Manchester City celebrate Premier League title with home win

Premier League champions Man City delight fans with joyous 5-0 victory at home

Manchester City 5-0 Swansea City

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side formed a pre-game guard of honor before a newly unveiled banner that read: “Welcome to the home of the Premier League champions”. Premier League champs Manchester City’s fans were treated to a victorious coronation of their recently crowned club as City thrashed Swansea 5-0 at home. Supporters watched a masterclass from their beloved champions on a joyous sunny afternoon at the Etihad. The stadium was decorated with banners and highlighted by an amazing 20-yard from popular Kevin De Bruyne that sizzled past Swan’s goalie Lukasz Fabianski after 54 minutes on a perfect right-left diagonal. Winning Spanish manager Pep Guardiola showed his admiration as the Etihad Stadium fans sighed in approval. The 29th EPL victory takes Guardiola’s team to 90 points on the Premier League Table, only six points away from breaking Chelsea’s record Premier League total of 95 points. If City manages to earn maximum points in their remaining matches, City will finish with 102 points. City currently have 98 goals, 6 short of breaking the highest tally of 103 by Chelsea. After the win, City fans invaded the pitch in excitement and to hopefully get some souvenir off the goal, and at least one flare was fired. A Football Association charge may be called, but Pep Guardiola was unconcerned. “No problem,” said Pep. “Football is an emotional game. I understand you have to be careful – but when they feel they want to share that they are happy – it is better they stay where they should stay – I’m not going to tell them don’t do that. Man City made 1,015 attempted passes - the most since 2003-04, breaking records, “Looking for them helps to keep the players focused,” added Guardiola.

Guardiola’s side were dominant throughout the match against the Swans. Fabianski’s first goal was off along De Bruyne cross-shot from the right. Next German Ilkay Gündogan sent the ball to David Silva who relayed the ball to his namesake Bernardo and on for a corner by Martin Olsson. Belgian De Bruyne’s attempt was unproductive. De Bruyne’s next attempt was successful. From along the left, he found Raheem Sterling who turned the ball to David Silva. The ball next ricocheted off Van der Hoorn and the Spaniard scored his10th of the season. After the quarter-hour, the lead was doubled. David Silva returned a pass to Fabian Delph and Raheem Sterling had a tap-in for his 23rd goal of the season. With more than three-quarters of the match still to play the game was all but over. De Bruyne who was named Manchester City’s player of the season, sent a left-foot zinger. Gabriel Jesus hit a low shot that again kept the goalkeeper on the defense. At the close of the half, Alfie Mawson sent a shot at goalie Ederson and the Brazilian collected before the break. The second half began with a David Silva step-over and ended with Danilo’s cross flashing before Swans goalie Fabianksi. De Bruyne scored a glorious long shot as Man City continued to dominate the ball. Sterling won a penalty, Jesus’s effort from the spot was steered on to the post via a Fabianski palm, and Bernardo Silva slotted in the rebound. Mendy came on in the last fifteen minutes as City secured their fifth goal. Yaya Touré’s lob was headed home by Jesus. For his stated mission of ending the season with 5 victories, Guardiola made two changes to his side. Kyle Walker and Leroy Sané started as substitutes along with Benjamin Mendy who returned after 7 months out with a knee injury. Danilo and Bernardo Silva started again in City’s formidable XI. Swans boss Carlos Carvalhal made one change to his side after their last game as Luciano Narsingh was replaced by Mike van der Hoorn, as the manager continued Swansea City’s survival bid to avoid relegation.

Squads

Manchester City - Ederson; Danilo, Kompany, Laporte, Delph; Gundogan; B Silva, De Bruyne, D Silva, Sterling; Jesus. Subs: Bravo, Walker, Sane, Mendy, Otamendi, Toure, Foden.
Swansea City - Fabianski; Van der Hoorn, Fernandez, Mawson; Naughton, King, Ki, Carroll, Olsson; Jordan Ayew, Andre Ayew. Subs: Abraham, Dyer, Nordfeldt, Routledge, Clucas, Bartley, Roberts.

