Has a team ever lost the Premier League title after starting the final day on top? How the previous race leaders fared when Arsenal vs. Man City reaches the end

Manchester City are 90 minutes away from claiming their sixth Premier League title in seven years after their 2-0 win over Spurs in midweek. .

Pep Guardiola’s team broke the deadlock thanks to Erling Haaland in the second half and substitute goalkeeper Stefan Ortega made three great saves, including a magnificent one-on-one stop to deny Son Heung-min a goal.

That now means the equation is simple for City as they chase a fourth successive Premier League title this weekend, a feat never before achieved in the history of English football.

If City beat West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, their current two-point lead over Arsenal means they will be champions. However, if City make a mistake, the Gunners will be back in the conversation.

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A slight plus-one goal difference advantage means that an Arsenal victory over Everton at the Emirates Stadium would give them their first title in 20 years, if City make a mistake.

The Gunners were the beneficiaries of the most famous last-day turnaround of all time, when they beat leaders Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield in 1989, with Michael Thomas’s stoppage-time goal snatching the crown. First pision.

In the Premier League era, this will be the tenth time the title fight has gone to the final day. This is what happened on the previous nine occasions.

1994/95: Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United

• Leaders: Blackburn (89 points)
• Winners: Blackburn (89 points)

Kenny Dalglish became the fourth and most recent manager to win the English title with two different clubs. But his team, Blackburn, almost collapsed at the last moment when they limped to a 2-1 defeat against his former club, Liverpool, amid a surreal atmosphere at Anfield. A United win at West Ham would have seen them overtake Blackburn at the post, but they could only draw 1-1 at West Ham amid heroics from home goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko.

Blackburn remains the only team to lose on the final matchday and win the title with the league at stake. It is also the only time that a penalty shootout last weekend ended without either of the title contenders winning.

1995/96: Manchester United and Newcastle United

• Leaders: Man United (79 points)
• Winners: Man United (82 points)

Kevin Keegan’s intrepid Newcastle were 12 points clear in January, only for Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils to click ominously to clear the score. Eric Cantona scored the only goal in a crucial 1-0 win at St James’ Park in March and the Magpies never fully recovered. Tempers had been strained over the past few weeks and, with his team needing help from elsewhere, Keegan shouted: “They still have to go to Middlesbrough and get something!” in his infamous “I’d love to!” rant.

United did it, winning 3-0 at the Riverside Stadium while Newcastle drew 1-1 at home against Tottenham, meaning Ferguson’s men finished four points clear.

1998/99: Manchester United and Arsenal

• Leaders: Man United (76 points)
• Winners: Man United (79 points)

The first part of United’s historic treble saw them go down to the wire with reigning champions Arsenal. Foreshadowing their role earlier this week, Tottenham found themselves the third wheel and upset some of their fans by taking the lead at Old Trafford through Les Ferdinand. Ferguson’s men hit back either side of half-time through David Beckham and Andy Cole and Arsenal were left a point behind after beating Aston Villa 1-0.

2007/08: Manchester United and Chelsea

• Leaders: Man United (84 points)
• Winners: Man United (87 points)

Chelsea beat United 2-1 at Stamford Bridge with two games remaining to move level on points with the leaders and that situation continued heading into the final. United’s superior goal difference gave them the advantage. Ferguson’s team took the lead thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty against Wigan, while Andriy Shevchenko put Chelsea ahead against Bolton.

Both matches remained 1-0 going into the final 10 minutes, but Ryan Giggs effectively sealed the title with United’s second goal before Matthew Taylor’s equalizer at Stamford Bridge ensured a two-point lead in the final analysis. Avram Grant and his Chelsea side suffered further misery when they lost the 2008 Champions League final on penalties against United in Moscow 10 days later.

2009/10: Chelsea and Manchester United

• Leaders: Chelsea (83 points)
• Winners: Chelsea (86 points)

Now, with Carlo Ancelotti in charge, Chelsea took revenge. Their one-point lead heading into the final round of matches was largely due to a victory in April at Old Trafford, where a clearly offside goal from Didier Drogba stood in a 2-1 victory. There was no danger like two years earlier, when United comfortably beat Stoke 4-0 at Old Trafford, only for Chelsea to demolish Wigan 8-0. Drogba scored a hat-trick as the Blues denied United a record fourth consecutive title, the feat City are trying to achieve this weekend.

2011/12: Manchester City and Manchester United

• Leaders: Man City (86 points)
• Winners: Man City (89 points)

The Premier League’s most famous final probably should never have reached that stage. An Easter Sunday defeat to a Mikel Arteta goal at Arsenal left City eight points behind their neighbors with six games left. But United faltered in a defeat to Wigan before a crazy 4-4 draw against Everton. The deficit was three points when Vincent Kompany scored City’s only goal in a high-stakes Manchester derby.

That meant Roberto Mancini’s team came out on top on goal difference with two to play, and so it remained on a Sunday etched in sporting folklore. Wayne Rooney scored the first for United at Sunderland, although Pablo Zabaleta’s response for City against QPR meant it still looked like a formality for the leaders at half-time. But the Etihad Stadium was left stunned when Djibril Cisse and Jamie Mackie put the visitors 2-1 up, despite Joey Barton’s red card.

The situation remained that way until added time, when Edin Dzeko headed in a corner kick from David Silva. It was 2-2 when the final whistle sounded at the Stadium of Light. Then Mario Balotelli passed the ball to Sergio Agüero, and you know the rest.

2013/14: Manchester City and Liverpool

• Leaders: Man City (83 points)
• Winners: Manchester City (86 points)

Manuel Pellegrini’s City were playing catch-up in terms of games in hand in what was for a long time a three-horse race also involving Chelsea. Liverpool’s dramatic collapse to a draw at Crystal Palace in the final midweek preceded a 4-0 City win over Aston Villa. It meant they only needed a point against West Ham (City’s opponents this weekend, incidentally) and a 2-0 win made Liverpool’s victory against Newcastle at Anfield academic.

2018/19: Manchester City and Liverpool

• Leaders: Man City (95 points)
• Winners: Manchester City (98 points)

With the greatest respect to Pellegrini and Brendan Rodgers, this was a much higher quality battle between City and Liverpool, perhaps the highest the Premier League has ever seen. Both teams were relentless. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds have only lost once all season, against City at the Etihad Stadium in January. Guardiola’s men won 13 consecutive games but were unable to defeat Liverpool heading into the final matchday.

They lost 1-0 to Brighton before taking a 4-1 victory. Liverpool beat Wolves 2-0 and finished second with 97 points.

2021/22: Manchester City and Liverpool

• Leaders: Man City (90 points)
• Winners: Manchester City (93 points)

A decade after Agüero’s finest hour, City suffered another final-day disaster but still took the trophy. Once again Liverpool surpassed 90 points and was one point behind Guardiola’s brilliant false nine harvest.

The price of another unbreakable battle became clear last Sunday, with Wolves and Aston Villa taking first-half leads at Anfield and Etihad respectively. Pedro Neto’s goal was canceled out by Sadio Mane but City were still behind Steven Gerrard’s Villa and the narrative flourish felt irresistible when former Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho doubled their lead with 20 minutes remaining.

But Ilkay Gundogan came off the bench to spark City’s three-goal madness in five minutes. Rodri equalized before the German midfielder latched onto Kevin De Bruyne’s cross to cause unbridled chaos. Goals from Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson to seal Liverpool’s victory came as Anfield absorbed the bad news.