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Another Premier League season has now drawn to a close, with Chelsea claiming the title at a canter - seven points ahead of their nearest rivals Tottenham.
Manchester United and Arsenal both missed out on the top four while, at the other end of the table, Paul Clement guided Swansea to a miraculous escape from relegation at the expense of Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull.
As we bid farewell to another Premier League season, Sportsmail’s top team of reporters reveal their highs and lows of the campaign…
Describe the season in three words: Surprising. Unpredictable. Average.
Moment of the season: Hearing David Moyes say after Sunderland’s first home game of the season that his team were favourites to go down was an interesting way to start, while watching Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was hypnotic for all the wrong reasons.
But watching Liverpool and City go at each other at the Etihad in March was thrilling and a glimpse of what the Premier League may be like in years to come if coaches like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp stick around.
Unsung hero: Many people outside of Leicester wanted Craig Shakespeare to fail after the sacking of Claudio Ranieri. Someone - anyone – had to take the blame for Ranieri’s demise so why not make it the big bloke that nobody really knew anything about it?
As it turned out, Ranieri’s sacking proved to be the right move and Shakespeare the right man to replace him with. It is not over-stating the matter to say that Ranieri would have taken the Champions of England in to the Championship.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: From a personal point of view, choosing to go to Manchester City versus Stoke City (0-0) rather than Barcelona versus PSG (greatest comeback the world has ever known) was a particular highlight.
Away from that, watching Swansea under Bob Bradley was always ‘interesting’. Their 5-4 defeat of Crystal Palace in November was so bad it actually provided further evidence as to why the American should be sacked, even though they won the game.
Funniest thing you witnessed: Some of the protests against Arsene Wenger have been amusing, unintentionally so. Groups of teenagers hanging around with banners made by their mothers to sing rude songs about a manager who started to reshape their club before they were even born.
Watching Jose Mourinho whispering lessons about touchline etiquette in to the ear of Antonio Conte after Chelsea had whipped Manchester United 4-0 at Stamford Bridge was also hilarious.
One thing you’d like to see next season: The teams at the level beneath the top six simply must be more ambitious when they play the top teams at home.
Too many times I have watched teams with good players and supposedly progressive coaches sit back and invite the opposition on, as though hoping to get away with a draw or maybe a creditable defeat.
Home supporters deserve more than that, they deserve to see their team having a go. Some do it. Burnley, for example. Many simply do not.
Describe the season in three words: Status quo ante.
Moment of the season: Nemanja Matic’s unstoppable drive for Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final against Spurs. It’s easy to forget now but Chelsea were wobbling at the time and that victory halted Spurs’ momentum. Chelsea never looked back.
Unsung hero: Paul Clement. He hasn’t had quite the credit he deserves for dragging Swansea off the bottom of the table when he took over at the start of the year and saving them from relegation.
Swansea are a fine club and the Premier League is better for having a team from South Wales in it. Their survival is down to Clement.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: When Hull City sold two of their best players, Robert Snodgrass and Jake Livermore, in the January transfer window.
If they’d kept them, they would have stayed up. Symptomatic of ownership that has let the fans down.
Funniest thing you witnessed: The Diego Costa fire extinguisher press conference at the Hawthorns after Chelsea had won the title.
Costa was so wired he pointed a fire extinguisher at the press during Antonio Conte’s presser and then started doing pull ups on some makeshift scaffolding in the room. It was a small insight into what it must be like to manage him.
One thing you’d like to see next season: I’m looking forward to seeing cheats given retrospective two-game bans for diving and the contortions their managers go through to insist they are innocent. The FA are to be applauded for the move. It’s a no-brainer.
Describe the season in three words: Didn’t meet expectations.
Moment of the season: Two ways of looking at this question. The first would be Antonio Conte’s elated reaction after Chelsea had effectively clinched clinch the title at Goodison Park. There, in a nutshell, was pride and delight.
The second would be Pep Guardiola’s explosion in the tunnel at Anfield after Manchester City had lost. Absolutely dramatic.
Unsung hero: Too many to mention at the clubs on Merseyside. The work that goes on behind the scenes at Anfield and Goodison Park should not be underestimated. These are the people who make matchdays happen.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: ‘The next two games are meaningless,’ said Jose Mourinho as the campaign drew to a close. How is it possible for the manager of Manchester United to be so disrespectful of a competition his club have dominated.
His willingness to engage in squabbles, his desire to moan and complain and gripe has become tedious. He’s looked miserable for much of the season and his attitude must be improved.
