Over the Blue Moon

Liverpool stretched Manchester City until the last day of the season but could not topple the champions.

Week 31 – With the quarterfinals of the FA Cup being played, there were only 5 matches in the Premier League. On Sunday Liverpool took advantage of Manchester City’s involvement in the cup to go top with a 2-1 win at Fulham while Chelsea lost 2-0 at Everton. On Saturday Huddersfield Town took a 3-1 lead at West Ham with a double from Karlan Grant, but a late brace from Javier Hernandez helped the hots to a 4-3 victory while a goal in stoppage time gave Newcastle Untitled a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth for whom Joshua King had netted twice and Leicester City scored in the last minute to win 2-1 at Burnley despite playing most of the match with 10 players.  

Week 32 – Huddersfield Town were the first team to be relegated to the Championship after going down 2-0 at Crystal Palace while Burnley were 2-0 winners at home to Wolves and a single goal gave Southampton a vital win at Brighton. Manchester City won 2-0 at troubled Fulham and Everton achieved the same result at West Ham United while Tottenham lost 2-1 to a last-minute goal at Liverpool and were overtaken on Monday night by Arsenal who were 2-0 winners at home to Newcastle United. Chelsea came from a goal down to win with 2 late goals at Cardiff City while Manchester United defeated Watford 2-1 at Old Trafford and Leicester City put 2 past their visitors from Bournemouth.

Week 33 – In midweek matches Fulham were relegated after losing 4-1 at Watford while Manchester United, who were reduced to 10 players, lost 2-1 at Wolves and Manchester City picked up another win with 2 goals at home to Cardiff. Tottenham baptised their new stadium with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace and Chelsea put 3 past Brighton at Stamford Bridge while on Friday evening Liverpool left it late to come from behind and win 3-1 at Southampton. At the weekend, while Manchester City and Watford were beating Brighton and Wolves respectively to reach the final of the FA Cup, Jamie Vardy scored twice as Leicester humbled their hosts Huddersfield Town 4-1 and Burnley bounced back from an early setback to win 3-1 at Bournemouth. A penalty conversion gave Crystal Palace a win at Newcastle and Arsenal fell to an early goal at Everton while on Monday evening Eden Hazard scored both goals for Chelsea at home to West Ham.

Week 34 - The week’s fixtures began on Friday evening with a 1-0 Newcastle win at Leicester City while on Saturday Tottenham hammered Huddersfield 4-0 at home aided by a Lucas Moura hat-trick and 10-man Brighton hit rock bottom as they were battered 5-0 by Bournemouth. Wolves were beaten 3-1 away from home as Nathan Redmond struck twice for Southampton while Chris Wood scored both goals in Burnley’s home win over Cardiff and Fulham enjoyed the same result against Everton. Two Paul Pogba penalties at Old Trafford helped Manchester United to a 2-1 win over West Ham while on Sunday Chelsea fell 2-0 at Liverpool and Manchester City were 3-1 winners at Crystal Palace with Raheem Sterling netting a brace. On Monday evening Arsenal laboured to a 1-0 win at 10-man Watford while on Tuesday Brighton suffered another home defeat, going down 2-0 to Cardiff.

Week 35 – Manchester City earned another 3 points with an early goal at home to Tottenham and 2 goals at Cardiff gave Liverpool a win the two-horse race at the top while Manchester United were humiliated 4-0 at Everton and Arsenal were punished 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace. Southampton fell 3-1 to an Ayoze Perez hat-trick at Newcastle and a goal in stoppage time gave Leicester a 2-2 draw at West Ham while Watford were 2-1 winners at Huddersfield Town and Fulham netted from the spot to win at Bournemouth. Wolves were held to a goalless draw at home to struggling Brighton while on Monday evening 4 early goals were shared between Chelsea and Burnley at Stamford Bridge. In rearranged matches played in midweek, Manchester City took a big step towards the Premier League title with a 2-0 win at Manchester United and Tottenham scored late in London to break the deadlock at Brighton hearts while Arsenal were torn apart 3-1 at Wolves and Watford scored a last minute leveller after Southampton had scored the quickest goal in Premier League history.  

Week 36 – West Ham United became the first team to score, in their 1-0 win, at Tottenham’s new stadium while on Friday evening Liverpool brushed Huddersfield Town aside 5-0 at Anfield with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah scoring 2 apiece and one goal at Burnley was enough to give Manchester City 3 more points in their quest for the league title. Ten-man Arsenal fell apart 3-0 at Leicester with Jamie Vardy scoring 2 late goals for the Foxes and Wolves were 2-1 winners at Watford. Callum Wilson scored twice as Bournemouth earned a 3-3 draw at Southampton and Cardiff lost 1-0 at relegated Fulham while Brighton drew 1-1 at home to Newcastle United. Everton played out a goalless draw at Crystal Palace.

Week 37 – On Friday evening Everton put 2 early goals past their visitors from Burnley without reply. At the weekend, Manchester United’s hopes of finishing in the top 4 was extinguished when they drew 1-1 at Huddersfield while 9-man Tottenham lost to a stoppage-time goal at Bournemouth and Arsenal were held to a 1-1 home draw by lowly Brighton. Marko Arnautovic scored twice in front of his home crowd as West Ham beat Southampton 3-0 while a late goal gave Liverpool a hard-earned 3-2 win at Newcastle and Crystal Palace won by the same scoreline at Cardiff who were consequently relegated. Chelsea were 3-0 winners at home to Watford while Fulham fell 1-0 at Wolves and on Monday evening a wonder strike gave Manchester City a vital 1-0 win at home to Leicester City.

Week 38 – Sadio Mane scored both goals as Liverpool defeated Wolves at Anfield, but Manchester City came from behind to win 4-1 at Brighton and retain the Premier League title while Chelsea drew 0-0 at Leicester City to finish third. Tottenham drew 2-2 at home to Everton to secure a top 4 finish while 2 goals from Pierre Emerick Aubameyang earned him the Golden Boot jointly with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane as Arsenal ended the season with a 3-1 win at Burnley and Fulham bid farewell to the Premier League with a humiliating 4-0 defeat at home to Newcastle. Manchester United lost 2-0 at home to relegated Cardiff and Huddersfield Town drew 1-1 at Southampton while a brace for Mark Noble helped West Ham to a 4-1 victory at 10-man Watford and, in a thoroughly entertaining match,  Michy Batshuayi netted twice as Crystal Place ran out 5-3 winners at home to Bournemouth.

The final Premier League table for 2018-2019

Pos	Team	Points	GD
1	Manchester City	98	+72
2	Liverpool	97	+67
3	Chelsea	72	+24
4	Tottenham	71	+28
5	Arsenal	70	+22
6	Manchester United	66	+11
7	Wolves	57	+1
8	Everton	54	+8
9	Leicester City	52	+3
10	West Ham United	52	-3
11	Watford	50	-7
12	Crystal Palace	49	-2
13	Newcastle United	45	-6
14	Bournemouth	45	-14
15	Burnley	40	-23
16	Southampton	39	-20
17	Brighton	36	-25
18	Cardiff	34	-35
19	Fulham	26	-47
20	Huddersfield Town	16	-54