From exceptional Liverpool to dismal Arsenal: A closer look at Premier League’s hits and misses

The Premier League title race, for the most part, was a procession for Liverpool who won the title in record-quick time. However, the lack of drama at the top during a strange 2019-’20 season was made up for elsewhere. In the battle for the European places and relegation scrap that went right down to the final day, there was many a thrill and spill.

Chelsea and Manchester United bagged the Champions League spots, while Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur had to make do with a place in the Europa League. Aston Villa survived by the skin of their teeth as Watford and Bournemouth went down after five years in the English top-flight.

Read: More youngsters, top-two dominance, VAR impact: What numbers say about 2019-’20 Premier League

The Premier League table appears to make the winners and losers quite clear, but over the course of season there were plenty of hits and misses.

Taking into consideration, the shift in a team’s points tally, league position, recent form and money spent to achieve the results, here’s a look back at the 2019-’20 Premier League season:

Hits

Liverpool

Achievement: Premier League champions

Ending a 30-year wait for an English top-flight title, the Reds enjoyed their best season in the Premier League era. Notching up a mammoth 99 points, the Reds managed to make a 2-point improvement over their tally of 97 points in the 2018-’19 season. Scoring 196 points in two seasons just shows how consistent Jurgen Klopp’s men have been.

Despite a drop in the number of goals scored and a rise in the number of goals conceded from last season, Liverpool managed to win the league thanks to their ability to grind out wins in tough matches.

The Reds hardly strengthened before and during the 2019-’20 campaign and every Premier League point cost the Reds just $0.15 million. Liverpool are reaping rewards of some smart transfer business over the years as they have a net spend of just $140 million in five years. A tally higher than only six other Premier League clubs.

Read: How Jurgen Klopp forged Liverpool into a Premier League-winning unit – one transfer window at a time

Burnley

Achievement: Top-ten finish

Sean Dyche has been performing miracles at Burnley since their promotion back in the Premier League in 2016-’17 season. After a seventh-place finish in 2017-’18 season, The Clarets had to battle to avoid relegation last term. But Dyche has revived Burnley to guide them to a tenth-place finish with a 14-point gain this season. Burnley conceded 18 fewer goals than last season as they were in with a shout of European qualification for some time.

A point has cost Burnley just $0.51 million of transfer window spend this season, a fine achievement considering their squad has been formed with an investment of just $76 million in last five years.

Southampton

Achievement: Strong second half to the season

The Saints narrowly escaped relegation in the previous edition after the appointment of Ralph Hassenhuttl. The Austrian though took giant strides this season, taking Southampton to a safe 11th place finish. The Saints scored more goals, conceded fewer this season leading to a 13-point gain from last term.

The result was achieved with just $65 million spending during the two transfer windows this season that accounted for $1.25 million per point gained. The Saints squad was assembled quite frugally with a net spend of just $28 million in the last five years.

Leicester City

Achievement: Europa League qualification

Failure to qualify for the Champions League on the final day may have left a bitter taste in the mouth for Leicester City fans, but it should not take away what has been a remarkable season for the Foxes.

The 2015-’16 champions have progressed under Rogers and threatened to walk into the Champions League for large parts of the season until a collapse in the second half of the season meant they had to finish with a Europa League spot.

It is a result they would have happily accepted at the start of the season, especially if they were told that the team would have a 10-point gain.

The Foxes splashed $116 million in the transfer market this season, but lost centre-back, Harry Maguire, to Manchester United. In the last five years, Leicester have made decent investment having a net spend of $161 million.

Sheffield United

Achievement: Top-ten finish in the season of promotion

Chris Wilder was among the contenders for the manager of the season award and rightly so. He guided Sheffield United to a top-half finish in the club’s first season after promotion. Barring a late slump in form, the Blades even looked good for a European finish.

