Tottenham Hotspur - 5th (64 points)
This was just another season of transition in a line of many for Spurs after hiring Mauricio Pochettino as their third manager inside a year during the summer. It wasn't exactly a bright season for the team, minus some new talents coming through from the academy. Pochettino was still left with a lot of work to get the squad working well together.
They made a winning start to the season after a 1-0 win over West Ham, which they then followed up with an emphatic 4-0 win over QPR. This was followed by a run of 4 games without a win though, which pretty much summed up Spurs' season. They would earn a really good win one week, but then follow it up with a number of weeks without a win.
By November, Harry Kane had made a name for himself after being brought in from the youth team and became the first-choice striker for the club. This seemed to boost the morale of the team, and their form was slightly more consistent than earlier in the season. The festive period especially proved to be a good period for Spurs. They went unbeaten in these games, and it was topped by a brilliant 5-3 win over eventual champions Chelsea on New Year's Day.
Although they made an early exit out of the FA Cup, they did make it to the final of the Capital One Cup, but went on to lose in the final 2-0 to Chelsea. Despite this, it did look like they were going to enjoy a much better second half to the season and possibly push on to challenge for a top four spot.
Again though, their consistency proved to be a big problem as they dropped many points in games they would be expected to win. They recorded good wins over local rivals Arsenal, as well as the likes of Leicester and Newcastle, but ultimately, it seemed they had started their challenge for Champions League too late. They finished the season on a positive note after two consecutive wins which secured their fifth place finish and Europa League place.
Manchester United - 4th (70 points)
It was a second new start for United in as many season as Louis van Gaal took charge of the club. Even though they had a near perfect pre-season in terms of results, coupled with the array of new names brought in, van Gaal just couldn't get his team going when the time came.
Before the first international break of the season, United struggled to win. In their first 10 games of the season they only managed to record 3 wins. During this spell, they also lost 5-3 to Leicester, and were held to draws by Burnley, West Brom and Sunderland. Along with this came the embarrassing 4-0 Capital One Cup defeat to League One's MK Dons. This sequence of results was brought to an end on their 1-0 derby defeat to Manchester City.
A 1-0 win over Crystal Palace marked the start of better times for the club. Following this, United went on a 10 game unbeaten streak which saw them through from November to January. They registered good wins against Arsenal, Southampton and Liverpool in this time before Southampton beat them in the reverse fixture 1-0. However, United still weren't convincing in the manner that they won these games, but it seemed to help in boosting their confidence during the second half of the season.
At the quarter final stage of the FA Cup, after a relatively easy run in the competition compared to their opponents, United old boy Danny Welbeck - a player van Gaal judged to be an unneeded asset to his team - sealed their fate after scoring the winning goal for Arsenal.
They did have a brilliant run of performances and results from mid-March to mid-April after the convincingly dispatched of Spurs, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Man City. However, their form for the majority of the season was inconsistent, which was proven as they lost 3-0 to Everton not long after this run. Van Gaal will also be hoping he can get the best out of his record signing Angel di Maria as he pushes for a higher league finish next time out.
Arsenal - 3rd (75 points)
This was just another season of transition in a line of many for Spurs after hiring Mauricio Pochettino as their third manager inside a year during the summer. It wasn't exactly a bright season for the team, minus some new talents coming through from the academy. Pochettino was still left with a lot of work to get the squad working well together.
They made a winning start to the season after a 1-0 win over West Ham, which they then followed up with an emphatic 4-0 win over QPR. This was followed by a run of 4 games without a win though, which pretty much summed up Spurs' season. They would earn a really good win one week, but then follow it up with a number of weeks without a win.
By November, Harry Kane had made a name for himself after being brought in from the youth team and became the first-choice striker for the club. This seemed to boost the morale of the team, and their form was slightly more consistent than earlier in the season. The festive period especially proved to be a good period for Spurs. They went unbeaten in these games, and it was topped by a brilliant 5-3 win over eventual champions Chelsea on New Year's Day.
Although they made an early exit out of the FA Cup, they did make it to the final of the Capital One Cup, but went on to lose in the final 2-0 to Chelsea. Despite this, it did look like they were going to enjoy a much better second half to the season and possibly push on to challenge for a top four spot.
Again though, their consistency proved to be a big problem as they dropped many points in games they would be expected to win. They recorded good wins over local rivals Arsenal, as well as the likes of Leicester and Newcastle, but ultimately, it seemed they had started their challenge for Champions League too late. They finished the season on a positive note after two consecutive wins which secured their fifth place finish and Europa League place.
Manchester United - 4th (70 points)
It was a second new start for United in as many season as Louis van Gaal took charge of the club. Even though they had a near perfect pre-season in terms of results, coupled with the array of new names brought in, van Gaal just couldn't get his team going when the time came.
Before the first international break of the season, United struggled to win. In their first 10 games of the season they only managed to record 3 wins. During this spell, they also lost 5-3 to Leicester, and were held to draws by Burnley, West Brom and Sunderland. Along with this came the embarrassing 4-0 Capital One Cup defeat to League One's MK Dons. This sequence of results was brought to an end on their 1-0 derby defeat to Manchester City.
A 1-0 win over Crystal Palace marked the start of better times for the club. Following this, United went on a 10 game unbeaten streak which saw them through from November to January. They registered good wins against Arsenal, Southampton and Liverpool in this time before Southampton beat them in the reverse fixture 1-0. However, United still weren't convincing in the manner that they won these games, but it seemed to help in boosting their confidence during the second half of the season.
At the quarter final stage of the FA Cup, after a relatively easy run in the competition compared to their opponents, United old boy Danny Welbeck - a player van Gaal judged to be an unneeded asset to his team - sealed their fate after scoring the winning goal for Arsenal.
They did have a brilliant run of performances and results from mid-March to mid-April after the convincingly dispatched of Spurs, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Man City. However, their form for the majority of the season was inconsistent, which was proven as they lost 3-0 to Everton not long after this run. Van Gaal will also be hoping he can get the best out of his record signing Angel di Maria as he pushes for a higher league finish next time out.
Arsenal - 3rd (75 points)
It was a very up and down season for Arsenal. They suffered their worst start to a season since 1982 which saw a lot of pressure piled onto Arsene Wenger once again, but after Christmas, they were the in-form team which had the fans dreaming of a title success.
Their opening games didn't include any losses, but it did include a lot of needlessly dropped points in their collective draws. One of the biggest problems for Arsenal seemed to when they faced off against the big teams. In the beginning of the season, they managed to rack up a couple of points, but they struggled to beat them in the early stages.
Their Champions League campaign also didn't start great as they lost to Borussia Dortmund, but they qualified the group stages with ease with only one other slip up. It also looked like they would reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010 after they drew Monaco, but they threw this chance away after a terrible result in the home tie. Although they won the return leg, it just wasn't enough to take them through.
They did improve dramatically after Christmas which saw them rocket up the table to sit snugly in the top four, very close to the top and to the leaders Chelsea. They went on a long unbeaten streak and secured good wins against Manchester City and Liverpool, as well as good draws against Chelsea and Manchester United. They did endure some frustrating games and losses to the likes of Swansea towards the end of the season, but they still finished the season on a high.
After their final weekend win against West Brom, they faced Aston Villa in the FA Cup Final. Last season, Arsenal didn't start quickly enough and needed an extra time goal to seal their win. This season, it seemed they had learnt their lesson. With a few brilliant goals, they sealed their trophy win in style, while overtaking all other teams to become the one with the most FA Cup wins.
Manchester City- 2nd (79 points)
Man City started the season as the defending champions and added two additional players to the squad in the hopes of retaining their trophy. However, just like the last time they were in this situation, they struggled to maintain performance levels in order to challenge Chelsea throughout the campaign.
They had a particularly good first half to the season. In this period, they suffered only two losses - to Stoke and West Ham - but also dropped a lot of points through draws in games they would normally be expected to win. During the previous season, Yaya Toure proved to be a star player by helping to push his team to the title by scoring 20 goals, but his 2 goals by late November definitely didn't reflect this, and results for City also showed this.
Their Champions League group stage wasn't the brightest, but they put together enough good performances at the end of it to see their name in the draw for the last 16. This included a brilliant performance to earn a 3-2 win over Bayern Munich. They went out to the eventual champions Barcelona at this stage after a 3-1 aggregate defeat, which could have been a lot worse if it hadn't been for keeper Joe Hart.
In the Premier League, there was no separating City and Chelsea at the top of the table on New Year's Day, but they were unable to keep their momentum. After this, they went 4 games without a win, which included a lucky last-minute draw with Hull. It was their consistency that let them down during the second half of the season. After losing two consecutive games to Crystal Palace and Manchester United at the beginning of April, they managed to turn it around.
The season ended with City rediscovering their form from the beginning of the season. They finished in style by recording 6 consecutive wins, including a very good performance to beat QPR 6-0. Even though they had such a strong finish to the season, by not winning a trophy this term, their under-achievements were highlighted as this is the first time this has happened since the season that Mark Hughes started at the helm.
Chelsea - 1st (87 points)
The summer signings that Jose Mourinho brought in at the beginning of the season proved to be the best business by a mile. Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas proved their worth instantly. Costa scored 7 goals in his first 4 appearances alone and the latter easily earned the title of top play maker. Along with bringing Thibaut Courtois back to the club and installing him as the number 1, he created a team that was pretty much unstoppable.
They hit the top spot on the Monday night after beating Burnley and became the dominant team from then onwards. They picked up 36 points in their first 14 games which included some magnificent performances. They put 6 past Everton, beat Liverpool at Anfield and eased past Arsenal. They also earned two good draws against both Manchester teams.
They did suffer a few blips along the way, but they only suffered three losses in the league to Newcastle, West Brom and Spurs. The last of the three was quite a heavy defeat, but it was a reality check for them. After this match they went 16 Premier League games unbeaten which left them extremely well off as they hit the home straight before they claimed their trophy.
They did wrap up the title with three games to go. A lot of people mocked the performances of Mourinho's team in the latter stages of the season, but it still proved to be effective for them which is why Mourinho defended his tactics so relentlessly.
The Premier League wasn't the only trophy they picked up this season. They beat Spurs 2-1 to lift the Capital One Cup at Wembley, and although many fans thought they could go on to win the quadruple, they were proved wrong.
The FA Cup and the Champions League were the only major disappointments for them. Chelsea breezed past Watford in the third round of the FA Cup, but came unstuck after a brilliant comeback from Bradford in the next. They also looked pretty comfortable after the group stages of the Champions League. They got the ever important away goal in the first leg, and after scoring a penalty in extra time of the second, it looked good for them, only for a late goal from PSG which sealed their fate. This leaves Mourinho room to improve for next season though as they are once again going in as favourites.
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