It happens a lot.

Manchester City won their second straight Premier League trophy on Sunday, finishing one point ahead of Liverpool in a thrilling title race and giving Guardiola eight league championships over 10 years in three countries.

"We're so, so tired, but at the same time winning the title gives you a lot of energy and is so addictive," Guardiola said after the clinching 4-1 victory over Brighton.

Winning has become routine for City in a way it never was before the flow of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth began in 2008.

When Sheikh Mansour bought City, their only English championships in a history stretching back to 1880 were won in 1937 and 1968.

Now the club that was trampled over for so many years by Manchester United - and had to escape the third tier 20 years ago this month - is the force of English football with four titles in eight seasons. City finished first in 2012 under Roberto Mancini and in 2014 led by Manuel Pellegrini, then under Guardiola became the first repeat champion in a decade since United.

Guardiola, who earned six league titles as a defensive midfielder for Barcelona in the 1990s, had hat-tricks of league titles as coach at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

"This is the toughest one," Guardiola said, "especially (because) of the rival we had to face all season."

City trailed Liverpool by seven points in late December but won its final 14 games after a January 29 defeat at Newcastle and finished with 98 points, the second-highest total in English history behind its 100 last year.

Liverpool, chasing its first championship in 29 years, finished with the highest total for a non-champion.

"Liverpool was exceptional, I don't mean to rub it in, it is what it is, they didn't deserve to lose," said 33-year-old City captain Vincent Kompany, who helped maintain the lead last week when his long-range goal in the second half provided a 1-0 win over Leicester.

"It makes me so much more happy that we played such a great team all season."

Australian Associated Press