Premier League roundup

The Express Tribune takes a look at the season of the top seven and the bottom three.

Manchester City



Despite a loss against Cardiff City in the second match of the season and a draw against Stoke City in the fourth, Manchester City fans saw enough early promise from Manuel Pellegrini’s side to believe that they could be lifting their second title in three years.

The Chilean managed to instil an attacking mentality into the side that had been missing under Roberto Mancini as flair players such as Samir Nasri were given a chance to reignite their career. Scoring for fun at home, including four against neighbours Manchester United and six each against North London sides Arsenal and Tottenham, the signs were that City would only lose the title on poor away form. City’s only home loss came against Chelsea as they recorded 17 home wins in 19 matches.

Having improved on their away form since the turn of the year, City needed only a point in the final match against West Ham to claim the title and it came as no surprise that City were comfortable 2-0 winners to keep the title in Manchester for the fourth year running.

Alex Ferguson famously dubbed the league as a marathon and it is ironic that the team that he labelled ‘sprinters’ were the ones that proved to be the ultimate ‘marathon men’. Staying close behind the leaders, whether they be Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea, City managed to bide their time and wait their way to a league title in which they were only top of the table for a remarkable 14 days.

Any team out of the top four could have won the league as the initiative often changed hands during the season, but it was City’s strength in depth and quality on the bench that eventually saw them edge it out as they scored 102 goals.

Liverpool



Finishing seventh last year and with star striker Luis Suarez demanding a transfer to Arsenal, there were few who would have predicted such an outcome to Liverpool’s season. The club  managed to keep hold of Suarez and while he served suspension, it was City and Chelsea reject Daniel Sturridge who stood up to be counted, scoring the only goals of Liverpool’s first three league matches as they won all of them 1-0.

The goals started to flow at an incredible rate when Suarez returned, scoring a brace on his first match back. From then on, it was the front four of Sturridge, Suarez, Coutinho and Raheem Sterling that led Liverpool’s title charge as stalwart Steven Gerrard also found form once again.

Despite being top of the table at Christmas, there were few who believed that Liverpool could challenge for the title, let alone claim it, with Brendon Rodgers and Gerrard both insisting that the target was to finish in the top four.

However, an incredible run of 11 straight wins, which started with a 4-0 win against Everton in the Merseyside derby and included a 5-1 win over Arsenal and a 3-2 win over City, saw Liverpool emerge as surprise title favourites.

Their 24-year wait for the title was not to be over. A fateful slip by Gerrard against Chelsea, gifting Demba Ba the decisive goal at Anfield, meant that the title was no longer in Liverpool’s hand with two matches to go. A remarkable capitulation against Crystal Palace, which saw Liverpool go from 3-0 up to 3-3 in just nine minutes, gifted the title to City.

Considering that Liverpool only needed to win their last three fixtures to claim the title, it will come as little consolation to Rodger’s men that they pushed City till the last game.

Chelsea



With doubts over Arsene Wenger’s men, the retirement of Sir Alex Furgeson and the sacking of Roberto Mancini, many expected Jose Mourinho to claim the Premier League title on his second coming at Chelsea.

That was not to be as Mourinho was unable to get much service out of his trio of strikers and had to rely mainly on Eden Hazard for creative input as Juan Mata was left on the bench, and eventually sold, and Oscar looked increasingly jaded as the season progressed.

Sticking to his trademark defensive approach, Mourinho found his return to the Premier League much more difficult than his first stint, when he won the title in his first year.

Mourinho’s tactical genius meant that Chelsea were able to negotiate their way through the big matches, earning 16 points out of a possible total of 18 against the other three teams in the top four.

However, the Blues were unable to break down the teams that were set up to frustrate them, often failing to find a creative spark against those that defended deep, such as West Bromwich Albion - against whom they failed to win either of their matches.

This propensity was highlighted perfectly in March when they defeated London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal 4-0 and 6-0 respectively but also lost to minnows Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.

Mourinho had kept insisting throughout the season that his side was not good enough to win the league and while many dismissed the words as mere mind games, they ultimately proved to be true as Chelsea’s title challenge frizzled out towards the end; finishing third, four points off the top.

Arsenal



Few teams go from utter despair to sheer joy as quickly as Arsenal do. Having failed to sign a suitable replacement for Olivier Giroud, despite bidding for Gonzalo Higuain and Luis Suarez, Arsenal’s season started with a loss against Aston Villa at home.

