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English Premier League 2021/22 Season Review

English Premier League 2021/22 Season Review

Liverpool were 14 points behind City by January 15 but bravely rallied back to take the title race to the final matchday

The 2021/22 English Premier League season ended with Manchester City emerging as champions, dramatically clinching the title on the final day of the season.

Manchester City were pushed throughout by Liverpool till the end but Pep Guardiola’s side showed remarkable grit, determination and consistency to emerge victorious.

The Cityzens had won the title in 2020/21 with 86 points, but had to step up significantly in order to defend their crown. They racked up 93 points in 2021/22.

They were forced to maintain those high standards by an equally relentless Liverpool side who lost only 2 matches throughout the season — City lost 3.

Jurgen Klopp’s side were 14 points behind City by January 15 but bravely rallied back to take the title race to the final matchday — ultimately missing out by JUST A SINGLE POINT!

Chelsea and Tottenham finished in 3rd and 4th place respectively to complete the top four while Norwich, Watford and Burnley got relegated.

FootballOrbit presents you with a review of the 2021/22 EPL season.

Norwich, Watford and Brentford.

Signings


Romelu Lukaku rejoined Chelsea on a club-record deal from Inter Milan, Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Manchester United from Juventus and Jack Grealish made a British-record £100m move from Aston Villa to Manchester City.

Other notable transfers were Ashley Young from Inter to Aston Villa, Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig to Liverpool and Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane to Man Utd from Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively.

Return of fans


Full crowds returned to the stadiums for the first time since March 2020.

Brief summary of the season


Brentford announced their arrival in the top flight with a famous 2-0 home win over Arsenal, followed by draws against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.

Manchester City began the season with a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspurs but quickly bounced back with back-to-back 5-0 victories against Norwich and Arsenal.

Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and West Ham United also started the season strongly, they all earned 7 points from their opening three matches.

Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford after 12 years and marked his second debut in style, scoring twice in a 4-1 home win over Newcastle.

Tottenham won their first three matches in August without conceding a goal. But endured a miserable September, losing successive London derbies matches against Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal — conceding three goals in each contest.

In the same month, Man City made a huge statement of intent with a 1-0 win at title rivals and European champions Chelsea. Guardiola’s side followed it up with a thrilling 2-2 draw against Liverpool at Anfield — where City fought back twice.

Salah’s sensational solo effort to put Liverpool 2-1 ahead vs City was eventually voted as the Goal of the Season.

https://twitter.com/AnfieldWatch/status/1526321016082923521?t=CqLi_vouIEag9GAsnQsqGg&s=19

It was a goals galore in Matchday 9, as 40 goals were scored across 10 fixtures — just 3 short of the competition’s record of 43 netted in February 2011.

Chelsea hit Norwich City for 7, Man City won 4-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion, and Watford stunned Everton with a 5-2 victory at Goodison Park.

That same weekend, Salah scored an hat-trick to inspire Liverpool to an amazing 5-0 victory against Man Utd at Old Trafford.

Thereafter, Man U defeated Tottenham 3-0 — ending Nuno Espirito Santo’s spell as head coach of Spurs, but United then lost 2-0 at home to Man City.

Following a 4-1 loss to Watford in November, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked by the Red Devils and was replaced by Ralf Rangnick — who was appointed as interim coach for the rest of the season.

Elsewhere, Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard was named as manager of Aston Villa — replacing Dean Smith, who joined Norwich.

Newcastle United — who were battling relegation under Steve Bruce — got purchased by a Saudi Arabia-led consortium in a £300m deal. The new owners brought in former Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, to prevent the team from getting relegated.

Howe incredibly took the Magpies from 19th to a final position of 11th. He should have won the Manager of the Season award.

Man City embarked on a 12-match winning run (that their nearest rivals, Chelsea and Liverpool, could not keep up with) to gain a stranglehold in the title race.

City’s run took them 13 points clear at the top of the table and 14 ahead of Liverpool — who had two matches in hand.

