City cream of the crop

 

Manchester City were crowned champions of England for the third time in four years with rivals Manchester United only threatening them mathematically while Liverpool’s late winning streak earned them third spot ahead of Chelsea.

Week 31 – The week’s fixtures began on Friday when Fulham fell to a last-gasp goal at home to Wolves. On Saturday a double from Stuart Dallas gave ten-man Leeds United a 2-1 win at league leaders Manchester City while a brace from Christian Pulisic helped Chelsea cruise past Crystal Palace 4-1 at Selhurst Park and Liverpool came from behind to beat Aston Villa 2-1 at Anfield with the winner coming in stoppage time. On Sunday Kelechi Iheanacho struck twice for Leicester at West Ham who had already scored 3 times with 2 from Jesse Lingard and Tottenham took the lead but were beaten 3-1 at home to Manchester United while Alexandre Lacazette netted twice for Arsenal who won 3-0 at Sheffield United and Newcastle came from behind to win 2-1 at Burnley. The Monday evening matches saw Southampton lose 3-0 at West Brom and Everton play a goalless match at Brighton.

Week 32 -Harry Kane and Gylfi Sigurdsson scored twice each for Tottenham and Everton as the points were shared at Goodison Park on Friday evening. With 1-0 semi-final wins for Chelsea against Manchester City and Leicester over Southampton at Wembley, there were fewer Premier League games at the weekend, but several matches were played in midweek. Ten-man West Ham pulled back a 2 goal deficit but lost 3-2 at Newcastle while Mason Greenwood netted a double for Manchester United in their 3-1 win at home to Burnley and while Norwich City were being promoted to the Premier League, Sheffield United were relegated after losing 1-0 at Wolves. Arsenal salvaged a 1-1 draw with the last kick of the match at home to Fulham while on Monday evening Liverpool drew 1-1 at Leeds United. On Tuesday Brighton ended the match with ten players in their goalless draw at Chelsea while on Wednesday, in their first match since the sacking of Jose Mourinho, Tottenham came from behind to win 2-1 at home to Southampton and Aston Villa scored after 22 seconds in their home match but lost 2-1 to Manchester City with both teams being reduced to ten players. On Thursday evening, Leicester City scored 3 first-half goals to defeat their visitors from West Brom.

Week 33 – Arsenal suffered another home defeat when they lost 1-0 to Everton on Friday evening. On Saturday, Newcastle scored a last-gasp equalizer to cancel out Liverpool’s early goal at Anfield while Chelsea were 1-0 winners at West Ham who finished the match with ten players and Brighton lost 1-0 at relegated Sheffield United on the day that Watford were promoted to the Premier League. On Sunday, Chris Wood netted a first-half hat-trick as Wolves were taken apart 4-0 at home to Burnley while Manchester United played a goalless match at Leeds and West Bromwich Albion drew 2-2 at Aston Villa. Manchester City lifted the League Cup with a goal against Tottenham at Wembley. On Monday evening, Crystal Palace took the lead but lost 2-1 at Leicester.

Week 34 – Ten-man Southampton drew 1-1 at home to Leicester on Friday evening. Manchester City scored 2 second-half goals in quick succession at Crystal Palace, which meant a defeat for Manchester United against Liverpool a day later would have given City the title, but the match was postponed due to heavy crowd protests at Old Trafford. Two goals from Kai Havertz gave Chelsea a win over Fulham at Stamford Bridge while Brighton enjoyed the same result against their visitors from Leeds and Aston Villa were 2-1 winners at Everton. Sheffield United were thumped 4-0 at Tottenham with a hat-trick from Gareth Bale and Arsenal won 2-0 at Newcastle who ended the match with ten players while on Monday West Brom drew 1-1 at home to Wolves and West Ham came from behind to win 2-1 at Burnley with a double from Michail Antonio.

