Pep Guardiola wins Premier League Manager of the Season

 

Pep Guardiola has won the Premier League Manager of the Season award after another title victory with Manchester City.

Guardiola’s side recovered from losing out to Liverpool in 2019-20 and led the league for much of the season, eventually winning the title when Manchester United lost to Leicester City last month.

Despite a 12-point gap to second-place United at the end of the campaign, the 50-year-old said this title was “the hardest one”, having previously won the Premier League in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Who else was nominated?

The other nominees were:

Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds United), David Moyes (West Ham United), Brendan Rodgers (Leicester City), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United).

How good were Guardiola’s City this season?

Although their start to the season was solid if unspectacular, City really kicked on when their rivals struggled.

After falling way behind Liverpool last year, Guardiola’s innovation and tactical nous meant his City team became strong favourites for the title by the second half of the campaign. As the season drew to a close, they were relentless in pursuit of their third title in four years.

City’s defence, with the addition of Ruben Dias from Benfica, was imperious and Guardiola navigated much of the season without playing a recognised striker. This was no matter for City, however, as they had the league’s best attack and defence as they strolled to the title win.

What about the other awards?

Earlier on Saturday, City defender Dias was announced as the Premier League Player of the Season after a stellar debut campaign in Manchester.

The PFA revealed its Team of the Year on Friday — it was as follows:

Ederson (Manchester City), Joao Cancelo (Manchester City), John Stones (Manchester City), Dias (Manchester City), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur).