Well after 380 matches, 975 goals, 13.7 million in attendances, and 6 managerial changes the final whistle has blown on the Premier League Season.
Chelsea ran away with it in all reality only losing 3 matches all season as Jose Mourinho picked up his 3rd league title. Money was spent wisely with the additions of Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona (19 assists) and Diego Costa from Athletico (20 goals) being key, as the Blues led the table from day 1, and never relented.
Reigning champions Manchester City got off to a slow start, and we always playing catchup. They looked superb at times, like when they only lost once in 17 games, but very mediocre at others as was the case when they lost 4 out of 6 games in March/April, before finishing the season with 6 straight victories. The biggest criticism labelled at them seemed to be the choice of manager Manuel Pellegrini signings, with most struggling to make an impact.
The other Champions League places were taken by Arsenal and Manchester United. Arsenal paid the price for a start that included 2 wins in the opening 8 matches, although they did have a mid season spell that included 11 wins in 12 matches. Manchester United on the other hand were just relieved to be back in the Champions League after the previous seasons disaster that saw them fail to qualify for an European competition. Again it was another season that was a slow starter, with United finding themselves 9th in the table in November after a defeat to their City rivals, before turning it around with only 2 defeats in 22.
The two Europa League spots went to Liverpool and Tottenham, although both will consider their season a disappointment, as they had a collective time in the top 4 of just 3 weeks.
The surprise package of the season must surely go to Southampton. Despite a mass exodus in the summer that included 5 first teamer players plus the manager, Dutchman Ronald Koeman arrived, and with some shrewd signings kept the Saints in the top 4 until February when a loss of form saw them eventually slip to 7th.
Swansea and Stoke can both be again very pleased with their seasons that saw them finish in 8th and 9th respectively, and rounding out the top 10 was Crystal Palace. Now nobody could have foreseen the turnaround that occurred with the arrival of manager Alan Pardew from Newcastle when replacing Neil Warnock. Having won just 3 of their first 20 games they tasted victory 10 times in their remaining 18 fixtures, that saw them safe by early April.
11th and 12th place went to Everton and West Ham. Everton started poorly and West Ham started well, before a revival by the Toffies, and a slump by the Hammers saw them finish dead level, and only separated by 1 goal difference. They were followed by West Brom, whom never threatened the top half of the table, but never really looked like going down, although after a run of 7 losses in 9 saw Alan Irvine depart and Tony Pulis take over.
14th place was Leicester, which for some would be nothing to write home about, however for a team that fell to the bottom of the table at the end of November, and stayed there until the middle of April it is quite remarkable. In fact there were 7 points from safety at the start of April, but form in their last 9 games that could only be bettered by Chelsea saw them safe with a game to spare, proved they were right to stick by their manager Nigel Pearson.
The final 3 teams that all survived all changed their manager in 2015. Newcastle were pretty safe in the top half of the table when Alan Pardew left and coach John Carver took over, however a dreadful run of results saw them in danger of being relegated out of the division, until a last day victory saw them survive and finish 15th. With just 9 games to go Sunderland felt the time was right to replace Gus Poyet at the helm in what was seen as a huge risk. In stepped the experienced Dutchman Dick Advocaat, and also kept them up with one game to go. Aston Villa eventually finished just 1 place and 3 points ahead of the drop zone. They started the season well, and found themselves 3rd after 5 games, but by the time Tim Sherwood replaced Paul Lambert two thirds of the way through the season they were sitting second bottom. Sherwood found some form, and they just did enough to stumble across the line.
In the dreaded relegation zone whilst every other management change that happened in the season had a positive effect Chris Ramsey replacing Harry Redknapp did little to help a side that almost looked doomed from day one, and who’s fate was sealed with a few games to go. Burnley were everyone’s first tip to go down before a ball was kicked, and whilst they rarely made it out of the bottom 3 for most of the season both the club and manager Sean Dyche earned praise throughout the season, and out of all the teams going down looked to be in the situation to bounce back. Hull also joined the other two teams in dropping into The Championship. The Tigers were never flying high, but also weren’t really in real danger until dropping into the bottom 3 with just 3 games to go, and despite a draw with Man United on the final day of the season were relegated out of the Premiership for the second time in 5 seasons.