Manchester City are Premier League champions for a fourth time in five seasons, and a sixth time overall, after beating Aston Villa 3-2 in remarkable fashion on Sunday to hold off Liverpool.
City are now in front of Chelsea (five titles) as the competition's outright second most successful side and behind only Manchester United, who have lifted the title 13 times.
Indeed, only United (20), Liverpool (19), Arsenal (13) and Everton (nine) have won more titles in the history of the English top flight, dating back to 1888, than eight-time winners City.
The Citizens' latest title triumph was built on a solid defence and a potent attack, with no team in the division scoring more goals (99) or conceding fewer (26).
With the aid of Opta, Stats Perform looks at some of the other numbers behind City's successful title defence.
PEP PREVAILS ONCE MORE
City have won four of the past five Premier League titles, which is a level of dominance not seen in the competition since United lifted the trophy in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011.
Pep Guardiola has been at the helm for those four most recent triumphs, making him the fourth coach in English top-flight history to win four titles over a five-season period.
He is in quite some company, too, with Alex Ferguson (United), Bob Paisley (Liverpool) and George Ramsey (Villa) the other names on that list.
The Catalan is only the eighth man to win as many as four English top-flight titles, while only Ferguson (13) has ever lifted the Premier League more times.
Following equally successful stints with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Guardiola has now won the title in 10 of his 13 seasons as a top-flight manager.
To put that into some context, Massimiliano Allegri (6) is the sole other coach to have won more than five league crowns in that period across Europe's top five leagues.
CATCH US IF YOU CAN
City may have been pushed all the way in the end, but they spent 168 days at the summit – 98 more than any other team, and 157 more than valiant runners-up Liverpool.
The 2021-22 campaign did not get off to the best of starts for City, though, as they lost 1-0 at Tottenham on the opening weekend, with that one of only three losses all season.
That makes the Citizens only the fourth side in the Premier League era to lose their opening match yet still go on to win the title, and the 15th overall in English top-flight history.
CITY FALL JUST SHORT OF OWN RECORD
City had to do it the hard way. They were 2-0 down to Villa and matters looked bleak, but Ilkay Gundogan inspired a comeback for the ages.
It means City end the season with a positive goal difference of 73.
That is the second-highest goal difference in Premier League history, behind only their own mark of +79 in 2017-18 when scoring a record 106 goals and conceding 27.
The 26 goals conceded by City this term is an impressive return, though it is well short of the 15 let in by Chelsea in 2004-05.
GOALS GALORE
City may not have had a player who seriously challenged for the Golden Boot award, but the workload was shared with 16 different players registering a goal.
Set-pieces proved an important source of goals for the champions, who netted 22 times from corners and free-kicks, while conceding just once in this manner.
Their positive differential of 21 goals between set-piece goals scored and conceded is the largest on record in the Premier League since such data was first collected in 2008-09.
Conte hopes for Ranieri's success at Roma after Napoli clash
Antonio Conte hopes that everything will go well for Claudio Ranieri after he came out of retirement to take charge of Roma, but only after their Serie A clash this weekend.
Ranieri was tempted back into management by a return to where he began as a player. His third spell at Roma comes after the club sacked two coaches already this season and with the team 12th in the standings.
A trip to leaders Napoli is Ranieri's first task, and Conte is looking forward to meeting up with the 73-year-old.
"I am pleased to see Claudio, I have great esteem for him and there is also friendship," Conte told reporters ahead of Sunday's game.
"I am happy with the chance he has been given. It will be a tough game, for us and for them. Last year, Roma finished ahead of Napoli, they are in the Europa League and had a good transfer window.
"They are not performing according to expectations and I hope for Claudio that everything starts to work after Sunday's game."
The arrival of Ranieri in place of Ivan Juric brings with it not just the danger of the 'new manager bounce' but also upsets Conte's plans for the game.
"When a team changes coach there is an important input on a nervous level," Conte said.
