By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Manchester City have won the Premier League title for a fifth time in six seasons after Arsenal’s defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Taiwo Awoniyi’s 19th-minute goal was enough to seal victory and spark jubilant scenes from the home supporters at the final whistle.
The result leaves Manchester City with an insurmountable four-point lead at the top of the table over the Gunners, who have just one game remaining this season.
A sensational run of 11 consecutive wins in the final weeks of the season has seen City dismantle Arsenal’s charge for a first Premier League title since 2003/04.
They also have a chance to claim the Treble, with the FA Cup and Champions League finals to come next month.
Only Manchester United, in 1998-99, have previously achieved that feat – and it is their derby rivals whom City will meet at Wembley on 3 June, before facing Inter Milan a week later in Istanbul, where they will seek their first Champions League triumph.
City will lift the trophy after they play Chelsea on Sunday.
Captain Ilkay Gundogan – who has scored four goals in the last two league games – said: “The Premier League is without doubt the most demanding and competitive league in the world, so that tells you everything about what an achievement this is.
“To have won this trophy three times in a row and five times in six years is incredible. That quality and consistency helps sum up what Manchester City stand for and ensures the club will continue to strive for success going forward.
“It has been a season I will never forget.”
City, champions for a ninth time in the club’s history, had trailed Arsenal by eight points on 7 April, although they had played one game fewer than Mikel Arteta’s leaders at that point.
It is only the fourth time that a team has been as many as eight points clear after at least 28 Premier League games and failed to win the title.
City are only the fifth club to win three successive top-flight titles in England, following Huddersfield Town (1924-26), Arsenal (1933-35), Liverpool (1982-84) and Manchester United, who did it twice under Sir Alex Ferguson (1999-2001 and 2007-09).