The result sparked many to call for Arsene Wenger to be sacked but the record signing of Mesut Ozil from Madrid and a successive run of positive results, including home wins against Liverpool and Tottenham, saw Arsenal claim the lead in the league early on.

Boasting the best midfield in the country and the meanest defence during the early stages as Per Martesacker and Laurent Koscielny developed a daunting partnership in central defence, Arsenal looked good money to claim a surprise league title.

However, despite the good run of form, there were always doubts over the Gunners’ strength in depth, especially in the striking department. The concerns did not prove ill-founded as injuries to Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil at a crucial time of the league led to Arsenal experiencing an uneasily familiar slump towards the end of the season.

Heavy away losses to title rivals Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea saw Arsenal go from title contenders to scrapping for fourth. It was Arsenal’s performance against the big teams that let them down this season, as they won only one match out of the 10 against City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton and Manchester United; earning seven out of a possible 30 points.

Despite the early promise, being top of the table as recently as February, Wenger’s men will have to settle for fourth.

Everton



When outgoing manager David Moyes brought Everton’s best midielder, Marouane Fellaini, to Manchester United, there were fears that Everton may struggle this season, especially as rumours claimed that Leighton Baines would also join his former manager at Old Trafford. Baines’ transfer did not materialise and Fellaini’s departure proved to be a blessing in disguise for Everton as 20-year-old Ross Barkley shone in his breakthrough season in Fellaini’s absence.

Roberto Martinez threw Moyes’ cautious approach out the window and brought in an exciting attacking mentality. Romelu Lukaku, Gerard Deulofeu and Gareth Barry were all brought in on loan as Martinez looked to add attacking flair and experience to his side. Despite drawing their first three matches, Everton sent out a statement of intent by beating Chelsea to claim their first win of the season.

They kept up the pressure on the top four throughout the season and had they not lost three out of their last five games, Everton would have usurped Arsenal for the final Champions League spot. Ultimately, it was their away form that let them down, winning only eight out of their 19 matches.

Tottenham



The departure of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a record £100 million allowed Tottenham to splash the cash on several players in a transfer window where they broke their own transfer record thrice.

The splurge caused many to predict that Tottenham will finally break into the top four and some even speculated that they may win the league.

However, all their signings failed to make an impact, as either injuries hampered them or they were unable to get used to the Premier League’s pace. Like Chelsea, Tottenham were also faced with a striker conundrum under Andres Villas Boas, as Emmanuel Adebayor was not trusted and Roberto Soldado failed to live up to his high price tag.

AVB was sacked half way through the season by the notoriously demanding Daniel Levy and was replaced by Tim Sherwood, who was able to solve the striking problem by bringing out the best in Adebayor.

An improved run of form under the new manager helped Tottenham claim sixth place ahead of Manchester United and book their place in next year’s Europa league.

Manchester United 



Many were expecting Manchester United to struggle following Sir Alex Furgeson’s retirement but few could have predicted that the decline would be this dramatic.

Perhaps the signs were there early on as the ‘chosen one’ David Moyes was unable to buy either of his midfield targets of Thiago and Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona. Instead, they splashed £28 million for Fellaini. Despite the arrival of the Everton man, United’s midfield was often found wanting as they relied mostly on their wide men and strikers to provide the goals. However, this meant that against organised defences, United were reduced to aimlessly lofting the ball into the box without any intent or purpose.

Moyes was sacked before the end of the season as United picked up their lowest ever points tally in a Premier League season and was replaced temporarily by Ryan Giggs, who was appointed as a player/manager. However, not much changed under Giggs as United only won twice in four matches and ultimately finished seventh.

The relegated 

Despite signing Dutch international striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel from Sporting for a club record transfer fee, Norwich City struggled to find goals, scoring only 28 times. Wolfswinkel endured a torrid time in his debut English season, failing to score in the league after having scored in the first match.

Fulham will be playing in the Championship next season after finishing 19th in the league. Plagued by a leaky defence throughout the season, conceding 85 goals – the highest tally in the league by a considerable margin – Fulham were only able to keep five clean sheets in the season.

Owner Shahid Khan replaced Rene Meulensteen with Felix Magath to address the slide and keep Fulham in the league but to no avail as Fulham ended the season with the worst goal difference in the league.

Bottom club Cardiff started the season well enough, winning their second match against giants Manchester City and followed that up with a draw against Everton but trailed off towards the end as they won only one of their final 9 matches.

Cardiff failed to score in 19 matches of the season and recorded only seven wins throughout the campaign.



Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2014.

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