Funniest thing you witnessed: The look of absolute incredulity on Ronald Koeman’s face three days before Christmas when he realised he was going to have to drink his favourite red wine from a small plastic cup you would get from a water cooler rather than a proper glass. Koeman isn’t a man accustomed to dropping his personal standards!
One thing you’d like to see next season: It would have to be Tottenham winning something. We all know they are brilliant, we all know this is the best squad the club has assembled since the 1980s. Now let them collect some silverware to get the recognition they deserve.
Describe the season in three words: Antonio > Pep + Jose.
Moment of the season: Mesut Ozil sprints away from a flailing N’Golo Kante to exchange passes with Alexis Sanchez for 3-0 as rampant Arsenal terrify Chelsea back in September. It felt significant. It was. Just not in the way we all thought.
Unsung hero: Gylfi Sigurdsson. 13 assists, 10 goals and some superb free kicks: when you play that well in a team which is fighting relegation, you have something special.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: Jose Mourinho telling us how hard done by his was with fixtures and injuries; Arsene Wenger explaining how the two games Arsenal play after Christmas in the Champions League every year mean that their schedule is so much tougher than teams likes Chelsea who have no European football and thus have a free shot at the title.
Funniest thing you witnessed: A corridor at the Hawthorns, shortly before midnight. Diego Costa picks up a fire extinguisher, aims it at my colleague from The Sun.
Said colleagues grins nervously (he wouldn’t, would he?) as another colleague from the Sunday Mirror eyes his newly-purchased Mac, about to covered in foam, with a look of anguish.
Chelsea’s director of media looks horrified and then stern, like a head teacher. Diego Costa grins, relents and puts down said fire extinguisher. David Luiz groans. John Terry looks relieved.
Antonio Conte continues his briefing to journalists before finally departing and allowing the bus to head to a central London bar…
One thing you’d like to see next season: Eddie Howe takes over as manager of Monaco and leads them to the Champions League quarter finals to be followed the season after by Paul Clement landing the Porto job and winning the Europa League with them. English coaches giving it a go abroad.
Describe the season in three words: Big-boys. Are. Back.
Moment of the season: Michy Batshuayi’s title-winning goal against West Brom. Despite costing £32million, the Belgian hardly had a kick all season. But he mustered the most decisive touch of all at the Hawthorns.
Unsung hero: Victor Wanyama. At £11m to be one of the most value for money signings in Premier League history. Quietly went about his business in Tottenham’s central midfield. Mauricio Pochettino knows all about his contribution, though.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: I was at Vicarage Road for Emre Can’s breathtaking bicycle kick winner for Liverpool against Watford. It was one of those ‘I was there’ moments.
But I was rummaging round in my bag looking for my laptop charger as Can launched himself up into the air to score of the goals of the season. Doh!
Funniest thing you witnessed: I wasn’t at Turf Moor for this but I wish I was. Charlie Adam wheeling back to take a corner, tripping up, inadvertently touching the ball with his knee and then purposely handling the ball to give away a free kick has been dubbed the ‘worst corner of all time’. But really, it’s the best corner of all time. Classic comedy.
One thing you’d like to see next season: English clubs showing improvement in the Champions League. It’s been another season of disappointment for the Premier League’s elite. Are we really that far behind? It’s time to show the rest of Europe what we’re made of.
Describe the season in three words: All about Chelsea.
Moment of the season: Andy Carroll’s stunning execution of a scissor kick for West Ham against Crystal Palace. A privilege to see it live.
Unsung hero: Cesar Azpilicueta. A brilliant professional who does his job to the maximum efficiency.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: Too many to mention at the London Stadium. Five for City, five for Arsenal, four for Liverpool. Must do better.
Funniest thing you witnessed: This might be cruel, it probably is… I do have some friends who are Spurs fans. Oh, what the hell? Beating Spurs 1-0 at the London Stadium. ‘It’s happening again…’ repeat.
Actually, I think Dele Alli and Harry Kane have been brilliant this season and Spurs have played the best football but they didn’t show up on that Friday night.
One thing you’d like to see next season: Personally, West Ham to show faith in Slaven Bilic and improve their recruitment, buy some pace for the team and settle in at home.
On a wider point, England to qualify for the World Cup and Harry Kane to arrive in Russia refreshed and ready to lead the attack. A World Cup golden boot to match his Premier League golden boots.
Describe the season in three words: One long procession.
Moment of the season: Half-time in the Emirates away dressing room on September 24. Trailing 3-0 to Arsenal, Antonio Conte switched Chelsea to the back-three system and did not see his team conceded again in the Premier League for 595 minutes.
It was the point when the title race changed from an intriguing battle between a group to a crushing march by one.
Unsung hero: Sean Dyche. Keeping a club of Burnley’s stature and means in the Premier League is a superb achievement. Doing so with something to spare is worthy of more praise than has so far been afforded.
Dyche is omnipotent at Burnley, meticulous in creating a team greater than the sum of its parts, and always speaking with refreshing candour.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: At Euston Station on February 23 around 7.30pm, having arrived back from Seville that afternoon, to be informed Claudio Ranieri had lost his job.
It was a case of jumping off the train that was about to depart and into a branch of Leon to make calls and file a piece. The situation had been bubbling for weeks but the timing was a shock.
Funniest thing you witnessed: The look on Jesse Lingard’s face when Zlatan Ibrahimovic came flying through the air after scoring at the Hawthorns is priceless. It is the momentary fear, the clasped hands, then the realisation the Swede’s studs are not arrowing towards his head that makes it chuckle-worthy on repeat viewings.
Danny Simpson’s Twitter barbs with Jamie Carragher were also amusing, and fair play to the Leicester defender, who always fronts up, for having a laugh about it in the King Power mixed zone.
One thing you’d like to see next season: A proper title race. That was the prospect last summer with the arrival to Manchester of Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp’s first Liverpool pre-season, and Tottenham a year wiser under Mauricio Pochettino but those who trailed in Chelsea’s wake have no excuses next summer.
Watching a battle between two or three clubs all the way to the final end would be wish No 1.
Describe the season in three words: Tactical, taxing, top-heavy.
Moment of the season: The incident that changed everything was Kevin De Bruyne hitting the crossbar from a couple of yards for Manchester City against Chelsea.
The tap-in would have put City 2-0 up, instead they lost December’s game 3-1 and history shows the destination of the title settled.
Unsung hero: Unsung? In these over-hyped times, you’ve got to be kidding. So let’s go for unsung heroes (and heroines), the supporters of Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland who travelled home and away, and will do the same in The Championship next season.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: Every time a Manchester United player claims they have won two trophies already this season, thereby lifting a pre-season kickabout against Leicester to the status of the World Cup.
It’s embarrassing for a club of their stature, no need to do it, you’re a big club without boasting about the Community Shield.
Funniest thing you witnessed: Heard rather than witnessed. Paul Merson’s rant about Marco Silva’s appointment at Hull because he was a foreigner with no Premier League management experience, and then suggesting they should have given the job to Thierry Henry. Almost as funny as Victor Anichebe pretending he writes his own tweets.
One thing you’d like to see next season: The Premier League to stop being so aggressive in trying to destroy the FA Cup. Last season they placed a full round of fixtures the midweek after cup ties and then played innocent as managers like Jurgen Klopp got hammered for making changes for FA Cup games.
The way governing bodies try to undermine other competitions with no regard for the good of the sport leaves an unpleasant taste.
Describe the season in three words: London beats Manchester.
Moment of the season: It’s been a cow’s backside of a year for Sunderland but the club and Jermain Defoe deserve credit for their efforts to help brave little warrior Bradley Lowery.
His smiling face, despite what he’s going through, encapsulates the power of football.
Unsung hero: Tony Pulis. The West Brom manager has performed a minor miracle this season, given what he has had to work with. The Baggies should have been relegation candidates and yet raced to safety.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: When the FA panicked and sacked Sam Allardyce, robbing us of what I think could have been something interesting and the first manager in years to have pride in the blazer. An overreaction, for me.
Funniest thing you witnessed: All the way back to July and the unlikely setting of Aussie Rules side Hawthorn’s former Waverley Park home. Spurs’ touring party were getting a taste of the place when ambassador Ledley King picked up an oval ball and gave it a good welly - unintentionally sending it right into the lens of an unsuspecting cameraman.
One thing you’d like to see next season: Instant yellow cards for anyone who takes the ball to the corner flag to waste time. Blatant, undiluted time wasting. And while we’re at it a ban on the ‘by far the greatest team’ chant. You’re not.
Describe the season in three words: Conte Kante Canter.
Moment of the season: Jose Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge and the subsequent humiliation in a 4-0 defeat told us inside 30 seconds where Chelsea were heading under Antonio Conte and that Manchester United’s path to post-Ferguson redemption would be long and thorny.
Mourinho, rest assured, will not forget the gloating that transpired that day. It’s a managerial dual that may only just be getting started. Lincoln’s stunning FA Cup run was also invigorating.
Unsung hero: Cesar Azpilicueta has demonstrated remarkable consistency at Chelsea, becoming only the fourth player to play every minute of a Premier League title winning season.
Gary Pallister, John Terry and Wes Morgan were the previous three. Azpilicueta is truly one of the best imports into English football. It also seems bizarre to say it but I don’t think we appreciate enough the unbelievable work Mauricio Pochettino is doing with those young English players at Tottenham. Now can they do it for England too, please.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: Arsenal Fan TV’s foul-mouthed tirades towards the club’s greatest manager. The crass aeroplane stunts that undermined the club’s greatest manager.
The toxic treatment that has become the norm for Arsene Wenger. I happen to believe his time has passed but there is a way to treat somebody and particularly a man as fine as Wenger. A mention, too, for Dimitri Payet’s selfish and lame getaway routine in January.
The Premier League lost a star and Payet lost his integrity. Oh, and Leicester’s ability to switch it on in the blink of an eye once Claudio Ranieri left was dispiriting.
Funniest thing you witnessed: Granit Xhaka contriving to get booked against both Sutton United and Lincoln City was quite the achievement. Will someone please rein the boy in? Oh, and come on, Claudio Bravo, you were Barcelona’s number one! You’ve played at World Cups! What went wrong?
One thing you’d like to see next season: The final day had so little riding on it yet it became exciting as every game was played at the same time. Goals galore, talking points, chaos rather than stagnant order.
It felt throwback, nostalgic and the closest to anarchy that my life ever gets. Do it four or five times a season and with games really matter and we may just be on to something. Good luck getting that one by the television companies.
Describe the season in three words: A damp squib.
Moment of the season: Everton’s 6-3 win over Bournemouth was fabulous. Gung-ho, both flying forward in the second half. Defensively shambolic, but who cares? One of those days when you remember why football is such a universally loved sport. A big afternoon for Josh King that as well, with his reputation soaring afterwards.
Unsung hero: Ben Mee. The majority of praise for Burnley’s magnificent achievement in staying up has been thrown in Michael Keane’s direction, and the Man United target has been excellent, but his central defensive partner’s consistency is too easily overlooked. A real warrior for Sean Dyche and key that they keep hold of him.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: John Terry’s send-off was so twee, and everything to emerge surrounding it saw more than a few heads shaking. His idea to come off after 26 minutes? Sunderland agreeing to kick the ball out? A guard of honour for a substitution? Rubbish. One for the bin.
Funniest thing you witnessed: Spotted ‘Mr Manchester United’ when driving into Carrington a couple of months ago. The Bulgarian was hanging around outside the training ground gates in the hope of stopping some players on their way out.
A sight to behold, he’s legally changed his name and has United’s crest tattooed on his forehead. Yep. Great to see he actually exists.
One thing you’d like to see next season: The whole division to become more competitive. There’s been such a gulf in quality this season, teams at the bottom just not making a fist of it, and some games have been painful to watch. It’d be nice for the two Manchester clubs to have a proper run at the title, too.
Describe the season in three words: Lucrative. Tactical. Managerial.
Moment of the season: The moment of the season was at half time in Arsenal vs Chelsea on September 24. The visitors are 3-0 down and Antonio Conte decides it’s time to give that back three he’s been considering a go. It shaped the way the season has went since.
Unsung hero: Cesar Azpilicueta. I’m convinced this chap could do a job in almost any position, such is his work rate.
He played every single minute of every single match this season for Chelsea. Diego Costa has stolen some of the headlines, so too Eden Hazard, likewise N’Golo Kante – but do not underestimate Azpilicueta.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: A personal one – I was on a train heading back to London after covering a game at Bournemouth when I found out that my team Hartlepool United had taken the lead on the season’s last day, meaning we were safe as it stood with only minutes to go.
Then I lose signal. Ten minutes later, I get it back… only to discover Newport County scored to send us down to the National League. Gutting.
Funniest thing you witnessed: I was at Swansea vs Burnley and Sean Dyche was asked for his thoughts on Anthony Taylor, the referee who made a high-profile mistake after having held his stag do in Marbella in the build-up to the match.
That’s when Dyche revealed himself to be a TOWIE fan. ‘As long as he stayed off the carbs,’ Dyche told us. ‘Because it’s no carbs before Marbs.’ I then had to explain what it meant to several older colleagues at the Liberty Stadium.
