EPL: 2019/20 Season Round Up

The just concluded English Premier League (EPL) season is one to forget for many premier league sides. Manchester City, despite coming second, had an underwhelming season when compared to their standards in the recent previous seasons. Arsenal, Tottenham and Bournemouth were all a shadow of their normal selves. The biggest winner without question is, of course, Liverpool FC. The manner with which they won the title after 30 years is to be envied, breaking numerous records along the line.

They seem to be the only functional team all through the season. Their biggest contender, however, had a seemingly poor start to the season and failed to pick up their pieces and put up a real fight. Manchester City lost nine (9) matches in the season that was which is the highest they have lost since the 2014/15 football season.

Other ‘winners’ in the season were Chelsea, Manchester United and Leicester City. Chelsea performed well above expectations, having lost their manager and best player in the team last summer and could not strengthen their team in consecutive two transfer windows due to the transfer ban they were faced with. Chelsea relied heavily on academy products and players returning from loan, managed by a rookie manager with just one year experience in management in the championship and managed to nick the fourth position. Every Chelsea supporter would happily accept that if they were offered that at the start of the season.

Manchester United on the other hand after a slow start to the season turned their draws to wins since the arrival of a certain Bruno Fernandez who upon arrival to the premier league managed eight (8) goals and seven (7) assists, bagging the player of the months both in February and June, 2020. Bruno is a contender for the Manchester United player of the season awards. Such is the level of impact he had on the team in the just concluded season. While Chelsea and Manchester United celebrate their UEFA Champions league qualifications, it is important to state they did so with 66 points. The only team that have qualified with 66 points is Manchester City in 2016 and the only team that has ever qualified with a lesser point is Everton in 2005 with 61 points. Both teams, Chelsea and Manchester United need to work on their numbers for the coming season to stand a chance.

Tottenham and Arsenal had a below par season, with both teams cutting ties with their managers mid-season. The two teams chose an entirely different route in dealing with their respective issues. Tottenham opted for the veteran Jose to lead them while Arsenal took a gamble with Mikel Arteta who has never managed a team. Both managers haven’t actually had a fly starts in their roles but there have been positives. Hopefully, they will rejuvenate their teams this summer and have a better outing come next season.

I would not have predicted that any of the three relegated teams will go down at the opening day. Norwich played some fantastic football in the 2018/19 season in the Championship and did arrive the Premier league in style putting up a shift against Liverpool, though the result didn’t reflect it, and went ahead to defeat Manchester City. How they spiraled down to relegation deserves to be studied. The duo of Bournemouth and Watford started by establishing themselves as mid table teams. VAR, although, wasn’t fair on Bournemouth and there are reports that their management will seek some sort of compensations for all the calls against them. Who would have thought the team that ended Liverpool’s unbeaten run would end up relegated?

The unpredictability of the league is what makes it the most watched and followed league in the world. This is the premier league, see you September 12.

Written by Ifeoluwa Onasami (@bolutisaac on twitter)