The 2016 season of the English Premier League has simultaneously been one of the best and worst seasons during the premier league era. Bar the domination of Arsenal during their ‘Invincibles” season in 2003/4 never has there been a season as scintillating and as exciting as this.
They say that every fairytale starts with a tragedy, something that ultimately helps change the outlook of the hero and allows him or her to grow and become a better person. For Leicester City, it all started with the then manager, Nigel Pearson’s son abusing a Thai hooker. The chain of events that followed produced the most unlikely fairytale in sporting history. The sheer odds of Leicester pulling the run for the English Premier League are staggering, think about it this way, Kim Kardashian has better odds of becoming President of the United States of American compared to Leicester winning the league.
After Nigel Pearson was sacked, many fans were left wondering whether Leicester would even stay up in the league. For a team facing potential relegation this season, it was a tall order for a new manager to come in and integrate with the team so quickly and effectively, let alone stay up. The loss of one of their star signings, Esteban Cambiasso who had been so influential last season spread some fear amongst the supporters. Claudio Ranieri made a return to the Premier League after 11 years raising eyebrows across the nation. Many thought of him taking a step down or becoming too old for it. Towards the end of the season, former Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho remarked that he was “too old to change his tactics”. It was the fluid game he introduced to Leicester which became the hallmark of their season, winning them so many crucial points at the cost of sometimes playing dull football.
Leicester aside, it was a season of promise for the so called ‘big clubs’, defending champions Chelsea acquired some big names such as Pedro and were looking to defend their EPL title with Mourinho at the helm once again. After a mixed debut season, Manchester United’s Louis Van Gaal was also set to bring back trophy winning ways to the club. He too spent big money, acquiring promising youngsters such as Memphis Depay and Anthony Martial. Liverpool sacked Brendan Rodgers and appointed former Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp and also looked to add trophies to their season. Manchester City were on a mission to reclaim the premier league title from usurpers Chelsea, adding the strong defensive acumen of Otamendi and Mangala. Arsenal were Arsenal, signing goalkeeping legend Petr Cech from rivals Chelsea and looking to end their Premier League title drought stretching back to 2004. Looking to the smaller teams, Tottenham Hotspur also made some astute additions to their club with new manager Mauricio Pochettino arriving from Southhampton and Heung Min Son arriving from Bayer Leverkusen.
The season progressed with certain teams shocking everyone, Chelsea starting their title defence in absolutely horrendous fashion gaining only four points from their opening five matches. The other so called ‘big names’ were having problems of their own. Arsenal had a pretty average start, not particularly impressing. Manchester United were also struggling to gain traction this season, with manager Louis Van Gaal’s tactics being questioned with comments about him not playing the United way’ being thrown around by supporters. Liverpool were just being themselves, attempting to build a great team and initially showing encouraging signs towards actually competing before dropping short of all of their expectations. To their credit, they did make it to the Europa League Final but in the end it wasn’t enough.
The emergence of Dimitri Payet for West Ham coupled with Slaven Bilic’s aggressive tactics allowed for a new force to emerge in the Premier League. Whilst West Ham have always been a team on the periphery of being considered a top team, this season allowed them to challenge the preconceived notions and really push for champions league spots. All of this was happening whilst Leicester were quietly blowing away teams with a similar brand of attacking football that won Chelsea the title last year. Two particularly outstanding players, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez were scoring game after game and goal after goal, commentators already tipping them for player of the season or even the golden boot.
This season continued to defy expectations, creating a new landscape in English Football. The notion of there only being 4-5 ‘top teams’ was completely taken apart, there were no fixtures that were taken for granted, each match became a test since there were as many as eight teams contesting for the top four spots whilst just as many were fighting to stay up in the league. With a league as close as this, every match was important, each point was crucial and there was only one team that remained consistent, Leicester City. You could clearly map out where each title challengers bid for the crown fell apart. Arsenal were the first to go, losing 3-1 to a young Manchester United side. As an Arsenal fan myself, it was quite depressing but it helped expose some fundamental problems within the squad which will no doubt be addressed by the manager this coming transfer window. For Tottenham Hotspur, the title race ended with a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge and it ended with Eden Hazard resurrecting his form for the season. Having won the Player of the Season award for 2014/15, Hazard was almost non-existent this season. When the game at Stamford Bridge began, most Chelsea fans weren’t too expectant of Hazard, relying more on the trickery of Willian or the aggression from Costa to win or draw the match, it was all they needed to stop Spurs from challenging for the title. As Hazards shot curled into the net, London was a city going through the motions. Where the blue part of London was celebrating, the white part of London stood in stunned silence. With that one shot, you could hear the sound of thousands of dreams shattering simultaneously, amidst the eternal glee of their cross town rivals Arsenal everywhere. For them it was simple, as long as Spurs don’t win the title, we are happy. One could go as far to say that Hazards goal won them the title.
For Claudio Ranieri, it must have been a surreal experience returning to Stamford Bridge as a Champion having managed there earlier in his career. Receiving the guard of honour from one of his greatest finds, Chelsea captain John Terry would have been quite emotional. On the final day of the season, this was not the only special event that would take place. Second place was still on the line and there was an exciting situation at hand. Bitter cross-town rivals Arsenal and Tottenham were both challenging for the next best position. Tottenham needed either a win or a draw to properly secure second place making it the first time in more than 20 years that they had finished above Arsenal. They were playing Newcastle who were second from the bottom and were in no form to even draw with a side as strong as Spurs. For Arsenal, it was a must win situation because they needed to secure a win and also rely on Tottenham losing to have any chance of coming second. They were playing the side who came last and although on paper it was an easy win for Arsenal, Aston Villa were the side who beat Arsenal 3-1 on the opening day of the previous season. As an Arsenal fan, streaming the two games side by sides was possibly one of the best decisions I have made all season. The absolute hilarity that unfolded was something that I will treasure for a long time. Arsenal were cruising to a victory, leading 2-0 around half time. Meanwhile at St. James’ Park, Newcastle were scoring goal after goal, constantly battering Tottenham with blitzing counter attacks and weren’t letting them breathe at all. With news of each goal filtering through to the Emirates, the cheers got louder. Encouraged by this, Arsenal scored two more goals before finishing the game 4-0 as they waited on news from St. James Park. Whilst Arsenal were cruising, Tottenham seemed to get a glimmer of hope as one of the Newcastle players was sent off after receiving a red card for a questionable tackle. However even with 10 men, Newcastle battled on, scoring 2 more goals to effectively seal the victory and any chance of Tottenham coming back to win. After the final whistle blew, 5-1 was the score and at the Emirates, there was absolute pandemonium with fan singing “Its happened again”, Arsenal had once again finished above Tottenham. Perhaps one of the most endearing quotes from the day that still brings tears of joy to my eyes is “Tottenham finished third in a two horse race”.
Although my team didn’t win the title in a season where it was theirs for the taking, one of the positives was that at least we beat the Spurs. Hopefully the manager will make a series of changes which will help the team be stronger on a fundamental level. With the appointment of new managers at Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and possibly Everton/Southampton, the competition will become much tougher and we are in for possibly one of the best seasons in the history of the premier league. The 2016/17 season of the EPL will have the strongest managerial contingent in living memory and it will be a delicious spectacle to behold. Until next season, adios!
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