These teams won the league and managed rub their rival's face in it
- Published
Man United spoiled City's big party. But these teams did manage to win the league AND stick the boot in
Manchester City had the chance to wrap up the Premier League in the most poignant fashion by beating their biggest rivals Manchester United at home this weekend. But José Mourinho, Paul Pogba and the rest of the United team, had different ideas.
In a real humdinger of a derby, United came back from 2-0 down at half-time to beat City 3-2.
That means they retain their record as the team to win the Premier League at the earliest stage in the season - having won it in the 2000/01, with five games left.
While it's likely Manchester City will wrap the title up soon, they missed an opportunity here to really administer a generous pinch of salt to their biggest rival's wounds.
Here are just a few other times that teams did manage to take the title and do it by sticking the boot into their rivals at the same time. Spicy.
2005/06 Chelsea win it at Stamford Bridge
In their second season under a young Portuguese manager by the name of José Mourinho, Chelsea set new records, including most home wins (18), and continued to throw their new Abramovich money around on luxury players like Shaun Wright Phillips (oof). They wrapped up the title at home to Manchester United with a 3-0 win, leaving two games to go.
Mourinho threw his blazer and medal into the stands. After being promptly presented with a replacement, he did the same again.
2003/04 Arsenal win it at White Hart Lane
Back when Arsene Wenger’s ideas were considered revolutionary and Arsenal were still the top club in London, his team managed to win the Premier League without a single defeat – earning themselves the nickname 'The Invincibles'. Not only that, but they won it at the former home of the closest North London rivals. Tottenham didn’t let them get away with a win. It ended 2-2, with a late equaliser from Robbie Keane, but the draw was enough to seal it.
2001/02 Arsenal win it at Old Trafford
A fiery 1-0 win in enemy territory got the title celebrations off one game early for the Gooners. Without Henry, Bergkamp or Tony Adams, they managed to maintain an unbeaten record on the road. Oddly, Ferguson opted to leave out top scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Arsenal ended the campaign seven points ahead of Liverpool in second place and 10 points ahead of United in third.
1988/89 Arsenal win it at Anfield
Possibly the most dramatic season-finale in history this – with Arsenal snatching the league title from Liverpool in the final moments and in Liverpool's own backyard.
Arsenal came into the final game of the 1988/89 season needing to beat Liverpool by two goals or more at Anfield in order to take the League Division One title from them. Not many expected that they could pull off that feat against a team that hadn’t been beaten since January.
A goal from Alan Smith on 52 minutes gave the visitors hope and an injury-time winner from Michael Thomas made it a reality.
What have we learned? Arsenal are the team most consistently involved in last-minute excitement. Maybe that’s where Martin Keown gets his sense of the dramatic from (see below image of him screaming at Ruud van Nistelrooy after the dutchman missed a penalty in 2003)…
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Originally published 6 April 2018
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