One thing you’d like to see next season: Apart from Hartlepool bouncing back? Or Tony Adams in the Premier League? I’d like to see northern clubs halt the decline, or at least try. Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull all went down this season. It’s a sad state of affairs for the area. The Premier League power has shifted to the south, it seems.
Describe the season in three words: I cover the North-East (and Hull), so I’ll go for these three… Relegation. Relegation. Relegation.
Moment of the season: From a personal perspective, it was witnessing a masterclass from Zlatan Ibrahimovic during Manchester United’s 3-0 victory at Sunderland last month.
He was irresistible that day. The entire game revolved around him, even though he barely moved. It was a pleasure to see him in the flesh at his very best, for I’m convinced he actually did get better with age.
Unsung hero: Victor Wanyama. What a signing he has proved for Spurs at just £11m. Team-mates Dele Alli and Eric Dier often win more plaudits, but Wanyama is a class act in the heart of their midfield.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: It was a late entry, but John Terry’s 26th-minute send-off on the final day of the season and Sunderland’s willingness to play along in the charade was embarrassing.
Funniest thing you witnessed: I didn’t find this that funny, but my colleagues certainly did. And that was when Jurgen Klopp questioned my knowledge of football.
‘Have you ever played in the shorts?’ he somewhat bizarrely growled at me after a 2-2 draw at Sunderland in early January. ‘Are you really starting the new year with this question?’. Walter Zenga also did a similar thing after a Wolves game at Newcastle. Perhaps they’re onto something…
One thing you’d like to see next season: Spurs win the league. I love their team. From one to eleven there is something to admire about each player, not least England duo Dele Alli and Harry Kane. They are good enough to take club and country to another level in the coming years.
Describe the season in three words: Not the best.
Moment of the season: Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick was one of those truly special goals. The Frenchman finished off an Arsenal breakaway that swept up the pitch with an incredible flick of his back heel that was almost at his shoulder.
Unsung hero: Cesar Azpilicueta. For all the talk of N’Golo Kante, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, defender Azpilicueta played in every single minute of every single Premier League match during their title-winning campaign.
Either at right back early in the season or part of a central three, he was the only player not to miss a minute.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: John Terry choreographing his own substitution in the 26th minute of his final Chelsea game to correspond to his shirt number; that Antonio Conte and Sunderland agreed; that the official time of his substitution was actually 28 minutes, anyway. It makes a mockery of the game.
Funniest thing you witnessed: Arsenal fans flying not one but two planes over the Hawthorns in March, the first proclaiming ‘No Contract #Wenger Out’ closely followed by another declaring: ‘In Arsene We Trust #RespectAW.’
At least the second bunch had fully grasped how hashtags work. Arsenal had as many planes flying over the stadium as they mustered shots on target and they lost 3-1.
One thing you’d like to see next season: A couple of random teams break the status quo and finish in the top four. It would be great if, for example, Stoke and Burnley finished second and fourth and qualified for the Champions League to really shake-up the Premier League. Leicester proved it can be done.
Describe the season in three words: Very. Long. Indeed.
Moment of the season: Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick goal for Arsenal against Crystal Palace on New Year’s Day edges out Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s similar effort for Manchester United a week earlier because the Frenchman started the incisive move with a lovely flick inside his own half – and, unlike Mkhitarayan, was onside when he finished it.
Unsung hero: Craig Shakespeare. Leicester fans mourn the loss of Claudio Ranieri despite their perilous position when he was sacked in February, but Shakespeare did a magnificent job in steadying the ship and guiding the struggling Premier League champions to 12th.
Moment that left you with your head in your hands: The unveiling of Paul Pogba’s Twitter emoji during Manchester United’s game with Liverpool at Old Trafford in January. This fixture is meant to be about the very essence of English football’s tribal rivalry, not an opportunity to boost your following on social media.
Funniest thing you witnessed: Pep Guardiola’s bemused reaction to being told about criticism from Stan Collymore. The former England striker may be a household name on these shores, but his five-week career in Spain with Real Oviedo appeared to have passed Guardiola by.
One thing you’d like to see next season: A ban on choreographed goal celebrations. It’s nearly 23 years since Bebeto and his Brazil teammates did his famous ‘baby cradle’ routine at the 1994 World Cup.
His son has just signed for Sporting Lisbon, for goodness sake. Score a goal, stick your arm in the air, and get back in your own half.
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