Ten games that decided the Premier League title

[CharlieH]

 

It has been one of the greatest title races English football has seen, with this season's Premier League decided on the final day for just the 10th time.

Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool fought over top spot before Jurgen Klopp's Reds fell off the pace in the closing weeks.

And in the end, Manchester City took the crown after beating West Ham to secure a historic fourth title in a row, finishing two points ahead of Arsenal.

With such fine margins, here we look at 10 matches where we think the Premier League was won, and lost.

 

Sheffield United 1-2 Manchester City - 27 August

Manchester City were minutes away from a slip-up just three games into the season against promoted Sheffield United.

Jayden Bogle cancelled out Erling Haaland's opener by scoring in the 85th minute, and the Blades looked poised to pinch a point against the champions.

But, with two minutes remaining plus stoppages, key man Rodri struck a magnificent winner.

It handed Pep Guardiola his 200th Premier League win and helped City maintain their perfect start to the season.

 

Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool - 30 September

Joel Matip's own goal deep into stoppage time gave Tottenham victory over nine-man title hopefuls Liverpool in a match packed full of video assistant referee drama.

The Reds were compromised by controversial red cards as Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were sent off either side of half-time.

Liverpool had an opening goal from Luis Diaz ruled out by a hotly disputed VAR decision, as confusion between the referee and off-field officials led to the wrong verdict being reached.

PGMOL later issued a statement acknowledging a "significant human error" took place, calling the decision to rule out Diaz's goal "a clear and obvious factual error".

Jurgen Klopp wanted the game to be replayed, but that was never seriously on the cards,

 

Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal - 4 November

Four days after the Spurs-Liverpool drama, it was Arsenal who were beaten after VAR controversy as Anthony Gordon's second-half goal gave Newcastle victory over the title contenders in a feisty encounter.

Gordon's scrappy strike summed up a dogfight of a game, with the video assistant referee having to check whether the ball went out of play, if there was a foul and for offside, all before Newcastle were finally able to properly celebrate.

It condemned Arsenal to their first Premier League defeat of the season with manager Mikel Arteta later calling the VAR decisions "embarrassing" and a "disgrace".

 

FULL REPORT

 

 

[owl sees all]

For me, the biggest win for City was winning away against Spurs (two games ago). Without this win, Gunners would be champs.

[CharlieH]

3 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

For me, the biggest win for City was winning away against Spurs (two games ago). Without this win, Gunners would be champs.

Tottenham 0-2 Man City - 14 May

Manchester City moved one win away from a historic fourth successive Premier League title with victory at Tottenham - a match which had been pencilled in by many as their final big hurdle in the title race.

Erling Haaland's second-half double settled a tight encounter in which substitute keeper Stefan Ortega deputised superbly for the visitors.

The American did well to deny Spurs captain Son Heung-min who had a golden chance to equalise just before City's second.

According to Opta, Arsenal would have had an 81% chance of winning the title if City had lost to Tottenham - and a 75% chance if that match had ended in a draw.

City's 3-1 win against West Ham on the final day carried the air of inevitability about it as they lifted the trophy once more.