Week 35 – Leicester City scored 2 late goals on Friday evening, but were thrashed 4-2 at home to Newcastle United, for whom Callum Wilson netted twice. Needing a win to secure the title, Manchester City took the lead at the Etihad, but Chelsea hit back with 2 goals in the second half while Liverpool put 2 past their visitors from Southampton and Tottenham were beaten 3-1 at Leeds. Goals 2 minutes from the start and end of the match gave Crystal Palace a 2-0 win at Sheffield United and a single goal gave Everton a victory at West Ham while Wolves came from a goal down to win 2-1 against 10-man Brighton, who had a further player red-carded after the match, at Molineux. Manchester United came from behind to win 3-1 at Aston Villa, who finished the match with ten players, while Arsenal won by the same scoreline at home to West Bromwich Albion.  On Monday, Fulham were relegated after losing 2-0 at home to Burnley.

Week 36 – Several matches were played in midweek with Manchester United conceding the tittle to Manchester City after losing 2-1 at home to Leicester City. Crystal Palace got off to a flying start but lost 3-1 at Southampton with a double from Danny Ings and Arsenal were 1-0 winners at Chelsea. On Thursday, Manchester United fell to their second home defeat in the space of two days when Liverpool came from a goal down to win 4-2 with a brace from Roberto Firmino and Everton played a goalless match at Aston Villa while in a thrilling match on Friday evening, Newcastle United twice took the lead at home to newly crowned champions Manchester City, but were defeated 4-3 with Ferran Torres scoring a hat-trick for the visitors. On Saturday while Leicester City were lifting the FA Cup with a single goal against Chelsea at Wembley, Rodrigo netted twice at Leeds battered Burnley 4-0 on their travels and Fulham lost 3-1 at Southampton while 2 late goals gave West Ham a 1-1 draw at Brighton. On Sunday, Crystal Palace twice fell behind but ran out 3-2 winners at home to Aston Villa while Wolves lost 2-0 at Tottenham and Everton lost to an early goal at home to relegated Sheffield United. Liverpool kept their hopes of a top-four finish alive when they came from behind at West Brom to win 2-1 with goalkeeper Alison scoring the winner in the last seconds of stoppage time.  

Week 37 – With a limited number of spectators finally allowed back into stadiums, 10-man Manchester City lost their 2-goal lead and saw their record 12 straight away wins come to an end as they were defeated 3-2 at Brighton while Chelsea avenged their FA Cup loss with a 2-1 home win over Leicester and Leeds United were 2-0 winners at Southampton. Fulham earned a 1-1 draw at Manchester United and there were 1-0 home wins for Everton and Newcastle over Wolves and Sheffield United respectively while WBA took the lead but lost 3-1 at home to West Ham.  Tottenham scored early but lost 2-1 at home to Aston Villa while Arsenal scored 2 goals in stoppage time to win 3-1 at Crystal Palace and Liverpool brushed Burnley aside 3-0 at Turf Moor

Week 38 – On the last day of action with only European places to be settled, Liverpool secured third place with a double from Sadio Mane at home to Crystal Palace as Chelsea, who ended the match with 10 players, lost 2-1 at Aston Villa while Jamie Vardy converted 2 penalties for Leicester City on their home ground, but Tottenham bounced back to win 4-2 with a late brace from Gareth Bale and deny Leicester a place in the Champions League. Sergio Aguero came off the bench in his last ever home match for Manchester City to score twice and break the record for the total goals scored by an individual for one club as the champions pummelled Everton 5-0 while Manchester United won 2-1 at Wolves and West Ham brushed their visitors from Southampton aside 3-0 with 2 goals from Pablo Fornals. Leeds United ended their season with a 3-1 victory against West Brom at Elland Road and a double from Nicolas Pepe gave Arsenal a home win against Brighton while Newcastle won 2-0 at relegated Fulham and Sheffield United bowed out with a 1-0 home win over Burnley.   

Brentford will join Norwich City and Watford in the Premier League next season after winning the play-off final.

