Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are cementing their place among the greatest teams in English football

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And so, some 136 years after the inception of the Football League, England finally have a team that made the quartet. Manchester City is the first team to become champions in four consecutive seasons. Pep Guardiola has a historic achievement – ​​yet another, given the rare and unique accolades he has created and amassed amid his own unrivaled track record of success. There is some debate as to whether this part of the city is the greatest England has seen, but it can be argued that it is the most relentless. From the Club World Cup, they took 57 points from a possible 63. If Arsenal’s excellence left them with little room for error in the box, City did none, finishing with nine consecutive wins, each by at least two goals. They made winning a routine: over games, months, seasons and an era.

There remains the odd juxtaposition of 115 as-yet-unheard charges and the brilliance of Phil Foden, but for now, the latter has proved the deciding factor. Anyone who subscribed to the idea that West Ham could hand Arsenal the title, the Premier League a seismic upset and David Moyes a glorious farewell was quickly disabused of it. While City have endured final-day drama before, Guardiola’s prediction that it would be like the final crunch game against Aston Villa in 2022 proved sorely wrong. Mohammed Kudus produced a late contender for goal of the season, but only when City were already underway. One goal ahead in 80 seconds, two to go in 20 minutes, this was a walk in the sunshine. City were dominant, Foden fiery, his early double a further illustration of his ability to score goals that are both important and excellent.

While Guardiola’s remarkable managerial career saw 12 league titles in 15 seasons, Foden won the Premier League for the sixth time at the age of 23. It underlines the extent of City’s success in recent years that already only five Manchester United greats – Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Denis Irwin and Roy Keane – have more winners’ medals. It was also symbolic that City’s goal came from their best players of the season. Foden made decisive contributions, often in spectacular style. He illustrated why he was named Footballer of the Year. Rodri, who finished third in the voting, added the third goal; the scorer of a Champions League final winner a year ago, added another telling strike. It came through a goalkeeping error, with Alphonse Areola just pushing his low shot away, but a ninth goal of the campaign is a great return for a defensive midfielder.

Foden has three times as many, his 27, including 14 in his last 14 league games. He brought the city to glory and was finally fit to shine. He began with an immediate indication of why he picked up the personal awards. There was something clinically devastating about his opener: he took Bernardo Silva’s pass, beat James Ward-Prowse with his first touch and fired a shot into the top corner with his second. He doubled his tally with an equally assured finish, again with his left foot. His first came from outside the box, his second from close to the penalty spot, Foden sweeping in a shot from Jeremy Doku’s low cross.

Suitably fired up, City threatened a rout. They had 10 shots on goal in the first half; with the notable exception of Foden, they were glorified. A couple of misses from Erling Haaland – miscued wide when the goal opened up and wasted a shot when set up by Doku – provided a snapshot of his season; The Golden Boot came among the opportunities to score even more. But Guardiola’s decision to bring in Doku paid off, with the winger a live wire. He twice tested Areola with stinging blows. Kevin De Bruyne also went close twice.

City’s only jolt came without warning. While Moyes’ style of football is a factor in his departure, he has made a couple of signature gems for West Ham, and the final goal of his reign was superb, with Kudus scoring a superb overhead kick. There was a time in the past when City’s penchant for prying defeat from the jaws of victory would have made this the start of a comeback. Those days feel distant now though, and not just because Tomas Soucek’s late strike was disallowed for handball: it was the third time Guardiola’s City have won the title in the final, holding their nerve each time, and Rodri he duly scored a third. . It made the events at the Emirates an irrelevance, although Foden’s quick opener had already highlighted their ability to demoralize their rivals.

“Are you watching, Arsenal?” came the chorus after Foden’s second goal. More often, though, the soundtrack was “Champions again.” And again, and again. And in the years after 1888, no one had collected four in a row. Until now and to Guardiola’s City.