While the sight of Pep Guardiola and his team holding aloft the Premier League trophy is becoming increasingly familiar, Manchester City have managed to achieve something particularly rare this season.
They have now won the top-flight title three times in a row – something only four clubs have ever managed in English football. No side has ever won four in succession.
For Guardiola it’s a hat-trick of ‘three-peats’, having also achieved the feat in Spain as manager of Barcelona (2008-11) and in Germany with Bayern Munich (2013-16).
But who’s done it before in England?
Huddersfield Town (1924/25/26)
In 1926, Huddersfield Town etched themselves into history as the first English club to win the First Division title on three consecutive occasions.
They beat Cardiff by a ridiculously narrow goal difference margin of 0.024 to win their first in 1924 under Herbert Chapman, who would also guide the Terriers to a second title, while the third was won under Cecil Potter.
Huddersfield would go on to be runners-up in the next two seasons.
Coincidentally, the team who finished second when Huddersfield completed the ‘three-peat’ were… the Gunners.
Arsenal (1933/34/35)
They may have been pipped to the post this season, but the ‘three-peat’ is something Arsenal have already managed themselves.
Remarkably, Chapman also played a pivotal role in the Gunners’ three consecutive First Division triumphs from 1933 to 1935.
He was manager when they won the first of their three titles in 1932-33, but Chapman – now considered an Arsenal legend – died midway through the following campaign with pneumonia.
The innovative boss, who was also responsible for the introduction of floodlights and numbered shirts, was succeeded by Joe Shaw for the remainder of the season, and the caretaker boss saw out another league success.
George Allison would be the man who guided the Gunners to their third consecutive title the following year, as Ted Drake scored a club record 42 goals from 41 league matches.
Liverpool (1982/83/84)
Bob Paisley guided the Reds to the first of their three successive league triumphs, with Ian Rush scoring 30 goals in all competitions. Liverpool finished four points clear of Ipswich in the First Division, also defeating Tottenham in the League Cup final 3-1.
Following a Charity Shield win to start off the season, Liverpool retained both the League Cup and First Division title in the 1982-83 campaign. Paisley’s side finished 11 points clear of Watford in the league, beating Manchester United 2-1 in the League Cup final along the way, as Rush bettered his goal tally from the previous season with 31 in all competitions.
Joe Fagan succeeded the retiring Paisley at the end of that season and became the first English manager to win three major trophies in his first campaign.
Rush scored 47 times as a third successive league title and a fourth consecutive League Cup preceded another Reds’ European Cup triumph.
Manchester United (1999/00/01)
Manchester United are the only club to have achieved a ‘three-peat’ twice, with eight years separating the two.
United’s Treble season was the catalyst for their first, with the Reds tasting success in the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in 1998-99.
The devastating strikeforce of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke produced 53 goals in all competitions in 1998-99, while the likes of Roy Keane and Steve Bruce also played pivotal roles as Sir Alex Ferguson’s team edged Arsenal by one point to win the Premier League.
United followed up their league triumph by beating Newcastle 2-0 in the FA Cup final and Bayern Munich famously in the Champions League final.
The Red Devils controversially took no part in the FA Cup during the following campaign because of their Fifa Club World Cup commitments, but did retain their Premier League title, finishing 18 points ahead of the Gunners.
Another campaign without knockout cup success would follow, but United side would go on to become only the fourth club to retain the top-flight title twice.
Manchester United – again! (2007/08/09)
Manchester United battled with Chelsea for the Premier League trophy throughout the 2006-07 campaign, eventually winning it by a six-point margin.
Starting 2007-08 with a Community Shield victory over Chelsea, the Red Devils retained the Premier League title by edging out the Blues for a second successive season.
Chelsea were again United’s foes in the all-English Champions League final in Moscow, which Ferguson’s side won on penalties.
Manchester United completed their second ‘three-peat’ the following season, lifting the Community Shield, Fifa Club World Cup and League Cup before holding off Liverpool in the Premier League title race.