The final Premier League table for 2020-21

 

Pos Team Points GD 1 Manchester City 86 +51 2 Manchester United 74 +29 3 Liverpool 69 +26 4 Chelsea 67 +22 5 Leicester City 66 +18 6 West Ham United 65 +15 7 Tottenham 62 +23 8 Arsenal 61 +16 9 Leeds United 59 +8 10 Everton 59 -1 11 Aston Villa 55 +9 12 Newcastle United 45 -16 13 Wolves 45 -16 14 Crystal Palace 44 -25 15 Southampton 43 -21 16 Brighton 41 -6 17 Burnley 39 -22 18 Fulham 28 -26 19 West Brom. 26 -41 20 Sheffield United 23 -43

City dominance

 

With only 8 match weeks left, Manchester City are closing in on the finish line and still on course for an unprecedented quadruple. City rivals, Manchester United are leading the pack in pursue of a realistic Champions League spot and an unlikely slipup by the league leaders.

Week 21 – An early goal gave Manchester City a home win against Sheffield United to keep them at the top while Manchester United drew 0-0 at Arsenal and Southampton lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa. Callum Wilson scored both goals for Newcastle at Everton while Fulham drew 2-2 at West Brom and a single goal gave Crystal Palace a home win over Wolves. Leeds United enjoyed a 3-1 victory at Leicester and Liverpool achieved the same result at West Ham with 2 goals from Mohamed Salah while Tottenham were defeated 1-0 at Brighton and Chelsea beat Burnley 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.   

Week 22 – In midweek nine-man Arsenal lost 2-1 at Wolves while Southampton, whose first dismissal of two came after only 80 seconds, were taken apart 9-0 at Manchester United with Anthony Martial netting twice for the rampant hosts and there were 2-1 wins for Sheffield United at home to West Brom and Crystal Palace at Newcastle with both winning teams having to come from behind. Brighton earned a shock 1-0 win at Liverpool while Jesse Lingard scored twice on his debut as West Ham won 3-1 at Aston Villa and Everton defeated Leeds United 2-1 at Elland Road while there were 2-0 victories for Manchester City and Leicester City at Burnley and Fulham respectively. On Thursday evening, Tottenham lost 1-0 at home to Chelsea.

Week 23 – Having missed a penalty, Ilkay Gundogan scored twice as Manchester City strengthened their position at the top with an impressive 4-1 victory at champions Liverpool while Everton came from 2 down to draw level with 2 goals early in the second half and earned a 3-3 draw at Manchester United with the last kick of the match and 10-man Newcastle defeated Southampton 3-2 at St James’ Park with Miguel Almiron netting a brace for the hosts. Arsenal fell 1-0 at Aston Villa while Brighton drew 1-1 at Burnley and West Ham, who ended the match with 10 players, drew 0-0 at Fulham. Ten-man West Brom lost 2-0 at Tottenham while Chelsea were 2-1 winners at Sheffield United and Leicester drew 0-0 at Wolves. On Monday evening, Crystal Palace lost 2-0 at Leeds United.

Week 24 – Leicester City scored 3 late goals in the space of 5 minutes as they came from a goal down to enjoy a 3-1 victory at home to Liverpool while another brace from Ilkay Gundogan helped Manchester United beat Tottenham 3-0 at the Etihad and Burnley enjoyed the same result at Crystal Palace. Leeds United scored twice at the Emirates by which time Arsenal had cruised into a 4-goal lead with a hat-trick from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang while Wolves came from behind to win 2-1 at Southampton and Manchester United drew 1-1 at West Bromwich Albion. Josh Maja scored both goals for Fulham at Everton and the only goalless match was between Brighton and Aston Villa while on Monday West Ham were 3-0 winners at home to Sheffield United and Chelsea put 2 past their visitors from Newcastle.

Week 25 – Two rearranged matches were played on Wednesday with Fulham drawing 1-1 at Burnley and Manchester City powering 3-1 past Everton at Goodison Park while week 25 began on Friday with Leeds losing 1-0 at Wolves. Liverpool lost their 4^th home match in a row for the first time in 97 years when they went down 2-0 to Everton who had not won at Anfield since 1999 while Chelsea drew 1-1 at Southampton and a goal within 2 minutes of kick-off gave Manchester City a win at Arsenal. Tottenham lost 2-1 at West Ham while Leicester were 2-1 winners at Aston Villa and Manchester United picked up a 3-1 victory at home to Newcastle United. Ten-man West Brom drew 0-0 at Burnley and Fulham picked up 3 points with a goal at home to Sheffield United while on Monday evening Crystal Palace scored a stoppage-time 2-1 winner at Brighton. In a rearranged match the following evening, Leeds United triumphed 3-0 over Southampton at Elland Road.

Week 26 – Arsenal put an early setback behind them to win 3-1 at Leicester while Burnley were buried 4-0 with a Gareth Bale brace at Tottenham and there were goalless draws for Manchester United at Chelsea and Fulham at Crystal Palace. Manchester City continued their winning streak with a 2-1 scoreline at home to West Ham while Liverpool were 2-0 winners at Sheffield United and an early goal settled the match in Aston Villa’s favour at Leeds. West Bromwich Albion ended their winless run with a single goal at home to Brighton who twice struck the woodwork from the penalty spot while Wolves drew 1-1 at Newcastle and on Monday evening Southampton fell to an early goal at Everton.

Week 27 – In one of the many rearranged matches played in midweek, Manchester City scored 3 late goals with a double from Gabriel Jesus to send Wolves home with their tails between their legs as 4-1 losers while Leicester City conceded an early goal but drew 1-1 at Burnley and Manchester United fired blanks at Crystal Palace. Ten-man Sheffield United earned a 1-0 win at home to Aston Villa while there were 1-0 away wins for Everton at West Brom and Tottenham at Fulham and Liverpool suffered another home defeat, losing 1-0 to Chelsea. At the weekend runaway league leaders Manchester City lost 2-0 at home to Manchester United and Liverpool fell to a 1-0 loss at home to Fulham while Crystal Place were taken apart 4-1 at Tottenham for whom Gareth Bale and Harry Kane scored 2 apiece. Leicester City came from behind to win 2-1 at Brighton while Arsenal could only draw 1-1 at Burnley and Southampton were 2-0 winners at Sheffield United. There were goalless draws for Aston Villa at home to Wolves and Newcastle at West Bromwich Albion. On Monday evening, Chelsea defeated Everton 2-0 at Samford Bridge and West Ham enjoyed the same result at Home to Leeds.

Week 28 – On Wednesday evening Kevin de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez each scored a double as Southampton were brushed aside 5-2 at Manchester City in a rearranged match and on Friday 2 late goals saw Newcastle draw 1-1 at home to Aston Villa. Arsenal fell behind but beat Tottenham, who were later reduced to 10 players, 2-1 at the Emirates while a hat-trick from Kelechi Iheanacho helped Leicester thump Sheffield United 5-0 and West Ham United lost to a single goal at Manchester United. Manchester City undid Fulham 3-0 at Craven Cottage while Everton lost 2-1 at home to Burnley and Chelsea drew 0-0 at Leeds United. Crystal Palace were 1-0 winners at home to WBA and Brighton triumphed 2-1 at Southampton while on Monday evening Liverpool picked up a win with a goal at Wolves.

Week 29 – With the quarter-final matches of the FA Cup being played, only four Premier League matches took place starting on Friday evening when Leeds United were 2-1 winners at Fulham. On Saturday Newcastle United fell 3-0 at Brighton while on Sunday Tottenham won 2-0 at Aston Villa and Arsenal fought back from 3 down to draw 3-3 at West Ham.

