Manchester City's title hopes extinguished with draw at Bournemouth

BOURNEMOUTH, England, May 19 : Manchester City's Premier League title dreams were snuffed out on England's south coast on Tuesday with a heartbreaking 1-1 draw at Bournemouth that handed Arsenal an unassailable lead at the top, and their first league trophy after a 22-year wait.

Needing victory to keep alive the race ahead of Sunday's season finale, City were undone by Eli Junior Kroupi's brilliant first-half strike at Vitality Stadium, extinguishing City's hopes of a seventh league title for Pep Guardiola in what is expected to be his final season after a glittering decade as manager.

"The players gave everything, absolutely all of the season fighting through difficult, difficult, difficult circumstances until the end," Guardiola told Sky Sports.

"We were close to arrive in the last moment but on behalf of all Manchester City and my team, we congratulate Arsenal and Mikel (Arteta) for this Premier League. They deserve it."

The draw left City on 78 points, four behind Arsenal. Bournemouth - unbeaten in 17 league games and sixth on 56 points - secured European qualification for the first time.

Kroupi fired Bournemouth in front in the 39th minute to break the deadlock in a tight game when Adrien Truffert was played through down the left. Truffert picked out the 19-year-old Frenchman, who took a touch before unleashing a brilliant curving shot just inside the far post past Gianluigi Donnarumma, who was rooted to the spot.

City's Erling Haaland pulled back a goal deep in injury time when Rodri's shot bounced off the post and dropped to the Norwegian.

Haaland swiftly grabbed the ball out of the back of the net, desperate for a second goal, but the final whistle sounded seconds later to seal City's fate.

City's Antoine Semenyo had