FOR A LEAGUE that boasts about its unpredictability and drama, let’s be honest — this has been a relatively humdrum Premier League season, almost tediously easy to forecast.
Chelsea champions, the top places occupied by the biggest spenders, only the final relegation spot was decided on the final day on Sunday.
Newcastle and Hull supporters hid behind their sofas and wished their Premier League status was not in peril, but the rest of us would have preferred if there was more at stake.
We’ve been spoiled in recent years. There was Sir Alex Ferguson’s farewell, Steven Gerrard’s slip last season and the ultimate, incredible drama of that finale between Manchester City and QPR in 2012 that cast Sergio Aguero into Premier League legend.
But this is a campaign that has panned out how many expected.
Chelsea won the title on the back of excellent summer spending, dethroning a Manchester City side that lacked the hunger to retain their crown.
Arsenal’s hopes were hit by an injury crisis and some dreadful defending. Louis van Gaal injected some charisma back into Manchester United, but stuttered through a transitional season at times. Liverpool, meanwhile, failed to recover from the sale of Luis Suarez or recreate the magic of the previous campaign.
That is the last nine months in a nutshell. Only Southampton and Leicester City performed above expectations in the whole of the division.
Chelsea fans will not care, of course, but it is a shame we were not treated to anything like the drama of the 2013-14 season, when four teams were still competing for the league as late as April and the final weeks were littered with dramatic moments.
Chelsea’s triumph ultimately stemmed from their brilliant business in the transfer market in the close season. Their work was done early and efficiently, the weaknesses in the squad plugged by the arrivals of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa.
In Eden Hazard, the Blues also boasted the best player in the country by far. The Belgian so often made the difference in turning draws into victories with special moments of genuine, world class quality.
Chelsea were pragmatic and, yes, boring in the last few months of the season, but nobody should forget the irrepressible attacking football with which they blew away all comers before the turn of the year.
They had the best goalkeeper, the best defence, the best attack and the best manager. The standard has been set and the chasing pack know they have a lot of work to do over the summer to catch Jose Mourinho’s men.
The pattern of the season was clear within nine matches — just one quarter of the season — when Chelsea were already six points clear of City, nine ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool, and 10 in front of United.
While Chelsea spent the campaign on cruise control, the teams that should have been their strongest challengers — Arsenal and City — either stalled on the grid or ran out of gas.
Arsene Wenger is confident that the Gunners can challenge for the title next season in light of their form since the turn of the year, but only six months ago, the Frenchman faced chants and banners calling for his head.
(Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal can challenge for the Premier League next season)
Alexis Sanchez’s arrival created considerable excitement in north London and the Chilean did his part with some sensational performances, but he wasn’t backed up by the rest of the team. Some of Arsenal’s defending before Christmas was woeful, while the ‘injury crisis’ excuse has worn thin and has become a perennial occurrence.
City, for their part, were snapping at Chelsea’s heels in early January but then Manuel Pellegrini’s squad looked jaded and shaky defensively, lacked attacking fluency and dropped too many points due to careless defending.
Manchester United achieved their bare minimum requirement of qualifying for the Champions League under new boss Van Gaal after taking several months to come to terms with the Dutchman’s demands.
United have so much attacking quality but it is a sign of just how far they have fallen that they will need to match their enormous £150m spending of last summer to have any chance of competing for the title next term. The signing of Memphis Depay before the end of the season has signalled their intentions early.
Tottenham appear to be in a permanent state of transition. Mauricio Pochettino – replacing Tim Sherwood who himself had stepped in for Andre Villas-Boas during last season — got his feet under the table, but the astonishing rise of Harry Kane captured the attention and imagination in amongst the predictability of the title race.
It is hard to see how Spurs will reach the Holy Grail of the Champions League again, and the same could be said of Liverpool. Without Suarez, sold to Barcelona last summer, the Reds were blunt in attack and Brendan Rodgers has found himself under increasing pressure in the final weeks of the season.
Two Premier League legends, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, are leaving to join Major League Soccer. It will be left the the Americans to debate who is the better player now, but even in their last season in England they both provided some glimpses of their old quality.
