Alvarez strike earns Chelsea win and gets Etihad title party started

Men's Team

Manchester City win third successive Premier League title

Pep Guardiola made nine switches to the team that beat Real Madrid so convincingly just a few days earlier but it did not perturb the Blues, who make it 24 matches unbeaten in all competitions.

It also extends our winning run in the Premier League to 12 matches, the fifth time we have had a run that long during Guardiola‘s reign.

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A day of celebration was guaranteed at the Etihad no matter the score, with the Blues already crowned as champions after Arsenal’s defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Julian Alvarez was the scorer of the only goal on the day, firing home from just inside the box in the 12^th minute.

It means we have scored 100 goals at the Etihad this season, equalling the record (set by ourselves in 2018/19) for most home goals scored in all competitions in a single season by an English top-flight club.

We have now won our last six games against Chelsea in all competitions without conceding a single goal.

What happened

The carnival atmosphere inside the Etihad began before kick-off as City went from tunnel to pitch via a Chelsea guard of honour.

Our home itself was a pretty picture. With the sun beating down on east Manchester, the stands were full of fans in sky blue, in both this season’s kit and the newly released PUMA shirt for 2023/24.

The first chance of the day fell the way of Kalvin Phillips, with the No.4 stepping on to a loose ball on the edge of the box and seeing his shot deflected wide.

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The resulting corner eventually came to Sergio Gomez in a similar position but the Spaniard’s volley whistled just wide.

Cole Palmer had teed up that first chance for Phillips and was the man to tee up Alvarez for the opener. A wayward Chelsea pass went straight to Gomez, who immediately passed it forward to Palmer.

The young winger shifted it out of his feet and fed Alvarez, who took one touch and fired the ball home in his typically assured fashion.

Eager to impress, our much-changed side went straight back on the attack. Again it came through Palmer down the left.

His low cross was flicked on by Alvarez into the path of Foden but his shot, almost certainly destined for the net, was blocked.

Foden and Palmer linked up for our next chance midway through the first half. The former set his fellow Academy graduate away and Palmer drilled the ball across goal, only to see Trevoh Chalobah get back on to his line to clear.

Foden was inches away from a Goal of the Season nominee just before the half hour mark, latching on to a Phillips through ball and attempting a right-footed lob from a tight angle.

Chelsea’s first opening came moments later, with Raheem Sterling racing in behind the City defence. The former City man took the ball on his left foot and tried to slide it into the far corner, only for Stefan Ortega Moreno to stick out a leg and bounce on the rebound.

The visitors had grown into the game to that point and should have been level in the 36^th minute. However, Conor Gallagher’s back post header struck the woodwork with Ortega Moreno scrambling across his line.

Not since May 2021 have the Blues lost a Premier League game we were leading at half-time and Guardiola was keen to maintain that record.

A subdued start to the second half was brought to an end by a thumping Phillips header in the 57^th minute that crashed against Kepa’s post and bounced away.

Sterling thought he had equalised for the visitors in the 65^th minute when he forced a shot underneath Ortega Moreno.

The German goalkeeper got enough on it to slow it down and give second half substitute John Stones a chance to race back and clear.

It appeared to be two in the 71^st minute when Mahrez ran on to a long ball and squared for Alvarez but a VAR check pulled it back for a handball by the Algerian.

Erling Haaland was introduced from the bench in the 72nd minute and could have had an assist with his first touch but his cross was agonisingly out of reach for the diving Rico Lewis.

With the stands swelling with the anticipation of yet another Etihad Stadium trophy lift, both managers made a host of substitutions as we saw out the victory.

Let the celebrations commence...

Teams

CITY XI: Ortega Moreno, Walker (C), Akanji (Stones 57), Laporte (Rodrigo 77), Gomez (De Bruyne 77), Lewis, Phillips, Foden, Palmer, Mahrez (Haaland 72), Alvarez

Subs: Ederson, Dias, Gundogan, Grealish, Bernardo

CHELSEA XI: Kepa, W. Fofana, Silva, Chalobah, Azpilicueta (c), Loftus-Cheek (Chukwuemeka 80), Fernandez, Gallagher (Mudryk 68), Hall (Koulibaly 80), Sterling (Madueke 68), Havertz (Pulisic 85)

Subs: Mendy, Pulisic, Felix Ziyech, D. Fofana

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Man of the match

Julian Alvarez – The Argentine is so clinical.

Given just one real sighter of goal today, he didn’t disappoint. Always a willing runner, Alvarez also has the composure to slow himself down when the situation requires it.

Given the central striking role with Haaland rested, he took his chance brilliantly to continue what has been an excellent first campaign at City.

He has also joined the very exclusive club of players to win both the World Cup and Premier League in the same season.

He is our second-highest goalscorer in all competitions this season behind only Erling Haaland (52).

At the Etihad, the striker has been directly involved in 15 goals across his 12 starts (12 goals, 3 assists), finding the back of the net in all but two of those starts.

Palmer provides

Our Academy graduate ran Cesar Azpilicueta ragged all afternoon.

He could have had an assist in the first few minutes after driving at the Spanish full-back and getting a cross into the box.

However, that assist did come shortly afterwards when Palmer stepped inside and wrapped a pass into the cushioned instep of Julian Alvarez.

He returned back out wide for much of the rest of the afternoon and proved a constant menace for his direct opponent, equally capable of beating his man or delivering a dangerous cross.

He has won all 16 Premier League games he’s appeared in for Manchester City – the best 100%-win rate of any player in the competition’s history.

Pep Guardiola reaction

 “When we start next season, we are going to try to be the first team to win four Premier Leagues.

“We don’t need decades to think about how good it was. We have the feeling we have done something exceptional.

“To be one of the greatest teams in Europe you have to win the Champions League otherwise maybe people will say it’s not complete.

“But just in case we cannot do it against Inter or next season, what we have done is extraordinary. Everybody knows it.

“The next season all the teams will want to beat us, it’s normal.

“Defending our crown, mentally we have to prepare for that. That will be the challenge.

“We are going to play with the quality that we have - and human quality. The quality will be there.”

Phillips’ first start

Kalvin Phillips’ first Premier League start for City has come after a troubled season with injuries and the form of Rodrigo heavily restricting his playing time.

However, the England international looked assured in this performance at the heart of a makeshift midfield with Phil Foden, who has spent much of his senior career on the wing, and Rico Lewis, primarily a full-back.

Only Akanji and Laporte had more touches for City than Phillips, who was comfortable playing short and setting runners free down the channels.

While you have to expect Rodrigo will take control of midfield for our upcoming finals, Phillips demonstrated a level Blues will be hoping to see more of in the future.

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Gallery: That winning moment...

What it means

With the title already sealed ahead of today, City have now completed our home campaign with the best record in the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola’s side have won 17 of our 19 matches at the Etihad Stadium this season.

The Premier League title itself is our third in three seasons, a fifth in six campaigns and our seventh overall.

Since 2011/12, we have been champions in six of the 11 seasons.

Pep Guardiola was already the Club’s most successful manager but has further cemented that status with his 12^th major honour.

What’s next

City now have two away matches to finish off the Premier League campaign before finals in the FA Cup and Champions League.

On Wednesday, we are at Brighton and Hove Albion before we complete the league season at Brentford next Sunday.

Manchester United await in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday 3 June before Italian giants Inter are the opposition in the Champions League final in Istanbul a week later.