Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 1 – Arsenal champions as Kroupi ends Guardiola’s hopes of final title

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Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 1 – Arsenal champions as Kroupi ends Guardiola’s hopes of final title

Guardiola watches his team's 2025-26 title push end Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

By Sam Lee and Thom Harris

May 20, 2026 Updated 5:17 am GMT+7

Arsenal have been crowned Premier League champions after Bournemouth ended Manchester City’s challenge and denied Pep Guardiola the chance of a final title as Manchester City manager.

Guardiola, who The Athletic and other organisations reported on Monday is to leave the club at the end of the season, said the news had “zero” effect on his side’s preparations when he spoke briefly before tonight’s game to Sky Sports, who did not ask if he was departing.

City had to win to take the race to the final day and in a lively start, their Bournemouth old boy Antoine Semenyo finished a fine move only to be ruled offside. The flag was also up when Evanilson met a low cross seven yards out for the hosts but managed to knock it over the bar.

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Bournemouth took the lead on 39 minutes when teenager Eli Junior Kroupi curled a shot past a rooted Gianluigi Donnarumma from just inside the box. City responded strongly after the break and Djordje Petrovic saved Nico O’Reilly’s shot from close range. David Brooks almost added a second for Bournemouth when he hit a post and though Erling Haaland crashed in a stoppage-time equaliser, the 1-1 draw was not enough.

That result means Arsenal are champions for the first time in 22 years.

Bournemouth are now three points behind fifth-placed Liverpool and a guaranteed place in next season’s Champions League heading into the final day of the season on Sunday, where they visit Nottingham Forest while Brentford go to Anfield.

The Athletic ’s Sam Lee and Thom Harris break down the key moments.

Why did City’s title challenge fail?

This always looked like a tough game, even before Monday’s big news broke. Bournemouth were on a long unbeaten run dating back to early January that may have contained a lot of draws, but another one would have been enough for them to clinch European football, and ruin City’s title hopes once and for all.

City needed nothing but a win, but came here looking flat even after they won the FA Cup final on Saturday. Bournemouth, by contrast, had had 10 days to prepare. City would have had a decent amount of hope that they could win the title on the final day if they had got the job done here, but that was always a big if.

Ultimately, their title challenge fell apart not just because of this result, but due to the flaws in the team throughout the season that cost them points in too many games.

City fans may argue about which match was the most disappointing — was it the back-to-back home draws against Chelsea and Brighton at the start of January when they’d been leading 1-0 in both? The 2-2 draw at home to Nottingham Forest in March, where they were in front twice? The 2-2 at Tottenham, having been two up at half-time? The 1-1 at West Ham, in which they also scored first? The 3-3 at Everton?

The truth is that when there is such a list, you cannot really expect to win the league, and that is without mentioning desperately poor defeats at home to a Spurs side who could yet end the season relegated in August and away to a Manchester United side who’d just fired their manager in January.

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Due to Arsenal’s relative lack of quality compared to previous title winners, there was always a chance for City to get themselves back to the top, and they certainly pushed, but ultimately they did not quite have enough over the course of the whole season.

Sam Lee

How did Guardiola react after news of his departure?

There was no big farewell tonight, no big wave to the away end. At the final whistle, Guardiola berated the fourth official for not extending stoppage time to reflect the seconds Bournemouth wasted during the initial six additional minutes, then he made his way around the home side’s players to shake their hands, before acknowledging his own men as they stood in front of the travelling support.

Guardiola finally faced them too, applauded, turned on his heels and walked to the tunnel, slapping his hands together in frustration a few times as he went. He is leaving City this summer, that cat is out of the bag now, but you would not know it from looking at him.

A ‘Pep Stay’ sign was held up in the away end at Bournemouth Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images

The away end sporadically sang, ‘One more year, one more year Guardiola’, and one fan waved a hastily thrown-together sign that read, ‘Stay Pep’, but this was no grand goodbye, with no great outpouring of emotion.

