Five reasons Manchester City beat Liverpool to the title

2. New stars carrying the load in attack

In City’s record-breaking 100-point campaign a year ago, superstar Belgian Kevin de Bruyne was at the heart of just about everything the Blues did in attack. This season, however, the midfielder missed large stretches of the season through injury, appearing in just half of the Citizens league games this year.

With his massive absence in the City side, Bernardo Silva established himself as one the Premier League’s best creative players, while Raheem Sterling took yet another step forward under Guardiola’s stewardship, scoring 17 league goals and assisting 10 more as he collected the Football Writers’ Association’s Player of the Year as well as the PFA Young Player of the Year.

Sterling seriously struggled with finishing before Guardiola’s arrival, but the Catalan has developed the former Liverpool winger into one of the league’s premiere talents in front of goal. This season Guardiola began to shift him to the left flank so that Sterling could cut in on his preferred right foot, allowing him to be a more direct goalscorer from a wide position.

Sterling and Silva established themselves as un-droppable pieces at the heart of Guardiola’s attacking machine, with the pair being directly involved in 41 of City’s 95 league goals in 2018-19. Moreover, Guardiola described the Portuguese midfielder as his choice for player of the season after a breakout campaign. The pair has flourished in Guardiola’s attacking system, developing into two of the league’s most dangerous threats from both a creative and goalscoring standpoint either in midfield or out wide.