Manchester City’s Premier League title dreams were extinguished with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth, handing Arsenal an unassailable lead at the top and their first league trophy after a 22-year wait.
Forward Eli Junior Kroupi fired Bournemouth in front in the 39th minute to break the deadlock in a tight game when Adrien Truffert was played through down the left. Truffert picked out the 19-year-old Frenchman, who took a touch before unleashing a brilliant curving shot just inside the far post.
In the second half, Bournemouth City almost equalised but goalkeeper made a brilliant save to keep his side in the game.
Bournemouth, whose manager Andoni Iraola is leaving at season’s end, put on a top performance and narrowly missed several late chances of a second goal.
However, City’s Erling Haaland pulled back a goal deep in injury time when Rodri’s shot bounced off the post and dropped to the Norwegian.
Haaland swiftly grabbed the ball out of the back of the net, desperate for a second goal, but the final whistle sounded seconds later to seal City’s fate.
Needing victory to keep alive the race ahead of Sunday’s season finale, City were undone by Eli Junior Kroupi’s brilliant first-half strike at Vitality Stadium, extinguishing City’s hopes of a seventh league title for Pep Guardiola in what is expected to be his final season after a glittering decade as manager.
“The players gave everything, absolutely all of the season fighting through difficult, difficult, difficult circumstances until the end,” Guardiola said in an interview.
“We were close to arrive in the last moment but on behalf of all Manchester City and my team, we congratulate Arsenal and Mikel (Arteta) for this Premier League. They deserve it.”
The draw left City on 78 points, four behind Arsenal. Bournemouth — unbeaten in 17 league games and sixth on 56 points — secured European qualification for the first time.
With Bournemouth having slammed the door on City’s league title hopes, their final game against Aston Villa on Sunday now carries no weight in the standings and instead looms as an emotional occasion, expected to serve as Guardiola’s farewell.
What might have been a high-stakes conclusion has been stripped of its drama, leaving City to close out the campaign with a sense of reflection, on both a remarkable era and a night on the south coast when it dramatically came to an end.
Tuesday’s Premier League results
Bournemouth 1-1 Manchester City
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur.
