Premier League, 2019 (2018-19)

Premier League - Season Review 2018-19

  • 2018-19 was the Premier League's 27th season.
  • Manchester City became the first defending champions to retain their crown since Manchester United in 2009.
  • City won their fourth Premier League title and their sixth all-time top division title as they became the first team to complete a domestic treble including the FA Cup and League Cup.
  • City had to win all their last 14 games of the season before their prize was confirmed on the final day with 98 points (a tally of 198 out of a possible 228 points over the last two seasons).
  • Liverpool finished runners-up with 97 points, having lost only one game. It was the highest total in top division history for a second-placed team and, with 97 points, they would have been crowned champions in all but one of the 26 previous seasons (100 points by Manchester City in 2017-18).
  • Manchester City and Liverpool's combined total of 195 points became the most by the top two teams at the end of a top division season.
  • Chelsea finished 25 points behind Liverpool in third place, despite an outstanding start as Maurizio Sarri's Blues remained unbeaten in his first 12 Premier League games, a record for a manager at the start of his career in the competition.
  • Tottenham Hotspur opened their new stadium in April, finishing in fourth position although they reached their first UEFA Champions League Final, facing Liverpool in Madrid.
  • Spurs also set a new competition record of going 28 games without a draw from the start of the season.
  • Arsenal were fifth but, in the first post-Arsene Wenger season under Unai Emery, they also had the consolation of an all-England UEFA Europa League Final with London neighbours Chelsea in Baku.
  • Manchester United completed the top six with a mixed season. Their worst start in 28 years led to the dismissal of manager Jose Mourinho. As caretaker, former Red Devil Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became the first-ever United manager to win his first six league games in charge. Their form slumped again after his permanent appointment as they finished 32 points behind City; the most they had finished behind the top division champions since they were relegated to League Division Two in 1974.
  • Newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers achieved their highest finishing position since 1980 and their seventh place earned qualification to the following season's UEFA Europa League.
  • The total of 1,072 goals scored became the most in a 20-team Premier League season.
  • In October, Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a helicopter crash outside the King Power Stadium. Three months later, Cardiff City's new record signing Emiliano Sala died on board a light aircraft that crashed off Alderney en route from Nantes.
  • Cardiff's became the first team to have played in at least two Premier League seasons and been relegated each time.
  • At 16 years and 30 days, Fulham's Harvey Elliott became the youngest-ever Premier League player, breaking the record previously held by Matthew Briggs, also of Fulham, in May 2007 (16 years and 68 days).
  • Huddersfield Town's two-year stint in the division ended with a whimper. Only Derby County in 2007-08 (11) and Sunderland in 2005-06 (15) accrued fewer points in a completed season in the Premier League than the Terriers (16).
  • Shane Long scored the quickest-ever Premier League goal when he scored after 7.69 seconds against Watford.
  • Pep Guardiola was named Premier League Manager of the Year for the second year in a row.
  • Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk won the Premier League Player of the Season award as well as the PFA Players' Player award.
  • Raheem Sterling of Manchester City was named PFA Young Player of the Year and Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year.
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