City beat Chelsea before EPL title celebrations

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Manchester City celebrated their English Premier League (EPL) title in style with a 1-0 win against Chelsea yesterday.

Julian Alvarez's 12th-minute goal secured a 12th straight win in the league for Pep Guardiola's team, as the fans toasted victory by invading the pitch after the final whistle.

It is the third successive title and a fifth in six seasons for City, who are dominating English football. And it could be just the start of a historic treble of trophies this term, with the finals of the Champions League and FA Cup still to come.

"We always believed we could do this. This group of lads are professionals and winners," defender Kyle Walker said. "Rest assured, we are not finished. We have the FA Cup against our bitter rivals (Manchester United) and then the Champions League.

"We will celebrate tonight and then move on to try and create history."

Arsenal's 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Saturday meant City were confirmed champions even before their final home match of the campaign.

It meant Guardiola could afford to name Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, John Stones and Ederson on the bench, but despite their absence, City still secured the win with World Cup winner Alvarez scoring the decisive goal.

The record-breaking exploits of Haaland have overshadowed the Argentina international, but he showed his quality with a clinical finish after controlling the pass of Cole Palmer.

City never looked like hitting the heights of recent routs of Liverpool, Arsenal and Real Madrid -- but didn't need to after Alvarez's goal put them on course for victory early on.

Chelsea had chances through Raheem Sterling, and Conor Gallagher could have evened the score when hitting the post with a first-half header.

Kalvin Phillips also hit the woodwork for City after the break, and Alvarez saw a second goal ruled out by VAR after Riyad Mahrez handled in the buildup.

Haaland and De Bruyne came on in the second half but could not add to City's lead.

Not that the fans complained on a day that was going to be about the post-match party, and they couldn't wait to mob their heroes as the final whistle blew.