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• Easy in the end for Manchester City – same again next season?

  Arsenal spent 248 days at the top of the Premier League this season, yet there was never really a time when it felt like Manchester City were not the favourites to lift the trophy.

  Pep Guardiola’s side claimed the crown for a third year in a row and the fifth in the last six years, once again putting together one of those relentless winning runs that gives an air of inevitability to their eventual success.

  City have been in plenty of tight title races over the years. Twice they have pipped Liverpool by a single point, one of those occasions coming last year when Ilkay Gundogan’s late goals to come from behind against Aston Villa brought back memories of Sergio Aguero, QPR, and all that in 2012.

  There was nothing like that feeling of drama this time. City have finished the season with an five-point cushion over Arsenal, having won the title without kicking a ball with three games to spare when the Gunners lost 1-0 to relegation-battling Nottingham Forest.

  Even when City were eight points behind at the end of March, most observers outside of north London foresaw Pep Guardiola’s men grinding down their rivals mentally and physically, and so it proved.

  An unbeaten run that stretched to 25 games in all competitions before the final day defeat to Brentford had City fans believing the league title is just the first part of a treble which can be completed over the next two weeks.

  It seems bizarre to think now that right up until the World Cup questions were being asked as to whether Erling Haaland, who finished the Premier League season with 36 goals from 35 league appearances, actually made Guardiola’s side worse as they sacrificed a midfielder to accommodate him.

  Instead, the Norwegian has added a ruthlessness to City, a killer instinct to a side that can still pass you to death if they so wish, but who can now also shift the ball from their own box to the back of the opposition’s net in the space of a few seconds.

   

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  And so City have become the first side to make it back-to-back-to-back titles since Manchester United between between 2006/07 and 2008/09. Can anybody stop them making it four in a row?

   

  Arsenal were not expected to be City’s primary challengers this season, but Mikel Arteta is well ahead of schedule in his project to make them contenders again. A lack of squad depth told in the end, but Arsenal built their challenge on a number of young talented players, and will surely come again.

  Behind that, Manchester United have shown improvement under Erik ten Hag and Newcastle have forced their way into the top four for the first time in 20 years.

  If Jurgen Klopp can get Liverpool’s midfield rebuild right this summer and Mauricio Pochettino can make sense of Chelsea’s undoubtedly talented but hugely unwieldy squad, next season promises an intense scrap for top four places.

  Yet it is hard to pick one of those sides and say with any real certainty they are on City’s level or all that close to it. The only cloud on City’s horizon is that of the 115 Premier League charges against them.

  Arsenal put together a superb first half of the season, on pace to match City’s Premier League record of 100 points at the midway point, but that only highlights the extent of their dip towards the end.

  Third-placed United have a trophy in the cabinet and the opportunity still to scupper City’s treble hopes in the FA Cup final, but Ten Hag’s men are  14 points adrift in the table, a gap that still feels like a chasm.

  Something radical needs to change this summer. Otherwise that old feeling of inevitability will quickly return.

• Leicester relegated despite ending season with victory over West Ham

  Leicester became just the second former Premier League champions to be relegated despite a 2-1 home victory over West Ham on the final day of the season.

  The Foxes, who won the title seven years ago, needed to win and hope that Everton did not get three points in their clash at home to Bournemouth.

  And for a large part of the afternoon that looked like playing out as they went ahead through Harvey Barnes and Wes Faes before the crushing news of Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal for Everton came through.

  And with the Toffees hanging on at Goodison Park it condemned Leicester to the drop which represents a huge fall from grace, joining Blackburn as the only teams to lift the Premier League trophy and then be relegated.

  That remarkable 5000-1 title came in 2016 but they have enjoyed much more recent success as they won the FA Cup in 2021 under Brendan Rodgers, who also delivered back-to-back fifth-placed finishes.

  Rodgers was fired at the start of April in a bid to beat relegation, with former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith parachuted in on an eight-game SOS mission.

  But they ultimately fell just short and Smith will surely now depart as the Foxes prepare for life back in the Championship for the first time since 2014.

  West Ham, who made a game of it in the second half through Pablo Fornals’ strike, were already safe and a disappointing league season sees them finish 14th – six points clear of the drop – but their attention is firmly on the forthcoming Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina.

  Given the nature of their predicament it was essential for Leicester to start well and buoyed on by a loud home support, they began with impetus.

  But the visitors began to get into the game and they enjoyed the better chances in the opening 20 minutes.

  There was plenty of space for them to counter-attack and Michail Antonio forced Daniel Iversen into a  parried save after taking up a good position and then Fornals miscued his shot when he had more time than he thought after being played in by Vladimir Coufal.

  Leicester needed to re-ignite the crowd and they did that in the 28th minute when they came within inches of going in front.

  Iheanacho did well to keep Barnes’ overhit cross in, then he played a one-two with James Maddison before firing an effort that clipped the top of the crossbar.

  That raised the volume levels and the roof came off the King Power Stadium five minutes later when Barnes did open the scoring.

  He played a lovely give-and-go with Iheanacho, held off the challenge of Flynn Downes and then coolly stroked the ball into the bottom corner.

  With Everton still drawing against Bournemouth the goal moved Leicester out of the bottom three and they surged forward for another, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall firing over and James Maddison curling wide.

  Leicester were unable to recapture that spark in the second half and the atmosphere soured when news of Everton’s goal at Goodison Park was kindly delivered by goading West Ham fans.

  It almost got even worse for them as a slick move saw Said Benrahma glide into the area but his shot struck the base of the post and the Foxes survived.

  They knew that one goal on Merseyside would change things and were able to consolidate their own lead when Faes climbed highest from Maddison’s free-kick.

  West Ham, whose fans were basking in their opponents’ misery and their own imminent trip to Prague, should have got one back midway through the second half when Jarrod Bowen, whose shot had been saved by Iversen, teed up Danny Ings, but the substitute embarrassingly skied over.

  The Hammers did get on the scoresheet with 12 minutes remaining as Fornals surged into the area and struck home.

  Leicester were able to see it out but the news they desperately craved from Goodison Park never came and a disappointing season ended in the worst possible way.

• Leicester and Leeds down as Abdoulaye Doucoure stunner is enough to save Everton

  Leicester and Leeds were relegated from the Premier League after Abdoulaye Doucoure’s stunning strike secured Everton a 1-0 win over Bournemouth and survival on the final day of the season.

  The Toffees were heading down as things stood at half-time in the campaign’s concluding round of fixtures, with their clash with the Cherries at Goodison Park still goalless while Leicester led at home against West Ham.

  But Doucoure’s strike from just outside the area in the 57th minute subsequently gave Sean Dyche’s men the victory they needed to guarantee safety, rendering their rivals’ results irrelevant.

  Dean Smith’s Leicester drop despite winning 2-1 against West Ham, Harvey Barnes having netted the first-half opener and Wout Faes adding a 62nd-minute header before Pablo Fornals pulled a goal back for the visitors.

  Second-bottom Leeds join the Foxes and Southampton in the second tier following a 4-1 home loss to Tottenham as Sam Allardyce’s four-game mission to rescue the Yorkshire outfit proved in vain.

  Harry Kane put Spurs in front in the second minute, Pedro Porro doubled their advantage in the opening stages of the second half, and after Jack Harrison’s 67th-minute reply, Kane – registering his 30th league goal of the season – and Lucas Moura then further boosted the visitors’ tally.

  The result was not enough to see Tottenham claim Europa Conference League qualification, with Aston Villa cementing seventh place thanks to a 2-1 home win over Brighton.

  Douglas Luiz and Ollie Watkins scored for Unai Emery’s side early on, with Deniz Undav then reducing the deficit just before the break.

  Brentford also missed out on the final European spot despite winning, Ethan Pinnock’s late goal earning a 1-0 home victory over champions Manchester City having signed a new contract with the Bees earlier in the day.

  Second-placed Arsenal thrashed Wolves 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium, where Granit Xhaka netted a brace and Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Jakub Kiwior also got on the scoresheet.

  Manchester United secured third place as they came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at home.

  The Cottagers led through a 19th-minute Kenny Tete goal, then failed to take the chance to make it 2-0 seven minutes later as Aleksandar Mitrovic saw his penalty saved by David de Gea.

  Jadon Sancho subsequently drew things level before Bruno Fernandes struck the winner 10 minutes into the second half.

  Fourth-placed Newcastle drew 1-1 at Chelsea, with Anthony Gordon’s early opener for the Magpies being cancelled out by a Kieran Trippier own goal just before the half-hour mark. The Blues end their troubled season in 12th place.

  Already-relegated Southampton signed off from the top flight by playing out a remarkable 4-4 draw with fifth-placed Liverpool at St Mary’s, in which they fought back from 2-0 down to lead 4-2.

  Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino – playing his final game before leaving Liverpool – had Jurgen Klopp’s men two goals up early on before things turned around via a James Ward-Prowse finish, Kamaldeen Sulemana brace and Adam Armstrong effort. Cody Gakpo and Jota then hit back for Liverpool to see the game end up all-square.

  Sunday’s other match also finished honours even, with Will Hughes’ second-half goal securing a 1-1 draw for Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park against Nottingham Forest, for whom Taiwo Awoniyi had scored a sixth goal in four games.