Every point that Sheffield earned cost a fair $1.57 million this season, but Wilder ensured the money was well spent. The squad needed strengthening considering the jump to the Premier League and a net spend of just -$74 million in last five years. Truly, an incredible achievement.

Chelsea

Achievement: Champions League qualification

Chelsea’s points tally, league position and goals conceded were all were worse off in the 2019-’20 campaign but the fact that new manager Frank Lampard was largely able to maintain status quo and keep Chelsea in the Champions League places after the departure of Eden Hazard is a big feat.

The Blues also had a transfer embargo last summer and couldn’t sign any new players. The only business that Chelsea did was making Mateo Kovacic’s loan permanent. With a point costing the Blues just $0.78 million this season, Chelsea’s season can be deemed a success especially considering a net investment of just -$147 million in the last five seasons.

The Blues though would hope to improve on 54 goals they conceded this season.

Read: There were a lot of unknowns: Frank Lampard delighted as Chelsea defy doubters to make top-four

Wolves

Achievement: Top-seven finish and probable Europa League qualification

Nuno Espirito Santo surprised everyone when he took Wolves into the Europa League in their first season after promotion. But second-season syndrome was expected to hit the midlands club.

However, after initial struggles, Wolves managed the exertions of Europe well to replicate a seventh-place finish and also improve their points tally by two points. They may still qualify for Europa League again if Chelsea beat Arsenal in the FA Cup final. Better still, unlikely as it may be, they may make it into the Champions League if they win this season’s Europa League.

Wolves have spent heavily over the last few years and the squad has repaid faith having managed a season on two fronts quite well.

Par Performance

Crystal Palace

Achievement: Survival

Crystal Palace regressed this season, a fact that is clear from their negative points gain from last. Only their defence improved marginally this season. However, considering their low investment in the transfer window that saw them spend just $14 million last year, Palace did well to stay up in the top flight.

Roy Hodgson would need some investment in the summer in order to strengthen a squad that has had a net investment of just $97 million in the last five years.

Manchester United

Achievement: Champions League qualification

Manchester United met their objective by qualifying for the Champions League in third place. But they saw no increase in points tally from last season. They secured one win fewer compared to last season.

However, their defence improved largely this season conceding 18 goals fewer. Having spent $168 million on defensive signings last season, it was a result that was least expected.

United deserve credit for getting their transfers right last season, but a squad with a net spend of $627 million must be a lot closer to the top. Third (and being in the Champions League) should be minimum standards, as new recruit and captain Harry Maguire pointed out at the end of the campaign.

Brighton and Hove Albion

Achievement: Survival

Brighton just escaped relegation last term finishing in 17th position. Thus to finish in 15th place comfortably avoiding the drop this season should be considered a good achievement.

However considering the investment that has been made in the Brighton squad this season and in past, this would be the minimum expectation.

Newcastle United

Achievement: Survival

Newcastle United just about had a decent season ensuring Premier League survival in the backdrop of an impending takeover. The Magpies finished with almost the same points tally and occupied the same 13th place this season.

Better returns were expected with a transfer window spend of $84 million this season, but avoiding the drop was always the primary target.

Norwich City

A team that was relegated with just 21 points on board is certain to have a bad season, but Norwich City’s season must be judged with more perspective. Spending just $6 million after getting promoted to improve a squad that badly needed investment, was always asking for trouble.

The Norwich squad has been assembled while making a $32 million profit over the last five years. The Premier League is highly competitive and there’s no chance if a team doesn’t spend money especially coming from the Championship.

Despite the low investment, Norwich were a credit to the Premier League for the brand of football they played. The win over Manchester City will be a feather in their cap.

Misses

Arsenal

A dismal Arsenal side finished eighth in the Premier League this season to record their lowest league finish in 25 years. The Gunners fired Unai Emery before appointing Mikel Arteta mid-way through. There was improvement under the former Gunners midfielder but not enough to aid their fortunes.

