THE FACTS THAT MATTER

Manchester City have won their third Premier League title, equalling Arsenal’s tally of title wins (3) – only Manchester United (13) and Chelsea (5) have won more. This was City’s fifth English top-flight league title overall – only seven clubs have more than this, with rivals Man United having won the most (20). City have won the Premier League title with five games remaining, equalling the English top-flight record. They have equalled the efforts of Man United (1907-08 and 2000-01) and Everton (1984-85), who all won the top-flight title with five games to spare. This is the second earliest in terms of date that the league title has been sealed (April 15) – just behind United’s win on April 14, 2001. The top-flight record was managed by Preston, who sealed the top-flight title on January 5, 1889. In the modern era, the earliest date that the title was won was by Everton in 1970 (April 1, 1970). City have already won more points from their 33 league games this season (87) than 11 of the previous Premier League champions had won at the end of their title-winning campaign – this includes their last title win in 2013-14 (86). Based on three points for a win, City’s current points tally of 87 is the most by any side in English top-flight league history after 33 games of a season. The previous record was held by Chelsea (82 points) in both 2004-05 and 2005-06. City (93 goals) need seven goals in their remaining five league games of the season to become just the fourth team to score 100+ goals in a Premier League campaign, after Chelsea in 2009-10 (103), Manchester City in 2013-14 (102) and Liverpool in 2013-14 (101). Pep Guardiola’s men need just 13 points from their last five games to reach the 100-point mark in the Premier League, something that has never been achieved in the English top-flight (based on three points for a win). City have already equalled their record tally of wins in a top-flight league season (28). The only previous occasion they did this was in 2011-12, when they sealed their 28th victory on the final day. The record number of wins by a club in a single top-flight season is 31, by Tottenham Hotspur in 1960-61. Manchester City (28 wins) are now just three wins away from this with five games to play. Pep Guardiola is just the third manager to win the top-flight title in England and at least two of the other big five European leagues, after Carlo Ancelotti (3) and Jose Mourinho (2). Guardiola has won 2.64 points per game at Manchester City in the Premier League this season. It’s his second-best ever average in a top-flight league season as a manager, behind his first season at Bayern Munich in 2013-14 (2.65). Guardiola has won the top-flight league title in seven of his nine seasons as a manager, with the only exceptions being 2011-12 at Barcelona and 2016-17 at Manchester City. The City boss is just 12 points away (with five games left) from his previous best points tally in a single league season as a manager: 99 points with Barcelona in 2009-10. Guardiola is the first Spanish boss to win the English top-flight title. The previous 25 have been won by four different Italians, two Scots, a French manager, a Chilean, and a Portuguese.