Last night marked the end of another fantastic Premier League season. Even though it was the final night of football in England’s top league, there was plenty on the line for several clubs, including the biggest prize of all: the Premier League title.
The Premier League season has it all: action, drama, emotion, controversy, upsets, shockers, screamers, bloopers, and more. Last night was no different. We look back at some of the season’s highlights.
Winners
Winners and Manchester City go in the same breath. They have now won four out of the previous five Premier League titles and 6th overall. It makes Man City the team with the second most title in the Premier League era. Also, Guardiola is now the second most successful manager with 4 titles, only behind Sir Alex Ferguson (13 titles).
Leeds barely escaped the relegation this season. They wriggled their way out of the dreadful zone by winning their penultimate game against Brentford last night.
Spurs were another winner this season as they secured their spot in the Champions League. Securing Antonio Conte earlier this season and now potentially for a long haul was another win. Going forward, this is huge for both the club and the players.
Newcastle United are another winner of this season for bagging Eddie Howe and making that impressive run at the back end of the season.
Phil Foden won Premier League Young Player of the Season for the second year in a row. He now has four League titles before turning 22.
For 23 goals and 13 assists, Mohamed Salah earned both the Golden Boot and the Playmaker of the Season. The FWA named him Footballer of the Year. Heung-Min Son won his first Golden Boot in the league with 23 goals (plus 7 assists), out of which none were penalties. He is the first Asian player to accomplish this feat. Kevin De Bruyne won the Premier League Player of the year. He had 15 goals and 8 assists to help his team win the title.
Losers
Although this is harsh, Liverpool did end up on the losing side. Having said that, they gave the defending champions a run for their money who at one point looked like running away with it. In the end, they miss out merely by a single point. Villa gave the Reds a glimmer of hope when they were 2-0 up, but that lead turn into a deficit when City found the back of the net thrice in 5 minutes. For the season Liverpool had, they would have won the league 24 out of 30 seasons, but not this time.
Heung-Min Son and Ronaldo did not get a gong for the Premier League Player of the year nominations. So, that was surprising. But, it’s the league’s loss, not theirs.
Arsenal once were the invincibles, now they are everything but. They were cruising along on their way to punch their Champions League tickets. However, the Gunners found ways to shred that ticket and give Spurs a sniff, which they gleefully accepted. Speaking of the Champions League, courtesy the sixth spot on the league table, Manchester United will be playing Europa League next season. They failed to manage more than 60 points (58 exactly) for the first time in the Premier League. Nothing went their way this season.
Burnley, Watford, and Norwich got relegated this season. Loss on the final night cost the Clarets a spot in the Premier League next season. They also parted ways with Sean Dyche, which was an immense blow in itself. So, things went from bad to worse for Burnley.
Records
Salah won the Golden Boot for the third time in five seasons at the Merseyside. He now equals Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry, and Harry Kane for the feat. He is also only the second player ever to win both Golden Boot and Playmaker in the same season after Kane last season.
In the 380 matches played this season, there were 1071 goals (2.82 on average). Man City scored 99 on their own (9.24%). Liverpool were second on the charts with 94 goals (8.78%).
The Brazilian compatriots – Alisson and Ederson – shared the Golden Glove for registering 20 clean sheets each. While Virgil van Dijk had the most clean sheets for any player (21), David de Gea played the most minutes this season (3420 minutes).
73,564 for Manchester United vs. Chelsea at the Old Trafford on 28 April 2022, was the highest attendance for the season. The match ended in a 1-1 tie.
Signing (off)
Dejan Kulusevski, Luis Diaz and Cristiano Ronaldo were arguably the signings of the season. Kulusevski and Diaz both arrived in January and fit like gloves in the system they played and had an instant impact. They were crucial for both teams this season and are likely to be so in upcoming seasons. While Manchester United had a dismal season, Cristiano held his own with 18 goals and 3 assists.
Coutinho also had his moments with Aston Villa and he signed a four-year contract with the Villans. City also added another enormous bow in their quiver announcing Haaland’s signing.
This season of Premier League football was exhilarating as always and we expect nothing less next year.
