Man City player ratings vs Bournemouth: The title race is over! Pep Guardiola’s perfect farewell goes up in smoke as Antoine Semenyo struggles against former club in draw that hands Arsenal the Premier League trophy
Despite the best efforts of Erling Haaland, Manchester City gifted the Premier League title to Arsenal by drawing 1-1 at Bournemouth on Tuesday. The visitors had arrived at the Vitality Stadium hoping to close the gap to the Gunners to just two points ahead of Sunday’s final round of fixtures and, thus, give Pep Guardiola a shot at lifting the trophy for a seventh time before stepping down as manager.
However, the visitors never looked entirely comfortable, perhaps distracted by the media frenzy caused by the news that the Catalan is to bring the curtain down on his 10-year tenure at the Etihad, or maybe just drained by their efforts in Saturday’s FA Cup final win over Chelsea. Whatever the truth, they were miles off their usual pace in the first half and fell behind to a stunning strike from Eli Junior Kroupi six minutes before the break.
Guardiola tried to switch things up shortly after half-time by taking off Antoine Semenyo, who endured a dismal return to his old stomping ground, the surprisingly subdued Bernardo Silva and the desperately disappointing Mateo Kovacic – but not one of the trio’s replacements made any kind of positive impact on the game.
Indeed, Bournemouth should have actually taken all three points, but Andoni Iraola’s Champions League-chasing side squandered a succession of gilt-edged opportunities before Haaland whipped home a wonderful injury-time strike after a goal-mouth scramble.
Of course, it was all a case of too little, too late for City, who now face an uncertain future without one of the most influential and successful coaches in football history.
Below, GOAL rates all of the City players on show on a devastating night at the Vitality Stadium…
