Izuchukwu OkosiManchester City on Sunday claimed the English Premier League title after they came from 2-0 down against Aston Villa at the expense of Liverpool who defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers.
City have now won four of the last five Premier League titles and their victory ends Liverpool’s hopes of a unique quadruple of trophies.
Liverpool, who face Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Paris next week, had also found it hard to get their business done at Anfield against Wolverhampton Wanderers but late goals from Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson earned them a 3-1 win.
Salah would win the Premier League top scorer award in addition to the Premier League Writers Association prize.
Juergen Klopp’s side never went top of the ‘live table’ during the afternoon of drama but until City’s revival the destiny of the title was hanging tantalisingly in the balance.
Tottenham Hotspur comfortably secured the fourth Champions League spot with a 5-0 win at relegated Norwich City while North London rivals Arsenal had to settle for fifth spot despite crushing Everton 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium.
A textbook header from fullback Matty Cash had put Villa 1-0 up at the break and the nerves of the City fans worsened after Brazilian former Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho doubled the advantage in the 69th minute.
At that stage Liverpool were being held 1-1 by Wolves and still in second spot but a goal for them at Anfield would have put them in pole position.
But by the time Liverpool did take charge of their game, City had fought back and blown away all the fear of a final-day collapse in five blistering minutes.
Ilkay Gundogan headed in a Raheem Sterling cross before Spanish midfielder Rodri drove into the bottom corner and German Gundogan then completed the turnaround, tapping in a low cross from Kevin De Bruyne at the back post.
City fans poured on to the field at the final whistle with no sign that the novelty of being champions of England is wearing off.
At the other end of the table, Burnley were relegated after they lost 2-1 at home to Newcastle United while Leeds United secured survival with a 2-1 victory at Brentford.
Norwich and Watford had already been relegated before the final day.
Manchester United will play in the Europa League after finishing in sixth position despite a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in Ralf Rangnick’s final game in charge.
West Ham United will have to settle for Europa Conference League action after they failed to take advantage of United’s slip, losing 3-1 to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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