Week 30 – Thomas Tuchel lost his first match in English football as West Bromwich Albion came from a goal down to pummel 10-man Chelsea 5-2 at Stamford Bridge with Matheus Pereira and Callum Robinson scoring 2 apiece for the Baggies. Manchester City were 2-0 winners at Leicester while Liverpool swept Arsenal aside 3-0 at the Emirates with Diogo Jota netting a brace and Leeds United picked up a 2-1 home win over Sheffield United. Southampton fought back from 2 down to send Burnley home 3-2 losers and Mahmoud Trezeguet scored twice as Aston Villa came from behind to register a 3-1 win at home to Fulham while Harry Kane was twice on target for Tottenham who drew 2-2 at Newcastle and Brighton took the lead but lost 2-1 at Manchester United. On Monday evening Crystal Palace drew 1-1 at Everton while West Ham were 3-2 winners at Wolves.

Taking turns at the top

 

With very little to separate the top teams, after 20 weeks nine teams have enjoyed at least a brief stay at the summit.

Week 11 – Tottenham and Liverpool remain at the top after 2-0 and 4-0 home wins over Arsenal and Wolves respectively while Chelsea overcame an early setback to beat Leeds United 3-1 at Stamford Bridge and Leicester City scored a last-minute goal to win 2-1 at Sheffield United. Manchester United came from a goal down to win with 3 second-half goals at West Ham while Manchester City put 2 past their visitors from Fulham without reply and Everton drew 1-1 at Burnley. Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke scored 2 apiece as Crystal Palace pummelled 10-man West Brom 5-1 at the Hawthorns while on Monday Southampton came from behind to win 2-1 at Brighton and the Friday encounter between Aston Villa and Newcastle was postponed.     

Week 12 – The weekend began on Friday when Leeds took an early lead but were beaten 2-1 at home to West Ham. On Saturday, 10-man Aston Villa broke the deadlock with a stoppage-time penalty away to Wolves who also ended the match with 10 players and Chelsea also lost to a spot-kick at Everton while West Brom lost 2-1 at Newcastle and the Manchester derby at Old Trafford finished goalless. On Sunday, table-topping Tottenham and Liverpool drew 1-1 away to Crystal Palace and Fulham respectively while James Maddison scored a brace as Leicester defeated their visitors from Brighton with 3 goals before the break and Sheffield United lost 3-0 at Southampton. Ten-man Arsenal sank to a 1-0 defeat at home to Burnley.

Week 13 – In midweek matches Liverpool scored a last-minute 2-1 winner at home to Tottenham to go top while Chelsea took the lead at Wolves but lost 2-1 to a goal deep into stoppage time and Manchester City were help to a 1-1 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion. Newcastle scored first but were outclassed 5-2 at Leeds while Everton enjoyed a 2-0 victory at Leicester and Arsenal, who were once again reduced to 10 men, ended their losing streak at home with a 1-1 draw against Southampton. David McGoldrick scored twice for Sheffield United but lost 3-2 at home to Manchester United for whom Marcus Rashford also netted a brace while 10-man Crystal Palace drew 1-1 at West Ham and there were goalless draws for Brighton at Fulham and for Burnley at Aston Villa.   

Week 14 – Mohamed Salah came off the bench to score twice as Liverpool demolished Crystal Palace 7-0 at Selhurst Park with Roberto Firmino also netting twice for the Reds while Manchester United destroyed Leeds United 6-2 at Old Trafford with Scott McTominay scoring twice in the first 3 minutes of the match and Tottenham lost 2-0 at home to Leicester. A single goal gave Manchester City a win at Southampton while Arsenal lost 2-1 at Everton and 10-man Fulham drew 1-1 at Newcastle. After the sacking of Slaven Bilic, with Sam Allardyce in charge, ten-man West Brom suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Aston Villa for whom Anwar El Ghazi netted twice while Sheffield United, who were also reduced to 10 players, drew 1-1 at Brighton. On Monday Burnley enjoyed a 2-1 home win over Wolves and Chelsea broke West Ham down 3-0 at Stamford Bridge with a late double from Tammy Abraham.  

