Author – Amrit Santlani
After Arsenal lost to Nottingham Forest, Manchester City won their fifth Premier League title in six years and the coronation of the kings of England was complete after they beat Chelsea 1-0 at the Etihad to celebrate the title in front of their home fans.
With the Premier League title sealed, Pep Guardiola made a series of changes to his line-up, giving his second team a chance. Frank Lampard’s side showed their true class by giving the newly crowned champions a guard of honour. Chelsea were hampered by an early goal from Julian Alvarez, while City opened the scoring in the 12th minute, with Cole Palmer providing the assist for the opener.
Trevor Chalobah was on hand to make a goal-line save from Palmer’s subsequent shot, preventing his side from going further behind against the champions. Phil Folden also came close, trying to chip the ball over Kepa Arrizabalaga, but his shot was narrowly off target.
Kai Havertz made a good combination with Raheem Sterling, releasing the former City striker, but with only Stefan Ortega to beat the Englishman, the goalkeeper was unable to score. Connor Gallagher was inches away from scoring the equalizer, but the goalpost saved Guardiola’s side.
In the second half, Kalvin Philipps almost scored his first goal for City, but his header hit the post and Chelsea survived. Raheem Sterling was offside after a counter-attack, but the Englishman couldn’t beat Ortega and John Stones made a goal-line save.
Manchester City had the ball in the back of the net with Alvarez tapping in from close range from a Riyad Mahrez cross, but after the VAR check, the goal was disallowed because the Algerian had touched the ball during play. In the final minute of stoppage time, Christian Pulisic tried to lay it off for César Azpilicueta, but Foden was there to save the goal.
Brazilian defender Thiago Silva had an uneven performance, but made a crucial tackle to prevent Erling Haaland from playing the full ninety minutes.