Player of the week
Any concerns that it would be a nervy day for Manchester City were erased by Phil Foden a minute into their title coronation. The Premier League Player of the Season delivered the performance of the week to hand City their fourth successive title. It took all of 79 seconds for Foden to kick off the coronation.
PHIL FODEN, WHAT A STRIKE! 🤯
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) May 19, 2024
IT COULD BE THE TITLE-WINNING GOAL FOR MANCHESTER CITY. pic.twitter.com/zlbc0dV7tR
Sheesh. Look at that thing. Every detail is magical: the way he lets the ball roll across his body, knowing pressure is on its way; the touch to clear it out of his feet; the lack of backlift; the slice across the ball, with it drifting away from the keeper. Long-range strikes have become Foden’s calling card; he scored six goals from outside the box this season, double the number of a trio of players in second place.
Foden added a second before the end of the first-half and Rodri scored the other City goal in a 3-1 win at the Etihad. Save for a tense 20 minutes either side of half-time, City cruised to another trophy.
Superstition of the week
Every season, Pep Guardiola hits on at outfit that he rides throughout City’s inevitable end-of-season win streak. There was the coat cardigan. For two seasons, he didn’t change his shoes. This year, the City manager has stuck with a turtleneck, even in the May heat, to help get City over the line.
It’s extraordinary that, for all his tactical intellect, and all the talent in his squad, Guardiola has similar superstitions to a fan wearing their ‘lucky’ hat.
Despite talk of a down season, a misfiring Erling Haaland and City’s more functional approach, they’ve been able to rip-off a fourth championship on the spin. There have been no awkward hiccups at the end of the season. They’ve done what they always do: grind out wins. They were unbeaten in their final 19 league games of the season, winning 16 and drawing three. No matter the off-field questions – and there are hundreds – becoming the first team in Premier League history to win four-straight titles is an extraordinary achievement.
Goal of the week
How about saving your goal-of-the-year contender until the final day of the season? Step forward, Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo.
MOISES CAICEDO, THAT IS STUNNING.
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) May 19, 2024
His first Chelsea goal comes from the halfway line. 😱 pic.twitter.com/oELXA56tgm
Caicedo lobbed Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto from the halfway line, the farthest a goal has been scored in the league since Wayne Rooney for Everton in November 2017, according to Opta. Top marks to Caicedo, too, for finishing his effort by doing the splits.
Video of the week
A quick accounting of Jürgen Klopp’s teary send-off at Anfield:
Liverpool were at their pulsating best in a 2-0 win over Wolves.
Klopp teared up as he listened to his final rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone as manager.
He broke down in an embrace with Virgil van Dijk at the full-time whistle.
He was treated to a pair of presents, including miniature replicas of the trophies he won as the club’s manager.
He offered up his trademark first pumps to all sections of the ground.
He led the home crowd in a (semi-painful) rendition of a song for Arnie Slot, effectively announcing the incoming manager.
Van Dijk and Klopp. 🥺❤️ pic.twitter.com/eWJIbPpBtV
— The Anfield Buzz (@TheAnfieldBuzz) May 19, 2024
The best Jürgen Klopp is the Jürgen Klopp who emits his love for football because he can’t contain … which is basically Jürgen Klopp at all times.
With Guardiola, you get the impression that if he wasn’t a manager, he’d attend matches with a notepad, and would spend 45 minutes after the game rummaging through the Opta data bank and boring his friends with a breakdown of how the fullback didn’t do enough in the central areas (a pretty identical scene is described in Pep Confidential). It’s hard to know sometimes if José Mourinho even likes football. With Klopp, you know he’d be in the stands if he could.
In an era of pre-programmed tactical moves, of Oligarchs and Nation States, Klopp helped make football fun again – a reminder that the trophy haul isn’t the be-all and end-all (though there are plenty of prizes in Liverpool cabinet thanks to the German). He will go down as the man who brought Liverpool their sixth European Cup and broke the 30-year league title drought – one of only three managers to win the Premier League and Champions League with the same club. But his most lasting, impressive achievement will be as the man who rekindled the bond between Liverpool supporters and the club.
Disappointment of the week
There was a fleeting moment during Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Everton when fans inside the Emirates believed the title was on. A false rumor hung in the air that West Ham had equalized against Man City. Cheers erupted. Fans hugged. People frantically scrolled social media. A section of supporters turned to the press box for confirmation. No … sorry.
Quote of the week
“Don’t be satisfied because we want much more than that, and we are going to get it,” Mikel Arteta after Arsenal were pipped to the title on the last day of the season.
Arsenal came very close to winning the title. They finished with the most wins, the most goals and the best goal difference. Over the second half of the season, they were near perfect: they won 16 of their final 18 games, conceding just nine goals. They were defensively solid and mesmerizing going forward. If not for a slip up against Aston Villa, they would be champions.
But being nearly perfect is not enough against City. The only time Guardiola’s mob have been derailed is when Klopp’s Liverpool started perfectly in 2019-20 season, ripping off 18 wins to open the campaign.
Arsenal will contend again next season. They have a young core and a chance to add to their squad in the summer. It could be a (slight) summer of upheaval in Manchester, particularly if Kevin De Bruyne or others head for a sunnier locale. But Arsenal will have to be perfect out of the gate to claw the title away from the Etihad.
Stat of the week
This season has been defined by many things: VAR decisions; points deductions; Manchester United’s never-ending tumult; injuries; the title race; the three promoted teams being relegated. But more than anything, this has been the season of goals. With a glut on the final day, the 2023-24 season beat out the 1992-93 season (when there were 22 teams in the division) for the most goals in a single campaign, with Jarell Quansah’s goal for Liverpool taking the number to 1,123.
And what a way to pass the mark. Beyond Caicedo’s effort for Chelsea, there was Idrissa Gueye’s free-kick against Arsenal, Foden’s strike against West Ham and a stunning overhead kick from West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus.
Partnership of the week
Away from the title race, Crystal Palace handed Aston Villa a 5-0 pasting at Selhurst Park. Villa looked a spent force at the end of a long season. It’s hard to imagine Unai Emery’s pre-match team talk went beyond handing out brochures to Ibiza.
Palace were the opposite: spiky and sprightly on the counterattack. They punished Villa’s mistakes and produced another series of dizzying passing sequences. The regulars were all in on the act: Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a hat-trick, with Eberechi Eze adding a pair of second half goals.
The Mateta-Eze combination was too much for a sleepy Villa to handle, as it has been for most teams since Oliver Glasner’s arrival in February. Mateta has scored more goals than any other Premier League player (13) since Glasner rocked up at Palace, but his impact extends beyond the penalty box. It’s Mateta’s all-around play that knits Palace’s attack together. As a hold-up player and facilitator, he’s been vital in springing Michael Olise and Eze into open space.
If Palace can keep their core together (a tough ask given the bloated transfer funds elsewhere) they should contend for a European place next season.