"They are at the third change on the bench. It's inevitable that, if Juric had remained, we knew what kind of team we were going to face.
"Now it's an enigma, we don't have much information nor do we know how they will deal with us. So let's think about ourselves, there is a desire and enthusiasm to continue this path."
After a streak of 21 consecutive home wins in Serie A, Conte lost his last home league match (0-3 against Atalanta). Only once in his career has he recorded two consecutive home defeats in the competition: in November 2009, when he was in charge of Atalanta (against Juventus and Roma).
Napoli are top of the table, but Conte knows it is still early, and with just two points separating the top six clubs, which includes the likes of Atalanta, Fiorentina and Lazio, for now, it is a different title race than usual.
"Only 12 games have passed and there are many teams within very few points," he said.
"We are doing well, but so are the others. There isn't one team which has distanced the others. Perhaps there is a little amazement in seeing some teams in those positions in the standings."
Martino resigns as Inter Miami coach after early playoff exit
Gerardo Martino has resigned as Inter Miami's head coach due to personal reasons, the MLS side have confirmed.
The Argentine ends his 17-month stint in charge of the Herons following their MLS Cup exit just under a fortnight ago.
Martino, who oversaw Miami's Leagues Cup triumph soon after his arrival last season, guided the franchise to this year's Supporters' Shield with a regular-season record tally of 74 points.
However, they were eliminated by his former side Atlanta United in round one of the MLS Cup playoffs.
Miami opened their best-of-three series against Atlanta with a 2-1 win, only to lose by the same scoreline in Game 2 before falling to a dramatic 3-2 defeat in the decider.
“It has been an honour to work at such a special club, and to lead such a special team," Martino said.
"I’ve enjoyed my stay at Inter Miami and will treasure the memories made and relationships forged here for the rest of my life.
"I depart with nothing but gratitude for my time here and would like to offer sincere thanks to everyone that made it possible."
Fonseca: Milan have 'respect' but 'are not afraid' of Juventus
Paulo Fonseca said Milan have plenty of "respect" for Juventus, but his side "are not afraid" of their rivals ahead of their Serie A clash on Saturday.
After a slow start to the season, Milan are six points adrift of Juventus in the table, but only a place behind them, as they aim to make up the ground on the top six.
The Rossoneri have played a game less than Thiago Motta's side, and could catapult themselves back into the Scudetto picture with a win this weekend.
Milan return to the San Siro for the first time since a 2-0 defeat to Napoli at the end of October, and could register two consecutive home defeats in Serie A for the first time since between October and November in 2023.
"It is not decisive, but it is important, like all of them," Fonseca told reporters ahead of Saturday's game.
"I can't say that the game against Juve is more important than the next one against Empoli because we need consecutive victories.
"It's a different game, but I always think positively. We are Milan, we have a lot of respect for the 'Bianconeri', but we are not afraid. We are here ready to win."
A boost for Milan is that Juventus will be without top scorer Dusan Vlahovic for Saturday's clash after returning from international duty with a muscle problem.
Despite the Serbian's absence, Fonseca was aware of the danger his probable replacement, Timothy Weah, would pose, having managed him during his time at Lille.
"Juve knows how to adapt very well. I don't know if Weah will play," Fonseca said.
"Weah is very fast and attacks deep, not like Vlahovic. It will not be the same thing of course.
"We will have to pay attention to movements in depth and less to support work, because he is a player who does less of this job."
While Fonseca has endured a stuttering start to his tenure at the San Siro, Milan have shown they have the ability to match the very best.
They beat rivals Inter in October before stunning Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in their last Champions League encounter, keeping their play-off hopes alive.
"I believe it's a matter of motivation and not pressure," Fonseca said.
"Against Inter, Juve and Real it is easy to be motivated, it's more difficult to go to Cagliari and have the same motivation.
"Pressure is always with us, every day. If we don't want to have pressure, then we shouldn't be here."
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