Manchester City crowned Premier League champions after shock United defeat

Vincent Kompany has challenged his Manchester City team-mates to retain their Premier League title after Manchester United’s shock defeat to bottom side West Brom confirmed Pep Guardiola’s side as champions.

City’s 3-1 victory over Tottenham on Saturday evening meant United had to avoid defeat against Albion to keep the title race alive. Jay Rodriguez’s goal at Old Trafford, though, means the trophy heads to the other side of Manchester for the third time in seven seasons.

“You can’t take them for granted – I’ve been lucky to win three but there have been so many I’ve missed as well,” said Kompany. “Today I’m happy and I suppose my team-mates will roll their eyes a little bit but I kind of want to see what the reaction is going to be now. I’ve never retained the title and I want to see if this team has got it to carry on and be even more successful.”

He added: “I had that feeling when I woke up this morning but I don’t like to wait and see a team lose so it was a little bit of a different experience today. West Brom are a good team and they don’t deserve to be that low and as they stuck into the game you realised that something could happen. It was a set piece and a lovely goal from Rodriguez so thank you. It was a great feeling.”

Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola, who said on Saturday that he would be playing golf rather than watching the match, can now add a Premier League winners’ medal to those he claimed in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich and La Liga with

“Unbelievable season for us. Very happy to call us champions this year,” wrote Kevin De Bruyne on Twitter.

Confirmation of City’s title success comes as a fillip at the end of a difficult spell for City, during which they lost in the Manchester derby and suffered a Champions League exit at the hands of Liverpool.

By completing the job after 33 games, City have emulated the achievement of United, who secured the crown with the same number of matches to spare in 2001.

The Manchester United manager, José Mourinho, said City’s consistency had earned them the title. “Manchester City won the title because they won more points than everybody else, because yesterday they won against Tottenham, because during the season they lost only two matches,” he said.