Liverpool responded with a remarkable run of their own, winning all 10 matches from January 16 to April 2 and astonishingly reducing City’s 14-points lead to just one point ahead of the two team’s meeting at the Etihad Stadium.

In the said game, it was Liverpool who twice came from behind this time around in another exhilarating 2-2 draw.

Intriguing battles elsewhere in the league were also taking place, with the race for Europe and battle against relegation.

With Chelsea in 3rd place, Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham and Man U were fighting to claim the fourth and final UEFA Champions League place.

At the opposite end of of the table, Norwich, Watford, Burnley, Everton and Leeds United were involved in an epic relegation battle.

With only four matches to go, Man City and Liverpool were still only separated by a point.

Arsenal also held the last UEFA Champions League spot but were only two points ahead of Tottenham. The north London derby proved to be decisive as Spurs beat the Gunners 3-0 to leapfrog them, before winning their final matches to eventually secure 4th place ahead of Mikel Arteta’s side.

At the bottom, Norwich and Watford suffered early relegation, instantly returning back to the 2nd division after just a single season.

Frank Lampard’s Everton were in danger of getting relegated from the Premier League for the first time in their history as they were in the final relegation spot — two points behind Leeds and Burnley, but with an outstanding match in hand.

But Everton fought spiritedly to ultimately secure safety with a match to spare, recovering from two goals down to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 in an epic home game at Goodison Park.

Final Day

The final day of the title race summed up a thrilling season full of twists and turns.

Man City needed a home win against an Aston Villa team managed by former Liverpool player Gerrard.

Villa shockingly took a 2-0 lead while Liverpool were drawing 1-1 with Wolverhampton Wanderers and looking for a title-winning goal.

But Manchester City produced an incredible turnaround, scoring three times in six minutes, with substitute Ilkay Gundogan netting twice to seal a dramatic 3-2 win — bringing back memories of the famous title win in 2012 where Sergio Aguero netted one of the most epic and dramatic last-minute goals in football history.

Liverpool ultimately won their match 3-1 but had to settle for second place with 92 points!

A similar drama happened in the relegation battle.

In the final minutes, Burnley were trailing 2-1 against Newcastle but pushing for an equaliser which would have relegated Leeds — who were drawing 1-1 with Brentford.

But Burnley could not get their goal, and Jack Harrison’s stoppage-time winner secured Premier League survival for Leeds in dramatic fashion.

Monthly awards

August


Player of the Month: Michail Antonio (Westham United)
Manager of the Month: Nuno Espírito Santo (Tottenham)
Goal of the Month: Danny Ings (Aston Villa)

September


Player of the Month: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Manager of the Month: Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)
Goal of the Month: Andros Townsend (Everton)

October


Player of the Month: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Manager of the Month: Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea)
Goal of the Month: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

November

Player of the Month: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Manager of the Month: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)
Goal of the Month: Rodri (Manchester City)

December


Player of the Month: Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Manager of the Month: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)
Goal of the Month: Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal)

January


Player of the Month: David De Gea (Manchester United)
Manager of the Month: Bruno Lage (Wolves)
Goal of the Month: Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea)

February


Player of the Month: Joel Matip (Liverpool)
Manager of the Month: Eddie Howe (Newcastle United)
Goal of the Month: Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)

March


Player of the Month: Harry Kane (Tottenham)
Manager of the Month: Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)
Goal of the Month: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

April


Player of the Month: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Manager of the Month: Michael Jackson (Burnley)
Goal of the Month: Miguel Almiron (Newcastle United)

Season Awards

Player of the Season: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City

Manager of the Season: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)

Young Player of the Season: Phil Foden (Manchester City)

Goal of the Season: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) vs Manchester City

Golden Boot (Topscorer): Heung-Min Son (Tottenham) & Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) 23 goals

Most Assists: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) 13

Golden Glove: Allison (Liverpool) & Ederson ( Manchester City) 20 clean sheets each

Save of the Season: Jordan Pickford (Everton) vs Chelsea

Record that were broken/set in the 2021/22 English Premier League season

Most goal combinations
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min combined to score for the 37th time in the Premier League. Breaking the record that was set by Chelsea greats Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard.

