Premier League Season Review Part One
So this is a general overview of how each team's PL season generally went. I'm going to do this is two parts since it's very long, but this is the top ten.
1. Chelsea
Chelsea were the worthy title winners, with a terrific run before Christmas, winning all 13 games in October, November and December. Despite a stuttering start to 2017, they were hardly playing poorly and managed to get deservedly over the line with 16 points from six games in February and March, followed by six straight wins to get over the line and finish the campaign with a flourish. The first team to win 30 games in a season and the only team to come out with a higher points tally in PL history is Chelsea themselves.
Player of the Season: Eden Hazard - 16 goals and the lynchpin to Chelsea's attack, scoring at crucial times in crucial games.
Best Result of the Season: Chelsea 4-0 Man United. Just an absolute blitzkrieg.
Worst Result of the Season: Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea. Shambles that day, but it turned their season.
Overall Score: 9/10
2. Spurs
It's easy to mock Spurs for not being able to chase down Chelsea, but the truth is that Pochettino's men had a fantastic season. They scored the most goals, conceded the least, improved drastically on last year and there have been plenty of seasons where 86 points would be enough to win the league. Winning 12 of their last 13 games, losing just twice in 2017, Spurs really ran Chelsea right to the end, despite most pundits assuming they'd drop off. Just dropped too many points in October and left themselves too much to do overall.
Player of the Season: Harry Kane - 29 goals in 30 games is an insane amount. The best striker in the league and the best English striker since Gary Lineker.
Best Result of the Season: Spurs 7-1 Hull. Plenty to choose from, but this is hard to look past.
Worst Result of the Season: Liverpool 2-0 Spurs. Comprehensively outplayed from first kick to last.
Overall Score: 8/10
3. Man City
City are a tough one to gauge. The way they started the season, the hype around Guardiola and the talent at their disposal means that the fact they were never really in the title race is a huge disappointment, but they played some lovely football and were the best of the rest. Ultimately they just couldn't keep their momentum up. They lost three games in December, then hit a rut in their big games in March/April, failing to win four in a row. 12 points better off than last season represents progress, but they're still a solid 10/15 points off where they need to be. Rocky start for Guardiola.
Player of the Season: Kevin De Bruyne - There are few standout individuals from City's team, but 18 assists and nearly 100 key passes is a pretty unreal creative performance from a central midfielder.
Best Result of the Season: Man City 5-0 Palace. With very few standout performances against the top sides, this one was a one-sided obliteration.
Worst Result of the Season: Everton 4-0 Man City. Easily the low-point of Pep's season. His team were utterly destroyed.
Overall Score: 6/10
4. Liverpool
Liverpool had a flying 2016, and were looking very hot at the turn of the year. And despite a wretched couple of months at the start of 2017, as they dropped plenty of sloppy points, they roared back to get over the line and secure the top four spot that would have been their target at the start of the season, despite spending comfortably less money than Arsenal, Man United, Man City or Chelsea. A season that didn't quite fulfill its early promise, but remains a huge step in the right direction for Klopp's Reds. On their day, they can beat anyone in this league, and just about did. Almost nobody had them down to finish this high or with this many points.
Player of the Season: Phillipe Coutinho - 13 goals, 7 assists and played some truly awesome football, all despite missing about two months of the campaign.
Best Result of the Season: Liverpool 6-1 Watford. Despite some top performances against the big clubs, this one was a proper demolition job to send the Reds top of the table.
Worst Result of the Season: Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool. Plenty to choose from, but the way this one went down is just plain shambolic.
Overall Score: 8/10
5. Arsenal
More than slightly unlucky to finish outside the top four with 75 points, but ultimately the final position is what you're judged on, ignoring the fact that they've only picked up more than 75 points twice in the last eleven years. Still, there's no denying Arsenal have been patchy for long swathes of 2017, with some truly awful results and a horrendous away form. 7 wins out of 8 at the end almost papered over the cracks, but not quite. Europa League football for the first time this century.
Player of the Season: Alexis Sanchez - 24 goals, 10 assists. Absolutely insane season and talent. Carried Arsenal this year.
Best Result of the Season: Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea. An early dismantling of their big rivals that convinced us things might be different this year.
Worst Result of the Season: Palace 3-0 Arsenal. Conceding three to Liverpool, West Brom and Chelsea was all terrible, but this disgustingly poor performance takes the cake.