Lampard’s goal against Chelsea for Manchester City was one of the most memorable moments of the season and his obvious mixed emotions made it all the more surreal.
Chelsea may have cantered over the finish line as expected, but there were some incredible matches. The Blues’ blood-and-thunder approach in the first half of the campaign led to some results unbecoming of Mourinho, like their 6-3 victory over Everton and 5-3 defeat to Spurs.
But the game of the season has to be Manchester United’s 5-3 loss to Leicester. They had led 3-1 against their newly promoted opponents — Angel Di Maria scored with a remarkable chip — before an England international in the making in Jamie Vardy led the remarkable comeback.
It wasn’t all boring. On one weekend in April, we were treated to three goals that would all have been worthy winners of goal of the season. Bobby Zamora dinked in a beauty with the outside of his foot against West Brom, Jermain Defoe smashed an unstoppable volley from outside the box in the Tyne-Wear derby, and Charlie Adam outdid David Beckham with a stunning strike from 60 yards for Stoke against Chelsea.
Adam’s strike will go down as the goal of the season but, ultimately, it counted for nothing as Chelsea turned the game around to beat Stoke 2-1 at Stamford Bridge that day.
It was one of the final steps towards winning a Premier League trophy that John Terry — who signed a one-year contract extension in March — lifted in west London on Sunday.
And on the evidence of the last 10 months, it will take a formidable challenge from one of Chelsea’s rivals to stop their captain doing the same again at the end of next season.
- By Greg Stobart
Just abysmal. Some of the players look like they know theyre done.
Oles face in the interview said it all. He wasnt pleased.
@Gavin Mitchell: it’s bullshit Anderson was the deserving man of the match should of had two goals from play not penalty’s that’s a true player
@Ings on Fire: agree anderson or rice for me motm.
@Derek Trotter: thanks Derek it’s sad to see some deluded United fans who think pogba is a leader for slotting two pens
@Ings on Fire: pogba was alright today tbf hes no leader but in todays game not many tony adams john terry stevie g or roy keanes about.
@Derek Trotter: u hit the nail on the head there Derek
@Gavin Mitchell: hi Gav,,, so how was the midfield today???? After the win!!! Was it abysmal???
@Devilsavocado: Should probably bring you up to speed. Im not communicating with you ever again.
Have a nice life.
@Ings on Fire: at least he didn’t slip on his arse
@The Upside-down Triangle: at least liverpool don’t play for top 4 like United
@Ings on Fire: ya they love playing second place!!!
@Gavin Mitchell: don’t be like that!!!! Who else is going to play devils advocate to you???!
@The Upside-down Triangle: can u check the premier league table and tell me who is top o wait what’s the answer
@Ings on Fire: irrelvant unless your top after 38 games. Please do every United fan a favour and not comment any of our articles. I’ll support my club and you can support yours. Thank you.
@The Upside-down Triangle: no bother
@Devilsavocado: You were no devils advocate in my eyes.
You were just a slimy iconoclastic nerf herding dingleberry sasquatch who really angered me with your pathetic attempts to humiliate my belief the Utd midfield did what they were supposed to do at an efficient level.
And dont try and play the whole Dr. Wisdom act, because I aint buying it.
Move along.
@Gavin Mitchell: so,, you don’t like being called out on your opinions of the game that “you” think you have a genius level IQ of,, I’ve seen some of your comments to other people over the season that dare to have a different opinion to yours and witnessed the disdain you show anybody (myself included) that what Gav says is gospel and nobody else is allowed to call you or disagree on anything you say because you know it all,, your opinions are constantly contradicting each other (like the other night) but hey Gav,,, you know it all and other people’s views are always wrong,, you are the worst type of football fan because your love for the club is blinding,,, you really should stick to the rugby pal…..;)
Utd woeful again sheer luck and dodgy decisions there best players, Ole Rubin his hands with that contract right now, will b gone before end of next season, if Jose had half his luck he’d still b there
@Dougal67: jose was a negative influence on utd . That squad of players aint good enough to win top prizes hence needs a positive manager. Give ole a chance, i take it ya dont follow utd so? Ole needs a few transfer markets. Take klopp for example hes 3/4 years into his project hasnt won anything but is very close.
