Six of the best – the stars who led Man City to another Premier League title
Manchester City have won their fourth successive Premier League title and their sixth in seven years.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the key players in their latest triumph.
Phil Foden
The poster boy for City’s much-vaunted academy has enjoyed his most influential season since graduating to the senior side.
The England midfielder stepped up to the mantle while Kevin De Bruyne was out injured and virtually made himself undroppable, thriving in a central role.
Much of City’s most fluid attacking play has gone through him and he has also been pretty clinical around the box himself, as a career-best return of 19 league goals would attest.
Rodri
Once again the Spaniard has been the bedrock of the City side.
He has dictated the tempo and driven the team forward with little getting past him.
His passing range has allowed him to launch counters from deep while he has also got forward to support attacks with great regularity.
Such has been his influence, City did not lose all season with him in the side.
Erling Haaland
The prolific Norwegian did not repeat the numbers of his extraordinary first campaign at City but 27 league goals – enough for another golden boot – having missed more than two months of the season through injury was, needless to say, still a significant contribution.
He faced criticism from some quarters for his all-round play, with his impact in games in which he did not score questioned, but it is hard to argue with that most important statistic.
Bernardo Silva
Rumours have abounded about Silva’s apparent desire to leave City for years now but nothing has ever come of them.
If he is frustrated to still be at the club, it does not show.
The industrious and tireless playmaker rarely has a bad game, in whatever function he is asked to perform in the team. His work is often understated but he has again proved invaluable.
Kevin De Bruyne
The Belgian has once again been one of City’s most important players despite missing most of the first half of the campaign through injury.
A substitute appearance on the opening day was all that was seen of De Bruyne before January, but he certainly made up for lost time.
He scored and assisted to set up a crucial win at Newcastle in his comeback appearance and his importance rarely dipped from there on.
Stefan Ortega
It is hard to ignore the second-choice goalkeeper after he came of the bench to make an absolutely vital save in City’s penultimate game against Tottenham.
Had he not thwarted a flying Son Heung-min when through one-on-one, Arsenal may have been top of the table going into the final round of fixtures and the outcome different.
Yet there was more than just the one stop as he actually came on for an injured Ederson four times in total and made five starts, featuring in important games against Newcastle, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa.