Manchester City’s Premier League Title Defense May Be England’s Best Ever

There are few English top-flight title races that have ever been as hotly contested Manchester City’s was this season.

Few English top-flight title races have ever gone the final day. None, have ever seen two teams do what Manchester City and Liverpool just did either.

As these stats show, Manchester City and Liverpool combined for the most points in English top flight history.

Only two prior English top-flight title races have seen two sides come anywhere close to comparable points totals, when adjusting wins to three points.

The first was in 1970-71. Arsenal won 29 of their 42 games on their way to 65 points . They beat Leeds United, who won 27 games that year, by just one point (64). When adjusting their points totals to count wins as three points rather than two, Arsenal would have beaten Leeds by just three points that season (94 to 91). It’s the only other season that two English top-flight sides would have gotten greater than 90 points when counting wins as three points.

The only other comparable season was the 2011-12 Premier League, where Manchester City beat Manchester United on goal difference on the final day. Both teams combined for 178 points, 89 each, on their way to contesting the title to the final seconds of the final games. That combined total, is the fourth highest total accumulated by a top two in modern Premier League history (the other two prior to this season, Chelsea-Spurs (179 in 2016-17), and Manchester City-United last year (181), were heavily carried by the league champions).

For as great as those teams were that season, however, City and Liverpool were better this year. Manchester City finished this season with two more goals scored, and six less conceded than their 2011-12 winning counter-part. Liverpool finished with the same number of goals scored as Manchester United did in 2011-12, but conceded 11 less than them.

Beyond the superior numbers they have to these prior races, it’s also worth noting Manchester City were the ONLY side of these three to be defending a title during those seasons. City became the first team, since Manchester United at the end of the last decade, to win consecutive league titles. It took the second greatest points total (tied with 1978-79 Liverpool when adjusting wins to three points)  in English top-flight history to do it.

Taking all of that into consideration, then, it’s beyond dispute that Manchester City’s title defense this season was England’s best ever.

No English team was ever pushed as far in a title defense, or in any title winning season for that matter, as Manchester City were by Liverpool this season. It was one of the most hotly contested title races of all-time. Despite that, City were the ones holding the trophy on the final day.

As Martin Tyler said in 2012 after Sergio Aguero’s title winning goal at 93:20 of the final game on the final day to win Manchester City the Premier League, “You’ll never see anything like this ever again. So watch it! Drink it in!” We have just witnessed something truly special with this team!