Arsenal finished 14 points worse off than last season despite spending $178 million in the summer to add to a squad that has seen a net spend of $350 million in the last five years. Despite late flashes of brilliance, it was a campaign to forget at the Emirates stadium.

Manchester City

After setting really lofty standards, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City faltered this season to finish 18 points worse than the last campaign. City had six fewer wins this season and conceded 12 more goals.

City’s title defence was derailed by failure to win games when the going got tough, an exact trait that Liverpool embodied to win the league. Guardiola’s men either won handsomely or didn’t win.

For such an expensively assembled squad, anything apart from the winning the title is a failure.

Read: A Premier League season like no other: From Vardy to de Bruyne, a look at who topped the charts

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham salvaged their season by securing Europa League qualification but it can’t be considered a successful campaign for a team that played in the Champions League final last season. Spurs had seven fewer wins this season and regressed in every aspect. Things got slightly better after the arrival of Jose Mourinho, but not enough to salvage their season.

Spurs splashed a fair amount cash this season with a point costing them $3.38 million.

Everton

Everton had a forgettable campaign finishing in 12th position. Appointing Carlo Ancelotti to replace Marco Silva was a change that worked for a while, but the Toffees have been largely disappointing.

Everton spent $154 million last year and the return has been below par. Improvement can be expected under the first full season under Ancelotti, but the Italian has a massive rebuilding job on hands.

West Ham United

The Hammers finished six places below than they did last season and were involved in a relegation battle that they managed to escape. Manuel Pellegrini was sacked midway through the season and replaced by David Moyes. Overall it was a poor season where a Premier League point cost West Ham United $3.53 million, a figure greater than that of Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Aston Villa

Villa managed to survive in the Premier League campaign in their first season back in the top flight by just a point. It was a good achievement, but having signed 12 new players last summer, the Villains would have been expected to do slightly better. A point cost Villa $5.71 million last year. Their squad has been well invested over the last few years with a net spend of -$216 million in the last five years. Villa fans won’t care, in the immediate aftermath of celebrating another season in the league, but improvement will be needed next season.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth was a great story in the Premier League for the last five years. Eddie Howe got a team with limited resources playing good football in the top-flight and also managed to survive for four seasons. However, their fairytale ended mainly due to the lack of goals this season. A team relying on their attack to get them through was always going to struggle once the goals dried up.

Watford

Watford have had a disastrous campaign in every way. They finished eight places below in 2019-’20, registering 16 points fewer, scoring 16 goals fewer than last term. The Hornets sacked three managers during the course of the season, which certainly didn’t help their cause.

Notable mentions

Jose Mourinho - The Tottenham boss came under criticism for celebrating securing a Europa League finish after a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace on the final day. However, numbers suggest that the Portuguese manager might be justified expressing delight at his achievement.

Coming into the job with Tottenham lying 14th in the table, Mourinho guided the club to a sixth-place finish. Since his arrival, Spurs have accumulated 48 points in 27 matches. The points per match ratio of Spurs under Mourinho is higher than that of both Chelsea and Manchester United this season, suggesting that had Mourinho been in-charge of Spurs since the start, Spurs might as well have secured Champions League football.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - The Norwegian came under scrutiny after a poor start to the season, but the signing of Bruno Fernandes changed United’s season around. Solskjaer also got his other signings right as United finished the season strongly with a 14-match unbeaten run.

United were the best team in the league since the restart and Solskjaer has got the team playing a really attractive brand of football while also promoting youth. United’s performance may be categorised at par with expectations, but Solskjaer has certainly been a hit.

Manchester City’s attack - Manchester City may have fallen way short of Liverpool this season, but their attack was as scintillating as ever. City became the first team in English top-flight history to score a century of goals five times. City scored 102 goals this season which is the third-best tally in Premier League history. The team also had five different goal-scorers reach double figures. Guardiola’s men though are also the only team to not win the title after scoring over 100 goals: a fact that sums up their campaign.

(Stats Courtesy: Scroll.in research and Transfermarkt)