EPL trophy stays in City of Manchester

Blues clinch second title in three years with 2-0 win over West Ham.

LONDON:

Manchester City secured a second Premier League title in three seasons by comfortably defeating West Ham United 2-0 at a jubilant Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

City effectively needed only a point to claim the championship ahead of Liverpool, but goals in each half from Samir Nasri and captain Vincent Kompany meant that they completed their mission with room to spare.

The result took City’s goals tally to 102 and made Chilean Manuel Pellegrini the first non-European manager to win an English top-flight title.

“I think that I manage a great group of players, a great institution and great fans,” said Pellegrini. “I must be calm during the game to take decisions but when you achieve the title, I think the whole year shows a lot of work we did at difficult moments and I think this is the best team in the league.”

David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Aleksandar Kolarov all threatened for City before Nasri put them ahead in the 39th minute. West Ham striker Andy Carroll deflected a shot from Silva onto the post in first-half stoppage time, before Kompany doubled City’s lead early in the second half by stabbing in from a corner.

“Forget about the money and everything,” Kompany told Sky Sports after hoisting the trophy. “As a kid, you grow up and dream of lifting trophies. I feel like I am living that dream when I do this.”

Liverpool end season with win

Liverpool went into their game against Newcastle with a slim hope of winning a first league title since 1990, but they fell behind in the 20th minute when Martin Skrtel sliced Yoan Gouffran’s cross into his own net.

However, almost identical goals by Daniel Agger and Daniel Sturridge turned the game around in the space of two minutes in the second half.



Agger’s goal was Liverpool’s 100th in the league and made this the first English top-flight season in which two teams have reached that milestone since 1960-61.

“It’s been an incredible journey this year, so to finish with 12 wins out of 14 is an incredible achievement by the players,” said Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers. “We’ve made the supporters dream and that is our job to do that.”

United denied Europa spot

Tottenham Hotspur secured the last available Europa League berth by crushing Aston Villa 3-0 through a Paulinho strike, a Nathan Baker own goal and an Emmanuel Adebayor penalty, all of which arrived before half-time.

Spurs’ victory means that Manchester United will not play in Europe next season for the first time since 1989-90.

United drew 1-1 at Southampton in Ryan Giggs’s final game as interim manager, which saw last season’s champions finish 22 points below cross-town rivals City in seventh place after a miserable campaign.

“It’s been an experience with ups and downs,” said Giggs. “I’ve enjoyed it and I didn’t want the second half to end.”

Meanwhile, Norwich City’s relegation was confirmed after they lost 2-0 at home to Arsenal, although they were already practically assured of joining Fulham and Cardiff City in the Championship.

Aaron Ramsey’s sublime 53rd-minute volley put Arsenal ahead, with Carl Jenkinson adding a second goal shortly after.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2014.

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