With the title now gone, City and Guardiola can surely focus on doing things properly at the season’s final game against visitors Aston Villa on Sunday.

Did Kroupi expose City’s fatal flaw?

It is telling that Bournemouth’s goal — Eli Junior Kroupi’s clinical curled finish that ultimately took the title away from City — stemmed from the exact kind of move that Guardiola’s side have struggled to contain across the past two years.

As the Premier League has tended towards man-to-man pressing and breathless athleticism in midfield, Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth have stamped their authority over chaotic, end-to-end games with conviction in their fast attacks.

It was no different on Tuesday evening, as Bournemouth set off the moment Alex Scott received a pass in midfield. He swivelled, to see four team-mates steaming towards the City goal, slipping through the relentless Adrien Truffert, who, at full-tilt, had the presence of mind to pull the ball back.

Kroupi celebrates his goal in spectacular style Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images

Kroupi’s finish was ruthless, capping off the type of pitch-sweeping move that has frequently scythed through City in an era of the Premier League in which they have failed to exact the same control with possession at their feet.

If this is to be his final Premier League road trip, Guardiola may be glad to see the back of this kind of frenetic, unpredictable game.

Thom Harris

How did Guardiola try to change it?

Pep Guardiola doesn’t usually do triple substitutions. If anything, the City manager has made a reputation over his 10 years in England as someone who will leave his team be when in a search for rhythm, rather than chop and change, hoping for a spark.

But this wasn’t any old game, and with City desperate for a goal to cling on in the title race with 30 minutes to play, Guardiola turned to his bench to throw on Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki and Savinho together in one of the most radical switch-ups of his City career.

It was a risk. Particularly given Bournemouth’s physicality in midfield, a trio of Cherki, Foden and Rodri in the centre of the pitch left City light. It inspired an immediate surge from the home side, who dominated in the 10 minutes that followed, hitting the post through Rayan.

Guardiola tried to shake his team up Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

City gradually wrestled back control — until a flurry in the last five minutes where Bournemouth could easily have added a second — but for all Savinho shimmied and darted out wide, and as silky as Cherki looked on the ball, the final pass was just missing on an evening when the season slipped away.

How did Iraola get Bournemouth into Europe?

Before Iraola’s summer 2023 appointment, Bournemouth had never beaten City. They came within moments of recording their second triumph over Guardiola’s side tonight, but at least they equalled their record Premier League points tally, and more importantly guaranteed themselves European football next season for the first time.

It is an astounding achievement for a football club who were flip-flopping between the first and second tiers at the start of the decade. But watching Iraola’s team here — strong in the tackle, adventurous in attack and, as always, relentlessly energetic — it is no less than they deserve.

There is a strange undertone. This was Iraola’s final game at the Vitality Stadium after he confirmed his exit from the club back in April, while rock-solid centre-back Marcos Senesi also played his last game for Bournemouth in front of the home fans after four years.

But this was a night to remember for a club whose incredible adventure will continue next season, even without the inspirational Iraola at the helm.

What did Guardiola say?

Speaking to BBC Sport, the Manchester City manager said: “Second half, when we made the substitutes, the impact was not what we needed but (Bournemouth had) 12 days to prepare for that game against (our) three.

“We gave everything — a successful season, so I am really pleased. We fought against things we cannot control. At the end, we tried, tried and tried again. Really pleased with how we behaved. We gave everything and, of course, congratulate Arsenal, Mikel, the backroom staff and the players.

“Fatigue was a big part today and took a big part of the game.”

Asked about his future, Guardiola added: “Allow me to talk with my chairman. I have one more year (on my) contract. When I finish the season, every time we talk about it. I never talk with anyone. First of all, I talk with my chairman and my bosses. From my experience, when the boss or manager it’s anticipating he is leaving, the players don’t follow you any more. You have to lead.”

What next for City?

Sunday, May 24: Aston Villa (Home), Premier League, 4pm UK, 11am ET

Sam Lee | Manchester City Correspondent

Tagged To: Premier League Soccer Arsenal Manchester City Bournemouth

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