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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."
