Man City breezed to the 2017-18 Premier League title with style and flair but in 2018-19, they were pushed and leaned on a different quality: guts.
Had Manchester City blown it? Glenn Murray had just headed Brighton into the lead in the 27th minute and anyone seeking final-day drama had their hook. City had cracked at the worst possible moment; they had lost their nerve just as the hard work seemed to have been done; they had made a season’s excellence count for nothing and Pep Guardiola would face familiar accusations of overcomplicating at a moment that demanded clarity.
Those would have been the headlines, the thinkpieces, the pub discussions if that sole piece of slack defending from a corner had helped send the Premier League trophy to Anfield. But this City team is special. They had not fallen behind in a top-flight game since January and perhaps that was exactly what they needed here, on a sunny south coast afternoon against carefree opponents, the widespread assumption being that they would cruise home by doing what they usually do.
The close-range header from Murray jolted the reigning champions. Somewhere, perhaps in their deepest subconsciouses, had they persuaded themselves the final chapter of this story could simply write itself? Maybe no amount of meticulous preparation, of cajolement from the tireless Guardiola, could completely mitigate for human nature. In hindsight, you wonder how anyone could have seriously doubted that they would respond. Straight forward they went from the restart, Aymeric Laporte’s pass finding David Silva, whose sublime one-touch flick around the corner, freed Sergio Aguero to apply the inevitable. The job had yet to be completed but in the spell of 83 seconds, it was as if a year’s worth of pressure had bottlenecked before dissipating as quickly as it had arrived.
— Man City ratings: Laporte, Gundogan both 8/10 as City clinch title
“It was the hardest and most satisfying Premier League ever,” said captain Vincent Kompany, speaking after extricating himself from the delirious bundle into which City’s players threw themselves at full-time.
