Pep Guardiola named EPL Manager of the Season

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola looks on wearing his medal as he celebrates winning the Premier League [Reuters]

Pep Guardiola has been named Premier League Manager of the Season for the second straight year after leading Manchester City to a successful title defence.

City finished a point ahead of Liverpool after a nail-biting battle for the top spot that raged until the final day.

Their 32 victories and two draws tallied up to 98 points, two shy of the record 100 attained last season, and the EFL Cup winners could complete a domestic treble by beating Watford in the FA Cup final on Saturday.

Guardiola was announced as the winner at the League Managers Association awards evening on Tuesday.

“It’s an honour to receive this award,” the former Barcelona boss said in a video message.

“I want to share it with my players because they are the artists of everything, to my staff because we fought a lot against all the managers in the Premier League, especially Jurgen Klopp, an incredible contender to face (until) the end.

“It was a pleasure to play against all of them and hopefully we will do big, big battles again to win an incredible title.”

Liverpool’s Klopp, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino and Wolves head coach Nuno Espirito Santo were the other nominees.

Votes from the public were combined with those of a panel of experts to determine the winner.

Manchester United great Alex Ferguson presented the LMA Manager of the Year trophy to Chris Wilder, who was also named Championship Manager of the Year for guiding Sheffield United to automatic promotion from the second tier.