The Province

Man City stands alone as champions

Guardiola’s coaching and unlimited resources prove to be formidable combinatio­n

- STEVE DOUGLAS

MANCHESTER, England — What do you get when you combine the world’s most coveted coach, financial backers with bottomless pockets, and the most talented group of players in the country?

Answer: One of the most ruthless, convincing title triumphs in the 26-year history of the English Premier League.

Manchester City wrapped up the title on Sunday when Manchester United, the nearest challenger, surprising­ly lost 1-0 at home to West Bromwich Albion. City leads by 16 points with five games still to play.

A side meticulous­ly moulded and prepared by Pep Guardiola won a record 18 straight Premier League games from August to late December, and they have put up plenty more impressive numbers.

Eighty-seven points, 93 goals, a goal difference of plus 68, 28 wins in 33 games. The current lead of 16 points is one of the biggest in the league’s history.

Guardiola didn’t win a trophy in his first season at City. His reaction? To spend US$260 million of the club’s Abu Dhabi owners’ riches in the off-season, upgrade and tweak the weakest parts of the team, and deliver arguably the most stunning brand of football ever seen in English soccer.

Here’s a look at how Guardiola achieved the turnaround:

Momentum

The blueprint for this season’s record-breaking success was laid in the second half of last season, when Pep Guardiola found his formula.

Largely sticking to a 4-3-3 formation with Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling as wingers, Guardiola dispensed completely with his occasional use of a three-man defence. City lost just two of its last 24 games in all competitio­ns from the middle of January last year, providing momentum to take into the 201718 campaign.

Throw in some key summer signings and some tactical tinkering, and City has proved to be unstoppabl­e.

Signings

Fullbacks were City’s off-season priority — 30-somethings Gael Clichy, Aleksandar Kolarov, Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta all departed over the summer — and the club spent $155 US million to bring in Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo.

Pep Guardiola places huge significan­ce on the impact of fullbacks in terms of his team’s attacking game

plan, needing them to act as both wingers and defenders.

It’s Walker’s presence that has added a new dimension to City, his raids up the right wing allowing Raheem Sterling to come inside more and give the team greater numbers in the box to convert chances.

It’s no surprise that Sterling has had the most prolific season of his career, scoring 22 goals in all competitio­ns so far.

Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson Moraes joined for US$45 million from Benfica and has been a huge upgrade from Claudio Bravo.

Bernardo Silva, signed for US$55 million from Monaco, has slowly developed into a key player.

Two playmakers

It’s a minor tactical switch that has had a major impact.

Guardiola’s decision to deploy Kevin De Bruyne in a deeper central-midfield role has allowed the Belgian to demonstrat­e his allaround

skills, notably his vision, work rate and reading of the game. He’s been able to keep up his regular supply of assists, too, setting up 16 goals, with passes and through balls that are beyond many of his peers.

One performanc­e, in a 7-2 win over Stoke in October, stands out. In that game, De Bruyne set up one goal with a no-look pass to Leroy Sane, before supplying the winger for another goal with a diagonal through ball that sliced through four defenders.

Winning streak

When City beat Swansea 4-0 on Dec. 13, the team establishe­d an English top-flight record of 15 straight victories — surpassing the 14-match winning streaks of Arsenal (2002), Preston (1951), and both Manchester United and Bristol City in 1905.

City would go on to win three more games before drawing 0-0 at Crystal Palace on Dec. 31, ending the winning

run at 18.

City was undefeated at that stage, raising the prospect of going through the season unbeaten. A 4-3 loss at Liverpool on Jan. 14 put an end to that idea.

Late goals

That winning run started with Raheem Sterling’s goal in the seventh minute of injury time in a 2-1 victory at Bournemout­h on Aug. 26. It wouldn’t be the last decisive late interventi­on by the winger.

He scored an 84th-minute winner against Huddersfie­ld on Nov. 26, a 96th-minute winner against Southampto­n three days later, before David Silva grabbed an 83rd-minute winner against West Ham four days after that. All three games finished 2-1, and it revived memories of the winning goals scored in so-called “Fergie Time” by Manchester United’s trophy-winning teams under Alex Ferguson.

City, it seemed, had more resilience

and fortune than any other team.

Key wins

Along the way, some notable performanc­es establishe­d a champion-in-waiting aura around City.

The first was a dominant 1-0 victory at Chelsea on Sept. 30, when the defending champion was played off the field at Stamford Bridge.

Two weeks later, that 7-2 win over Stoke featured some imperious attacking play.

Then there was the 2-1 win at Manchester United on Dec. 10, featuring scrappy goals at set pieces from Silva and Nicolas Otamendi, that left City 11 points clear of its neighbour.

United manager Jose Mourinho said his team’s title hopes were “probably” over.

Back-to-back wins across 72 hours in early March — 3-0 at Arsenal and 1-0 at home to Chelsea — all but confirmed City was going to be champion.

 ?? — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Right back Kyle Walker, left, was just one of the pieces added by Manchester City en route to winning the Premier League title in dominating fashion this season. Walker’s raids up the right wing added a new dimension to City’s attack.
— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Right back Kyle Walker, left, was just one of the pieces added by Manchester City en route to winning the Premier League title in dominating fashion this season. Walker’s raids up the right wing added a new dimension to City’s attack.

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