Week 15 – Manchester United twice took the lead but came away from Leicester with a 2-2 draw while Arsenal enjoyed a 3-1 home win over Chelsea and Crystal Palace were beaten 3-0 at Aston Villa who played the second half with ten players. Sheffield United fell to a late goal at home to Everton while Manchester City put 2 past their visitors from Newcastle and Southampton drew 0-0 at Fulham. On Sunday, West Bromwich Albion earned a 1-1 draw at Liverpool while Tottenham drew 1-1 at Wolves and an early penalty gave Leeds a win at home to Burnley.  West Ham had to twice come from behind at the London Olympic Stadium to draw against Brighton.  

Week 16 – The fixtures continued without a breather and on Monday there were 1-1 draws for Leicester at Crystal Palace and Chelsea at home to Aston Villa. On Tuesday Leeds United battered West Brom 5-0 at the Hawthorns while Arsenal won 1-0 at Brighton and there were 1-0 home wins for Burnley against Sheffield United and for Manchester United over Wolves. West Ham played a goalless match at Southampton. With Manchester City’s match at Everton and Fulham’s fixture at Tottenham being postponed, the year ended with a goalless draw between Newcastle and Liverpool on Wednesday evening.

Week 17 – The year began on Friday with a late goal handing Everton a home defeat against West Ham while Manchester United were 2-1 winners at home to Aston Villa. On Saturday, Leeds United lost 3-0 at Tottenham who finished the match with 10 players and Brighton pulled back a 2 goal deficit to draw 3-3 at home to Wolves while Alexandre Lacazette netted twice for Arsenal who eased 4-0 past West Brom on their travels and Sheffield United lost 2-0 at Crystal Palace. On Sunday Chelsea lost 3-1 at home to Manchester City while Leicester won 2-1 at Newcastle and with Fulham’s match at Burnley being called off, on Monday Liverpool lost to an early goal at Southampton.

Week 18 – A cluster of matches were played in midweek with Sheffield United picking up their first win of the season with a penalty at home to Newcastle while a single goal took Manchester United to the top of the table with a win at Burnley and Wolves lost 2-1 at home to Everton. One goal was enough to give Manchester City a home win over Brighton while Fulham drew 1-1 at Tottenham and Arsenal drew blanks at home to Crystal Palace.  

Week 19 – Two Matheus Pereira penalties helped West Bromwich Albion to a 3-2 win at Wolves while Leeds lost 1-0 at home to Brighton and Burnley lost by the result to an early goal at West Ham. Fulham, who played half the match with 10 players, lost 1-0 at home to Chelsea while Leicester City were 2-0 winners against their visitors from Southampton. The clash at the top of the table between Liverpool and Manchester United ended goalless while Tottenham returned from bottom of the table Sheffield United with a 3-1 win and John Stones netted twice as Manchester City put 4 past Crystal Palace at the Etihad. While Everton’s match at Aston Villa was postponed, on Monday evening Newcastle lost to 3 second-half goals at Arsenal with 2 coming from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Week 20 - Leading up to the FA Cup weekend, several Premier League matches were played before week 20 began the following week. Leicester City enjoyed a 2-0 win at home to Chelsea and West Ham were 2-1 winners over their visitors from West Brom while Aston Villa lost 2-0 at Manchester City and Manchester United came from an early setback to win 2-1 at Fulham. On Thursday evening Burnley stunned Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield and on Saturday Newcastle were beaten 2-0 at Aston Villa. Week 20 was played in midweek and Manchester City moved to the top after a thumping 5-0 win at West Brom with Ilkay Gundogan netting twice for the visitors while Arsenal came from an early goal down to win 3-1 at Southampton and Leeds United were 2-1 winners at Newcastle. Bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United shocked Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford while Crystal Palace scored an early and late goal but lost 3-2 at home to West Ham with Tomas Soucek claiming a double for the Hammers and while Leicester City drew 1-1 at Everton, Chelsea drew blanks at home to Wolves in Thomas Tuchel’s first match in charge of the Londoners and Fulham’s visit to Brighton also ended goalless. On Thursday evening, Tottenham lost 3-1 at home to Liverpool.