Manchester City and Chelsea have succeeded in claiming a maiden prize each in their club history as the Citizens won their first English Premier League title while the London Blues were crowned European champions in the season just ended.
Football never ceases to amaze.
At Chelsea, after a list of renowned managers it had to be the somewhat inexperienced Roberto Di Matteo to hand Roman Abramovich the honour he had craved for since he took over at Stamford Bridge.
In 2011-12 Chelsea completed a ‘double’ as they also lifted the FA Cup following a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley Stadium.
Tottenham thought they had done enough to book their place in the Champions League after placing fourth in the final classification.
However, Spurs’ hopes were dashed by London rivals Chelsea who will replace them in next season’s competition as cup holders.
In fact, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal will represent England in the Champions League. Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs get a direct entry into the group phase but Arsenal will have to negotiate a play-off to figure in the same stage as their English league colleagues.
The three clubs in the Europa League will be Tottenham, Liverpool (for winning the League Cup) and Newcastle (fifth place).
Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves were relegated.
They will be replaced by The Championship’s top team Reading, runners-up Southampton and play-off final winners West Ham.
Awards
Manager of the Year: Alan Pardew (Newcastle United).
Football Writers Footballer of the Year: Robin van Persie (Arsenal).
PFA Player of the Year: Van Persie.
PFA Young Player of the Year: Kyle Walker (Tottenham).
Premier Golden Boot: Van Persie.
Premier Golden Glove: Joe Hart (Manchester City).
LMA Manager of the Year: Alan Pardew.
PFA select XI
Joe Hart (Man. City), Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Vincent Kompany (Man. City), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle), Leighton Baines (Everton), David Silva (Man. City), Yaya Toure (Man. City), Gareth Bale (Tottenham), Scott Parker (Tottenham), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Wayne Rooney (Man. United).
Final table
| Played | Pts | |
| Man. City | 38 | 89 |
| Man. United | 38 | 89 |
| Arsenal | 38 | 70 |
| Tottenham | 38 | 69 |
| Newcastle | 38 | 65 |
| Chelsea | 38 | 64 |
| Everton | 38 | 56 |
| Liverpool | 38 | 52 |
| Fulham | 38 | 52 |
| West Bromwich | 38 | 47 |
| Swansea City | 38 | 47 |
| Norwich City | 38 | 47 |
| Sunderland | 38 | 45 |
| Stoke City | 38 | 45 |
| Wigan Athletic | 38 | 43 |
| Aston Villa | 38 | 38 |
| QPR | 38 | 37 |
| Bolton | 38 | 36 |
| Blackburn | 38 | 31 |
| Wolves | 38 | 25 |
Top scorers
30 − Van Persie (Arsenal).
27 – Rooney (Man. United).
23 – Aguero (Man. City).
17 – Adebayor (Tottenham), Yakubu (Blackburn), Dempsey (Fulham).
Players of the month
August – Edin Dzeko (Manchester City).
September – David Silva (Manchester City).
October – Robin van Persie (Arsenal).
November − Scott Parker (Tottenham Hotspur).
December – Demba Ba (Newcastle).
January – Gareth Bale (Tottenham).
February – Peter Odemwingie (West Brom).
March – Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea City).
April – Nikica Jelavic (Everton).
Managers of the month
August – Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).
September – Harry Redknapp (Tottenham Hotspur).
October – Roberto Mancini (Manchester City).
November – Harry Redknapp.
December – Martin O’Neill (Sunderland).
January – Brendan Rodgers (Swan-sea City).
February – Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).
March – Owen Coyle (Bolton).
April – Roberto Mancini (Manchester City).
Club leading scorers
| Arsenal − Robin van Persie | 30 |
| Aston Villa − Darren Bent | 9 |
| Blackburn − Yakubu | 17 |
| Bolton − Ivan Klasnic | 9 |
| Chelsea − Frank Lampard | 11 |
| Everton − Nikica Jelavic | 9 |
| Fulham − Clint Dempsey | 17 |
| Liverpool − Luiz Suarez | 11 |
| Man. City − Sergio Aguero | 23 |
| Man. Utd − Wayne Rooney | 27 |
| Newcastle − Demba Ba | 16 |
| Norwich – Steve Morison | 9 |
| QPR – Helguson, Makie | 7 |
| Stoke − Peter Crouch | 10 |
| Sunderland − Nick. Bendtner | 8 |
| Swansea – Danny Graham | 12 |
| Tottenham − Emm. Adebayor | 17 |
| WBA − Peter Odemwingie | 10 |
| Wigan − Di Santo | 6 |
| Wolves − Steven Fletcher | 12 |