Willian holds nerve for Chelsea to end 10-man Manchester City’s reign

In the end, perhaps it was strangely fitting that Liverpool’s jubilee should be met with pure silence. Perhaps a moment on this scale deserved a little pause for thought. Time for the sheer disorienting size of the achievement to sink in. Time to reflect on the extreme weirdness of the circumstances in which it was achieved: 200 miles from Anfield, with none of the protagonists present. But history will not recall the fact that their first league title in 30 years was not sealed on their own turf in the Merseyside springtime, but on a baking summer’s night in west London courtesy of a Willian penalty. What it will recall is the scintillating, stupefying brilliance of Jürgen Klopp’s side from front to back. It will, just about, remember the party afterwards. Yes, it turns out a title shorn of all the usual trimmings – players on the field, a crowd in the stadium, a parade on the streets, hugs and high-fives all round – still feels just as sweet. One of English football’s almighty itches – one lasting almost a quarter of the club’s history – has been scratched. Since Kenny Dalglish’s team won Division One in 1990, the roll of honour contains 13 Manchester Uniteds, five Chelseas, four Arsenals, four Manchester Citys, a Leeds, a Blackburn and a Leicester. And now, 2019-20: Liverpool, a team that for six months have been champions-in-waiting, waiting for a rain that has finally fallen. This was a game that both embellished their achievement and explained it. What makes Liverpool’s achievement so formidable is the fact that they have had to clear a higher bar than any team before them has managed: the bar set by Pep Guardiola’s City from 2017 onwards. Yet over the course of the season City’s occasional glitches in concentration have cost them dearly, and here again they made the sort of errors that have finally seen them toppled from their plinth. Full report here