Manchester City secured their fourth Premier League title in five years after a comeback victory against Aston Villa on the season’s final day.
The Blues finished one point ahead of Liverpool with 93 points, scoring 99 goals and conceding only 26 in the process.
Kevin De Bruyne was voted Premier League Player of the Year as he led his side with 15 goals and eight assists this season. Phil Foden also took home the Young Player of the Season Award.
Ederson won the Golden Glove award along with his national teammate Alisson, as both Brazilians kept 20 clean sheets throughout the campaign.
Here are five of City’s most important wins across their 2021-22 campaign.
1) Manchester City 3-2 Aston Villa
It is hard to look past that final victory at the Etihad Stadium as their most important. Goals from Matty Cash and Philippe Coutinho gave the visitors a shock two-goal lead in the game.
With 15 minutes left on the clock and Liverpool pushing for the win at Anfield, things were looking bleak for Pep Guardiola and his side.
The hero of the day, however, turned out to be Ilkay Gundogan – the man who was rumoured to move away from the club during the week.
The 31-year-old started the revival with a header at the back post from Raheem Sterling’s cross. His finish from Kevin De Bruyne’s pass, along with a Rodri strike, gave the Blues the three goals they needed in a five-minute spell.
Premier League Champions 21/22!!! 🏆💙 pic.twitter.com/FzOuKblPZd
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 22, 2022
2) Arsenal 1-2 Manchester City
Although Arsenal were enjoying a good run of form going into the New Year, many did not expect them to be a difficult task for City.
Bukayo Saka’s first-half goal gave the hosts the lead at the break and they looked strong against the champions at the start of the second period.
City then made the most of a classic Arsenal capitulation, as Granit Xhaka gave away a penalty, which Riyad Mahrez finished before Gabriel received two yellow cards in quick succession.
The game was going down to the wire and seemingly heading for a draw before a floated ball into the box kindly fell to Rodri, who finished past Aaron Ramsdale in the 93rd minute.
3) Wolves 1-5 Manchester City
Despite Wolves’ torrid ending to the season, they have proved to be a tough task for City on previous occasions since their promotion back to the Premier League.
When Leander Dendoncker cancelled out De Bruyne’s opener within four minutes in their May encounter, many City fans feared that Wolves would once again prove to be a thorn in their side.
De Bruyne, however, had different ideas and he secured his hat-trick in the 24th minute of the game – adding a fourth in the second half before Sterling finished the job.
The Belgian’s display was one of the best seen in the Premier League era and it showed City were ready to give everything in their title fight.
4) Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea
Prior to this fixture, City had only beaten Chelsea once in their last four attempts in all competitions. The London side were still holding onto the title race at this point in the season (in January) and a win for them could have been damaging for City’s bid.
It was the Man City midfielder who once again proved to be the difference-maker. De Bruyne ran through the Chelsea defence before bending his effort around Kepa Arrizabalaga.
5) Manchester United 0-2 Manchester City
THIS GUY!!!
🔴 0-2 🔵 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/NxUA0r0JlP
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 6, 2021
Following a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace, City faced rivals Manchester United early in November. The Red Devils were not playing fantastic football at the time, but the goals of Cristiano Ronaldo often saved them.
The game at Old Trafford started perfectly for City after Eric Bailly turned the ball into his own net from Joao Cancelo’s cross.
The hosts grew into the game as it went on and were unlucky not to equalise, but David de Gea was soon called upon as he made three great saves to deny City.
However, when Bernardo Silva poked another Cancelo cross towards goal, de Gea could only fumble it into his own net. City cruised to the finish line and secured an important win after dropping points to Palace.
