It was a title won from the bench, by four men who started on the sidelines. Pep Guardiola remained there, too – he has made some leftfield moves in his time but bringing himself on at 51 minutes would have been a stretch too far – but his replacements made the difference. Ilkay Gundogan scored twice. The first was set up by Raheem Sterling, another who was brought on. Sandwiched by the German’s brace came a goal for Rodri; the assist, with a precise cutback capping an influential display in the second half, came from Oleksandr Zinchenko.
In the aftermath of Manchester City’s 3-2 win over Aston Villa to win the Premier League on the final day of last season, it did not go unnoticed that Guardiola had turned to Zinchenko, Gundogan and Sterling ahead of the £100m man, Jack Grealish. Two months on, it assumes another importance. They proved Zinchenko and Sterling’s valedictory contributions in a City shirt. Gabriel Jesus started that day, but the Brazilian proved a placeholder until Erling Haaland’s arrival.