Overall Score: 5/10
6. Man United
Whilst Man United fans could justifiably argue that their cup exploits detract from their league position, that doesn't change the fact that a club who spent over £150m in the summer and were tipped as 2nd favourites for the title, with a manager whose goal was to win the title, not only never challenged for the title, but were barely in the race for top four, spending a record amount of time in 6th place and finishing there. An awful home record for draws, a really poor league campaign and won less than half of their games in 2017. They ended up nearly 25 points off their primary target.
Player of the Season: Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Mostly by default, but scoring 17 goals is still no mean feat, and overall it's a good season for Zlatan.
Best Result of the Season: Man United 2-0 Chelsea. A season of few league highs, but beating table-topping Chelsea a few weeks ago represents a serious coup for a team that only won two games against the top seven.
Worst Result of the Season: Chelsea 4-0 Man United. The Mou giveth and the Mou taketh away. A result that showed just how far Man United were from competing at the top end..
Overall Score: 4/10
7. Everton
Considering how poor Everton's last couple of seasons were under Martinez, for Koeman to instantly launch a serious assault on the top six is an achievement. Yes they fell away at the end, but to produce a sustained challenge to what has been the strongest top six in years represents pretty much where Everton can reasonably expect to be. Finished 15 points clear of the mid-table battle that they fell into last year. But their results against the top sides demonstrate that they simply aren't on that level yet.
Player of the Season: Romelu Lukaku - Goal machine. 25 goals is a huge achievement and he was the standout in a team with few standout performers.
Best Result of the Season: Everton 4-0 Man City. A huge achievement that saw Everton's young players announce themselves on the big stage with a terrific performance.
Worst Result of the Season: Chelsea 5-0 Everton. Yikes. Enough said.
Overall Score: 7/10
8. Southampton
Despite a good cup campaign, Southampton are sadly one of a handful of mid-table sides to go backwards this season under Claude Puel. They're at least ten points down on each of the last three years, 17 down on last campaign, and although they've still finished 8th, they were nowhere near the top teams. Inconsistency has blighted their entire campaign, but six defeats in seven games around the turn of the year are where their season really went off the rails and they struggled to get it back on track after that. Six league wins in 2017 is awful for a club of their increasing stature.
Player of the Season: Virgil Van Dijk - The fact he only played 21 games says it all. Brilliant defender who held Saints together.
Best Result of the Season: Saints 3-0 West Ham. No wins against the top six, so this big early win against West Ham is about as good as it gets. A 4-0 win over Sunderland ran this close.
Worst Result of the Season: Palace 3-0 Saints. Losing 3-0 to a Palace side that had lost six on the bounce. Christ.
Overall Score: 5/10
9. Bournemouth
For Bournemouth to finish in the top ten of the Premier League at only the second time of asking (ever), is absolutely phenomenal. Whilst 46 points is hardly a huge points total, it still represents a big step up for Bournemouth, especially given that even staying in the Premier League at the second time of asking would be considered an achievement, let alone finishing 12 points and nine places above the drop zone. Just two defeats in their final 12 games, and 11 points from their final five shows a strong finish which can hopefully keep their momentum going into the next campaign.
Player of the Season: Josh King - 16 goals for the versatile forward is better than most Premier League strikers; despite not playing as a striker very often.
Best Result of the Season: Bournemouth 6-1 Hull. Almost as good as Spurs.
Worst Result of the Season: Everton 6-3 Bournemouth. Bournemouth are the only team to both score and concede six goals in a game this season.
Overall Score: 8/10
10. West Brom
West Brom had a phenomenal 2/3s of the season, and were on course for a 55 point season when they hit the 40 point mark with 12 games to go, calling many to name Tony Pulis manager of the year. A complete collapse since then, with just five more points accumulated is extremely disappointing, and highlights the limited nature of West Brom's ambition, but nevertheless it remains a good season for the Baggies as they make the top ten with two points more than last year.
Player of the Season: Gareth McAuley - Any defender who scores vital goals is a big boost to the team, but he was also a huge part of West Brom's solid defensive performances this campaign.
Best Result of the Season: West Brom 3-1 Arsenal. Destroying the Gunners was their most high profile win, but trouncing Burnley 4-0 ran it close.
Worst Result of the Season: Man City 4-0 West Brom. Very few actively terrible results, but getting beaten 4-0 at home, even to Man City is a pretty poor showing.
Overall Score: 7/10
The Hard and Fast Section
- Exeter v Wasps after two sensational semi-finals.
- Rugby Players unanimously reject a longer season.
- England's Women announce their Cricket World Cup squad.
- Alonso on the second row for Indy 500.
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