Manchester City won their fifth Premier League title and their third in four years after recovering from a faulty start. The season began in September, just 48 days after the 2019/20 campaign had ended. Due to Covid-19 safety guidelines, practically all the matches were played in empty stadiums.
Bright starts for Leicester, Everton and Aston Villa
Leicester, Everton and Aston Villa made bright starts to the season, and occupied three of the top-four spots going into the first international break. Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton led the way with 4 wins, the form of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and new signing James Rodriguez inspiring them. Their inconsistent home form plagued what promised to be a successful season, and they ended up finishing 10th.
Leicester were determined to right the wrongs of last season and began as they meant to go on. A 5-2 win at Man City a huge statement of intent from the Foxes. They enjoyed another successful campaign, winning the FA Cup for the first time in their history. However, they missed out on Champion’s League yet again, after losing their final two games to Chelsea and Spurs.
After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Aston Villa enjoyed a tremendous season. They won their first four games, demolishing Champions Liverpool 7-2. An injury to talismanic captain Jack Grealish hindered their form, and they finished in a still respectable 11th position.
Injuries derail Champions’ title defense
In that shock 7-2 defeat at Aston Villa, Liverpool set the record of being the first ever defending champions to concede 7 goals in a single game. From thereon, injuries to key first-team players left Liverpool bereft of options and trimmed their squad.
Liverpool recovered from those setbacks and were top after a handsome 7-0 away win at Crystal Palace in December. They couldn’t keep up that form in 2021 and in January, Burnley ended their 68-match unbeaten home run. That started a run of six consecutive home defeats, which included a 4-1 loss to Man City and a 2-0 loss to arch rivals Everton.
Jurgen Klopp’s men regrouped however, and put together a run of five straight wins at the end of the season to finish third. In one of those wins, goalkeeper Alisson scored a vital injury time winner.
Ruthless Man City turn on the style
Man City were as low as eighth at Christmas after defeat to Spurs and draws against Man United and West Brom. They then went on a 15-match winning streak. That, coupled with their main rivals faultering, propelled them to the top with a 14 point cushion over second-placed Man United.
The Red Devils themselves had recovered from a dreadful start that saw them lose 6-1 at home to Tottenham. The form of Bruno Fernandes was key as they went the entire campaign unbeaten away from home to finish second. Man United were the team to end City’s winning streak, with a 2-0 win at Etihad.
However, that was just delaying the inevitable as Pep Guardiola’s men, inspired by the form of Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and summer signing Ruben Dias, bounced back. They suffered three more defeats to Leeds, Chelsea and Brighton, but were crowned Champions with three games to go when Man United lost 2-1 at home to Leicester.
Top-Four race goes to the wire
Heading in to the weekend, three clubs were fighting for two top-four places. Chelsea, Liverpool and Leicester battled it out on the final day. After a roller-coaster final day, it was Liverpool and Chelsea who secured third and fourth, the latter doing so despite losing to Aston Villa. Leicester, who spent a season-high 242 days in the top-four, missed out again after losing 4-2 at home to Tottenham.
Spurs were locked in a title battle with Liverpool in the early months. They started the season brightly which included an impressive 6-1 win at Old Trafford. But their formed tailed off dramatically, and Jose Mourinho was sacked in April. He left the club well outside the top-four, and replacement Ryan Mason could only guide them to the UEFA Conference League. 29-year old Ryan Mason also became the youngest manager in Premier League history. Their dip in form didn’t effect Harry Kane however, who would go on to win the Golden Boot as well as the Playmaker award.
West Ham were the shock challengers for fourth, thanks to the inspired form of January loan signing Jesse Lingard. But a crucial defeat to rivals Chelsea amidst a run of bad form meant David Moyes had to settle for sixth.
Chelsea had made a promising start after spending heavily in the transfer market. Their aim was to build on an impressive fourth-placed finish in Frank Lampard’s first season in-charage. However, Lampard was sacked in January following a run of two wins in eight games. Under replacement Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea bounced back into life and finished fourth, won the Champion’s League and reached the FA Cup final.
Promoted teams, relegation battle and more
Leeds United made an emotional return to the Premier League after 16 years. They found themselves quickly at home though, with impressive performances earning them a well-earned ninth placed finish. Their win and points tally the best of any promoted team since Ipswich Town in 2000/01.
They were joined by Fulham and West Brom, returning after a one-year and two-year absence. Unlike Leeds, they were unable to keep up with the pace of the league. They along with Sheffield United occupied the bottom three since matchweek 12.
Despite a rally by Fulham, they suffered a loss of form at the worst possible time. Sheffield United picked up an impressive 2-1 win at Old Trafford, but couldn’t recover from the second-season syndrome. West Brom replaced Slaven Bilic with Sam Allardyce, but even he couldn’t save the Baggies from an immediate return. All the three relegation places were confirmed by matchweek 35.
Those early confirmations were relief for the likes of Newcastle, Brighton and Burnley. Roy Hodgson said goodbye after guiding Crystal Palace to 14th, while Southampton, who led the Premier League in November, withstood a horrendous second half of the season to finish 15th. In early February, they suffered yet another 9-0 loss, this time at Old Trafford.
Arsenal endured a tough campaign under Mikel Arteta despite finishing last season strongly. Though they finished the season on a high, the damage was already done and they failed to qualify for Europe. This was the first time in 26 years that Arsenal failed to qualify for any European competition.