Pep Guardiola joined elite company yesterday by becoming the first manager to defend their English Premier League trophy after Sir Alex Ferguson's legendary 2008-09 Manchester United side and Jose Mourinho's all-conquering 2005-06 Chelsea outfit.Manchester City held their nerves to come back from an early goal, trounce Brighton & Hove Albion 1-4, and lift their second League title under Guardiola. They saw off a stern challenge from Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, who finished second by a solitary point.With this win, Guardiola edged ahead of Jose Mourinho as the active manager with the most title wins, leading with 26 to the Portuguese tactician's 25. Fans, pundits and rivals were all praises for the Spanish master, as he exerted his dominance in England yet again. Post victory, Pep was quick to remark that it was one of the toughtest title races he has had to face:"To win the title we had to win 14 games in a row. This was the toughest title in all my career, by far. I have to say congratulations to Liverpool of course, thank you so much. Last season Manchester City made the standards. They helped to push us and to increase our standards from last season.To compete against this team pushed us to do what we have done. It's incredible, 198 points in two seasons. Normally if you get 100 points the tendency is to go down but Liverpool helped us to be consistent."Guardiola also remarked that the efforts are already on to win a third consecutive Premier League crown, accomplished only by Sir Alex Ferguson's legendary United sides in 1998-01 and 2006-09."It will be tougher but we will be stronger too. When you can win two in a row, I have the feeling that next season we will come back and try to be who we are right now."Only three managers have won the Premier League in back-to-back seasons:🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Alex Ferguson🇵🇹 Jose Mourinho🇪🇸 Pep GuardiolaThree of the competition’s finest. pic.twitter.com/kzX4P6zzLi— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 12, 2019Pep Guardiola has now won 8 out of 10 league titles he has attempted to win:2008/09: 🏆LaLiga2009/10: 🏆LaLiga2010/11: 🏆LaLiga2011/12: ❌2012/13: sabbatical2013/14: 🏆Bundesliga2014/15: 🏆Bundesliga2015/16: 🏆Bundesliga2016/17: ❌2017/18: 🏆EPL2018/19: 🏆EPL pic.twitter.com/5lTdwIXxR6— David Kappel (@kappilinho) May 12, 2019Two seasons, 198 points, uncountable records, one reason.Pep Guardiola. pic.twitter.com/YteV4O45Yw— Complaxes (@Complaxes) May 12, 2019Pep Guardiola breaks a tie with Jose Mourinho for most trophies won among active managers. 👀🏆 pic.twitter.com/giuMC5pYMT— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) May 12, 2019Jurgen Klopp never finished on top of Pep Guardiola in league competitions :13/14 Pep -1stKlopp - 2nd14/15 Pep -1stKlopp - 7th16/17 Pep -3rdKlopp- 4th17/18 Pep -1stKlopp - 4th18/19 Pep -1stKlopp - 2nd#Pep #ReInventingTheGame pic.twitter.com/Re0b3hyPpo— The Pep (@GuardiolaTweets) May 12, 2019🇪🇸 Pep Guardiola as manager:🏟 581 Games🏆 26 Trophies3 🏆🇪🇸 La Liga3 🏆🇪🇸 Supercopa2 🏆🇪🇸 Copa del Rey1 🏆🇪🇸 Tercera3 🏆🇩🇪 Bundesliga2 🏆🇩🇪 DFB-Pokal2 🏆🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Premier League2 🏆🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 League Cup3 🏆🌎 CW Cup3 🏆🇪🇺 Super Cup2 🏆🇪🇺 UCL🤯 A trophy won every 23 matches. pic.twitter.com/kf1fmui6Nb— SPORF (@Sporf) May 12, 2019Pep Guardiola’s @ManCity are 2018/19 Premier League Champions 🏆 That’s now an incredible 198 points achieved from 228 points over the last two seasons! Phenomenal level of football. #mancity #premiereleague pic.twitter.com/dHAOVDmqk0— Seema Jaswal (@meseemajaswal) May 12, 2019Pep Guardiola has now overtaken Jose Mourinho in trophies won as a manager:Pep Guardiola: 2⃣6⃣Jose Mourinho: 2⃣5⃣#ManCity pic.twitter.com/uDWZfGSQyV— Superbia Proelia (@SuperbiaProeIia) May 12, 2019As a manager, Pep Guardiola has now won 26 trophies in 581 games, a trophy every 23 matches.That is outrageous. pic.twitter.com/LL3x5jkm8Z— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) May 13, 2019Pep Guardiola has defended League titles inSpainGermany ..andENGLANDSay all you want. The best manager in the World.— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) May 12, 2019Sir Alex Ferguson ✅Jose Mourinho ✅Pep Guardiola ✅The Manchester City manager becomes only the 3rd manager in Premier League history to retain the title and win back-to-back trophies 🏆 pic.twitter.com/SMsITAJiF0— SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) May 12, 2019In the history of the Premier League, only three teams have reached 95 points in a single campaign: Man City (2018-19)Man City (2017-18)Chelsea (2004-05)Pep Guardiola is responsible for two of those... he's only been in England for three seasons. pic.twitter.com/hPEHtW2bm5— bet365 (@bet365) May 6, 2019First Manager to ever retain the league title in La Liga, BundesLiga and Premier League ✅First Manager to retain the Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson in 2009 ✅ Third Manager to ever retain the Premier League title in history ✅👏 Pep Guardiola pic.twitter.com/A0lUOli8L2— Arjun Pradeep (@IndianRegista) May 12, 2019Look at what that third goal meant to Pep Guardiola! Pure passion 😍 pic.twitter.com/kjDVMZWUfH— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) May 12, 2019Most consecutive league wins in La Liga, Bundesliga & Premier LeagueHe finished the 2009 calendar year with a record six trophies, at Barça. The first coach in history to do soPep Guardiola is the first manager to retain the league title in Spain, Germany & England pic.twitter.com/xsZVvNh1Co— FourFourTweet (@FourFourTweet) May 12, 2019