Longest unbeaten away run
Manchester United went 29 matches unbeaten away from home. The run — which had started in February 2020 — ended with a 4-2 defeat at Leicester City in October 2021.

Consecutive goals against one team
Sadio Mane became the first player to score in 9 consecutive matches against a single opponent in the Premier League. Crystal Palace are the team the Liverpool star loves to face, with the run starting in August 2017 and being further extended this season in a 3-0 win at Anfield last September.

Most assists in a match
On the opening weekend of the campaign, Paul Pogba provided 4 assists in a 5-1 win against Leeds United — becoming the 7th player in EPL history to do so after Dennis Bergkamp, Jose Antonio Reyes, Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor, Santi Cazorla and Harry Kane.

Longest unbeaten home run by a player
Virgil van Dijk went through the entire 2021/22 season unbeaten at Anfield to set a record for the most home fixtures for one club without ever losing (64 matches).

Fewest home defeats in a season
Liverpool made Anfield a fortress during the 2021/22 campaign and did not lose a single match at home. A total of 15 matches were won, with only 4 drawn.

Most home defeats in a season
Watford lost 15 home matches at Vicarage Road in 2021/22. Their defeats were the most of any side in a single campaign and the 11 losses in a row they recorded were also a first. The 46 goals the Hornets let in at home were also a record.

Most individuals goals away from home
Kane overtook Wayne Rooney as the highest goalscorer in Premier League away matches, netting his 95th goal in Spurs’ 2-0 win against Brighton. He finished the season on 96 away goals.

Home comforts
Mane has not lost any of the 52 Premier League home matches in which he has scored (47 wins, 5 draws) — the best such unbeaten record in the competition’s history.

Latest win
Spurs triumphed over Leicester 3-2 despite trailing after 94 minutes and 52 seconds. That beat Man City’s incredible title-winning victory over QPR in 2012 (91:14) as the latest a team has been losing but gone on to win in a Premier League match.

Most Player of the Season awards
By claiming the Player of the Season award, Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne joined Arsenal icon Thierry Henry, former Man Utd captain Nemanja Vidic and Cristiano Ronaldo to have won the accolade twice.

Most Player of the Month awards
Harry Kane joined Man City legend, Sergio Aguero, in winning the Player of the Month for a 7th time, after claiming the Player of the Month award in March 2022.

30,000th Premier League goal
Chris Wood scored the 30,000th goal in the competition when he netted for Burnley in a 1-1 draw at home to Leeds United in August.

Clubs relegated the most times
Norwich City were relegated to the Championship in 2021/22, the 6th time they have been relegated from the Premier League (1994/95, 2004/05, 2013/14, 2015/16, 2019/20 and 2021/22).

Longevity
With his strike in Leicester’s 2-0 win at Burnley, Jamie Vardy broke Ian Wright’s record as the player with the most Premier League goals after the age of 30. He now has 94.

Most yellow cards in a season
Leeds became the first team to receive 101 yellow cards over the course of a season.

Final-day joy
Spurs striker Kane scored his 9th goal on the final day of a Premier League season, the joint-most goals scored on the final day in the competition’s history alongside Andrew Cole and Les Ferdinand.

Most away wins
In beating Brentford 3-1, Man Utd became the first Premier League club to win 300 away matches.

London away supremacy
Chelsea became the first team to win 7 consecutive away London derbies in English Football League history with their 1-0 victory at Brentford.

First-half defence
Chelsea became the first team in Premier League history to go through a whole season without ever being behind at half-time.

Longest time between appearances
Ronaldo broke Damien Delaney’s record (11 years and 155 days) for the biggest gap between Premier League appearances. When the Portuguese made his second Man Utd debut in a 4-1 win over Newcastle on September 11 2021, it was 12 years and 118 days since his previous top-flight appearance in May 2009.

Newly promoted teams for the 2022/23 Premier League Season

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