fifth in Pep Guardiola's seven years at the club and owes as much to its end-of-season streak of 11 straight victories as it does to an implosion by Arsenal, just when a first league title since 2004 was in sight.
Arsenal led by eight points on April 1 but has since won only two of eight games.
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A win at the City Ground likely would have delayed the inevitable but Taiwo Awoniyi's 19th-minute goal brought an end to the title race with City still having three games to play.
The victory also ensured Forest was safe from relegation in its first season back in the top-flight since 1999.
City is enjoying a period of domestic dominance rarely seen in English soccer.
That's five league titles in seven years in Guardiola's reign and seven in a 12-season spell that began with Sergio Aguero's storied stoppage-time goal to win the league in 2012.
It's the first time City has won three leagues in a row and comes while the Abu Dhabi-owned club is facing an unprecedented slew of charges from the Premier League for allegedly breaking financial rules from 2009-18 and a subsequent failure to co-operate with an investigation.
Those charges - 115 in total - cast a shadow over City's achievements under its Abu Dhabi ownership, though it could be years before a verdict is reached by an independent disciplinary commission.
What isn't up for debate is the quality City has produced in its now-familiar end-of-season burst of victories that piled the pressure on Arsenal, which has the unwanted distinction this season of leading the league for a record number of days (248) without eventually winning it.
While City has finished like a train by winning 11 straight games, Arsenal - owning the youngest squad in the league under inexperienced coach Mikel Arteta - has buckled with a first top-flight title since 2004 in sight and won just won of its last eight games.