England Premier League results for match week 35

Arsenal was a big winner on Sunday in Arsenal’s first game since Gunners’ longtime manager Arsene announced that he was retiring at the end of the season.

Saturday, 21 April 2018 - match week 35

AFC Bournemouth 0-2 Manchester United
Arsenal 4-1 West Ham United
Brighton 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Leicester City 0-0 Southampton
Manchester City 5-0 Swansea City
Stoke City 1-1 Burnley
Watford 0-0 Crystal Palace
West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Liverpool
Everton 1-0 Newcastle United

Premier League Table match week 35

Going into England Premier League match week 36, the England Premier League’s “Big Six” clubs occupy all of the top six spots on the EPL table. Pep Guardiola's Manchester City remain well ahead in first place with 90 points from 35 matches in the 2017 - 2018 season. Manchester United are in second followed by Liverpool, and Spurs in the top 4 spots in the fight to earn a spot in next season’s Champions League tournament!

1 Manchester City 90 points
2 Manchester United 74 points
3 Liverpool Fc 71 points
4 Tottenham Hotspur 64 points
5 Chelsea Fc 63 points
6 Arsenal 57 points

England Premier League Fixtures and tickets for match week 36

The most sought-after Premier League tickets this week are for the exciting, historic match at Old Trafford between old rivals Man Utd and Arsenal. Buy Manchester United v Arsenal tickets now securely online from LiveFootballTickets.com to watch one of Arsene Wenger's last matches in charge as he is leaving the Gunners at the end of the season. Liverpool will host Stoke, Everton travel to Huddersfield, Man City travel to West Ham, and Chelsea travel to play the Swans and Spurs host Watford as the giant clubs strive for a top four finish.

Burnley v Brighton
Crystal Palace v Leicester City
Huddersfield Town v Everton
Liverpool v Stoke City
Manchester United v Arsenal
Newcastle United v West Bromwich Albion
Southampton v AFC Bournemouth
Swansea City v Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur v Watford
West Ham United v Manchester City

Player of the Year Award

On Sunday night, Mohamed Salah won the PFA Player of the Year award for 2017-18, and Kevin de Bruyne came in second in a close race. The Liverpool forward, 25, beat Kevin de Bruyne, Harry Kane, Leroy Sane, David Silva and David de Gea in the vote by his fellow players. Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne was a close second for the award. Many believed it was a two-horse race between Salah and De Bruyne for the men's Player of the Year award. Belgium international De Bruyne played a key role in Man City's title-winning campaign. Kevin has provided more assists (15) and created more chances (104) than any other player in the England Premier League this season, as well as scoring 8 goals. The 26-year-old joined City for a then club record fee of £55m in 2015 and has won one Premier League title and two League Cups.

Kevin de Bruyne - 2017-18 Premier League stats to date
Appearances: 34
Shots on target: 36
Goals: 8 Minutes played: 2,836
Assists: 15 Chances created: 104
Shots: 84 Passes completed: 2,052

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola talked about why he believed De Bruyne should have won the award. "When you are analyzing 9 months or 10 months then there was no player better than him,” said Guardiola. "In terms of the continuity and playing every three days in all competitions he was there. I am sorry, maybe with numbers, there are numbers guys better than him, but no player in this season with the team who wins the title five games before the end, and he was the best. I would like to feel that he deserved it. But at the end in the summertime we will be at home being champions and for that to happen the players have to play." De Bruyne, who took 14% of the votes came in second. Man United goalkeeper De Gea was third with 6%, while Spurs striker Kane picked up 3% of the selections. De Bruyne's team-mates took up the final two spots, with Silva on 1% and Sane failing to win a single vote. Five Manchester City players were also named in the PFA team of the year, including De Bruyne and Silva. Sane missed out on a spot but defenders Nicolas Otamendi and Kyle Walker and striker Sergio Aguero represented the champions.