How did Man City win the Premier League? Pep Guardiola's team won third straight title without playing

Simon Borg

•
How did Man City win the Premier League? Pep Guardiola's team won third straight title without playing image

Manchester City won the Premier League for the third straight season and this time they didn't even need to kick a ball to actually clinch the title.

Pep Guardiola's men were crowned the day before they were due to take the field for what was shaping up to be a decisive match against Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. But that May 21 match has now turned into a celebration.

It turns out that results on Saturday, May 20 confirmed the Citizens as champions regardless of what happens the rest of the way. 

The Sporting News explains how the math works out to give City their fifth title in six seasons as the players watched it happen on TV in a team lounge. 

MORE: Is Man City the greatest dynasty in world sport?

How did Manchester City win the Premier League? 

Manchester City entered the weekend of May 20-21 with a four-point lead over second-place Arsenal with the Premier League season getting set to wrap up on Sunday, May 28.

Arsenal were the first ones to take the field on May 20 at Nottingham Forest, who had plenty to play for themselves as they were battling for Premier League survival.

Forest played well enough to beat Arsenal, meaning the Gunners failed to gain any ground on a Manchester City who were waiting to play the following day.

Arsenal's loss meant the gap remained at four points in the table. But the problem with that is that Arsenal only have only one more match remaining in the season (May 28 vs. Wolves).

Winning that match (worth three points) would only take Arsenal to within one point of Manchester City even if City were to lose all their remaining matches.

The math says City can't be caught. So they are the champions.

MORE: How many Premier League titles have Man City won?

How Man City won and Arsenal lost the Premier League

Arsenal had a fantastic 2022/23 season and they were at the top of the table for most of it.

At one point in January Arsenal had an 11-point lead over Manchester City, and with nine matches to play the lead stood at 8 points.

But even that kind of advantage can quickly disappear when one team is on a torrid win streak (Manchester City) and the other has its worst stretch of the season.

The league title race flipped in a little over a month. Between April 8 and May 20, here's how both title chasers performed:

  • Arsenal: 8 matches played (9 of 24 possible points)
  • Man City: 7 matches played (21 of 21 possible points)

Man City won all seven games, while Arsenal won just two of their eight matches (plus three draws). That 12-point swing turned what at one point looked like a comfortable Arsenal lead into a slight Man City advantage that became insurmountable for the Gunners, who haven't won a title since 2003/04.

MORE: Why 2022/23 Man City are Pep Guardiola's best ever

Simon Borg

Simon Borg Photo

Simon Borg is a senior editor at The Sporting News who has covered football/soccer for over a decade. A supporter of Italian club Parma Calcio from his years growing up in Europe, he was previously a long-time member of Major League Soccer's digital media team, as a multimedia content producer, on-air personality, and Editor-in-Chief. Based in New York City, Borg is multilingual and has covered the domestic and global scene for TSN since 2021.