@Derek Trotter: “ain’t good enough” to b outplayed west ham watford and the rest at home??? R u serious? Billion pound squad can’t play decent football and dominate games, you’d swear he took over Cardiff!!! He’ll b gone next season, Jose was a bad influence no doubt but Ole has the luck of the gods on his side it won’t last forever
@Dougal67: aw man, you wrote the same comment on the live blog, talk about desperation and clicks from anyone but united fans, write singing original about the game besides writing the same dribble on all United articles.
@Dougal67: your correct they where out played in them games but theres been games which they ve outplayed teams. Can ole not get a transfer window or two ? Yet again ill use klopp as the example, look at the players hes added in his time. Do other managers not deserve the same time ? Or at utd do you have to simply win every game and dominate ?
@Dougal67: by a billion pound squad im guessing you rate the players but not the managers ( ole/jose) ? I personally would suggest players aint good enough and utds board should except money has been badly spent
@Derek Trotter: Agreed Don’t rate players and signings have been horrendous 90m for show pony being the biggest disaster, just think he’s gettin a lot of credit for not v much, and klopp never took over a billion pound squad! Like I said he didn’t take over Cardiff? I could manage that squad to win a few games, without the games he’s won with being outplayed ie 4 /5 of his last prem wins and gettin thru v PSG would he have a contract??
@Alan Brazil: Good u can read well done you..
I had this conversation on here regarding Jose and he’ll flop and be gone before year out and was hammered down again by theredtinted brigade, right then will b again regarding Ole?
@Dougal67: no if he lost the games hes won he wouldnt of got the contract ??? Lost there ! Klopp has spent well is my point maybe ole will to. You keep mentioning cardiff ? Check out fergusons managerial cv, you might be surprised.
@Dougal67: more dribble
@Dougal67: and some team threatening to win a league this way!
Good win, really needed the 3 points. Pogba took the penalties well, stepped up like a true leader. On to Tuesday we go.
@The Upside-down Triangle: pogba is the opposite of a true leader, in his head he’s bigger than the club.
@The Upside-down Triangle: pogba slotted two penalty’s.anderson got a goal wrongly disallowed west ham were all over them worrying for United
@Ings on Fire: He got the Man of the Match #factsdontlie
@The Upside-down Triangle: for hitting two penalty’s most top level players can do that his not a leader if anything his thinks his better than the club
@Ings on Fire: now say that without crying
@Paul Pogba: you did well to stick the two penos Paulie, fair play!
@The Upside-down Triangle: You can comment when we beat Chelsea tomorrow if u want everyone has the right to an opinion. Thank you
@Ings on Fire: “when we beat Chelsea”.. you’ll be under a rock tomorrow, not giving constructive comments on this, not that you do either way
@Ings on Fire: I read the following article on United, I stand corrected, I put you down as another liverpool hack on United articles. “When we beat Chelsea” looking forward to it
@Ich bin brendan: thanks for the apology
God almighty United were poor. Completely god out if jail with that win. Some tough games ahead. Really need to find some form to get top 4
Referees f*cked us again , so much favoritism towards the top 6. Should have won.
@Bob Joe: should have won in play 100 percent. Rice and anderson top drawer today. They were pennos tbf ..
@Bob Joe: West ham denied a goal as well.. Wasn’t offside. Var can’t come quick enough
@Bob Joe: I whole heartedly agree.
@Chonky Racoon: var got it wrong for utd v psg. Lfc v porto ?? Two var decisions wrong there. Spurs v city roses penno ? Barce v utd was correct. Not so sure var is the answer
@Derek Trotter: united PSG was the correct decision going by the new handball laws. Raise your hands and it’s a penalty. Simple as that
@Anthony: i agree by the law its a penno but if you have played the game even at pub level you know its not a penno. Hence all ex pros dis agreeing with the decision.
@Chonky Racoon: And yet if VAR was in this season Liverpool would be mid table ! Gas isn’t it when you think about it
@David Weston: Is that taking into account the VAR decisions from all premier league games up to now?
He should have got a red card but because its utd he got away it.
@irishred: Dry your eyes mate ……