Yahoo News Jack Grealish thanks Aston Villa for Man City 'favour'
Jack Grealish has expressed his gratitude to Aston Villa for the role they inadvertently played in the Premier League title race when beating Arsenal last month.
Former Villan Grealish has just got his hands on another English top-flight trophy - his third in succession - when Manchester City were crowned champions on Sunday's final day of the season. They were taken down to the wire, but Pep Guardiola's side saw off the challenge of Arsenal by a two-point margin.
In hindsight it is easy to analyse where the league was lost, and the most recent time the Gunners dropped points was when late strikes from Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins saw Villa come away from North London with a 2-0 win.
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"It's been a crazy season, to be fair. There was three teams in it for most of the season then the last month or so it was just Arsenal like it was last season," Grealish stated in review on talkSPORT, then with a wry smile on his face added: "Luckily Aston Villa done us a favour when they went to The Emirates and since then it was in our hands really."
Of course doing the eventual league champions a service was not at the forefront of Unai Emery's mind when masterminding that result. Getting one over on the club that sacked him might have felt good, and so too did Villa's Champions League qualification that came as a result a month later.
It just so happened the result came to the aid of the club's £100m record sale, who on his latest success added: "Listen, as soon as I left Villa which is one of the toughest decisions I ever had to make, I wanted to win stuff. I come here and fortunately we've won a lot.
"The Premier League was the main one I wanted to win, being from England and growing up here, it was just the one trophy I wanted to win. To win three-in-a-row is just unbelievable.
"I'll be honest when I signed here I didn't think I was gonna win three-in-a-row, but it has been unbelievable. I don't take any of it for granted and hopefully there is more to come."
Grealish was finally asked by host and former Villa team-mate Gabriel Agbonlahor about the competitiveness of the top-flight next year, and whether his team are favourites for a fifth title on the trot.
"We probably are [favourites to win the league in 2025] at the moment, especially with the players that we have and the main thing - the manager. But listen, there are so many top teams in my opinion. It'll be difficult but fingers crossed."
