🦁 What we learned about every Premier League club in 2020/21 | OneFootball

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Joel Sanderson-Murray·28 May 2021

🦁 What we learned about every Premier League club in 2020/21

Article image:🦁 What we learned about every Premier League club in 2020/21

The 2020/21 season has drawn to a close.

Here is what we learned about every Premier League club.


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Arsenal

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Arsenal supporters will start next season with no European football for the first time since 1995/1996, and the truth is we are still unsure what type of football Mikel Arteta wants from this squad.

The emergence of Emile Smith-Rowe and Bukayo Saka’s progress offer bright glimpses into the future for the Gunners, and they finished the season with five straight wins, which suggests whatever the Spaniard is trying might be starting to get through.


Aston Villa

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An 11th-placed finish might represent some disappointment for Villa considering they were in the conversation for a European place early on in the season.

Jack Grealish has developed into one of the best players in the country, while Ollie Watkins looks to be developing into one of the most exciting strikers in the division.

There was a time earlier on in the season where the Villains were one of the most attractive teams to watch and although that tailed off towards the end, there’s no doubting the progress made under Dean Smith.


Brighton and Hove Albion

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The kings of the underlying numbers.

Brighton have become a lot more attractive to watch but results haven’t necessarily improved substantially under Graham Potter.

They survived relegation comfortably in the end but the Seagulls’ lack of a ruthless goalscorer was evident throughout.


Burnley

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Sean Dyche has worked miracles yet again by keeping the Clarets in the top flight for a fifth successive season.

But this has been their toughest campaign for some time and 17th represented their lowest finish since returning to the Premier League in 2016. Burnley have new owners in ALK Capital, who are reportedly ready to give Dyche money to spend, a potential huge summer awaits.


Chelsea

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Chelsea started this season with a club legend in charge and end it in an unexpected Champions League final with a new guy at the helm.

Thomas Tuchel has a resounding impact since arriving in January and this campaign could turn out to be one the greatest in the memories of supporters, but the Blues very nearly slipped out of the top four on the final day with defeat to Aston Villa.

The former PSG head coach has made Chelsea solid in defence — they have earned 12 clean sheets in the league since his arrival — but getting a consistent tune out of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz in attack will be the German’s next big test.


Crystal Palace

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Roy Hodgson’s five-year spell at the club ends with the Eagles sitting comfortably in 13th but a new era is about to dawn on Selhurst Park.

Around 16 first-team squad members are out of contract in July and a new manager also needs to be found. It’s going to be a busy summer at Palace and there are a lot of big decisions to get right.

Eberechi Eze was an inspired young signing from QPR and his long-term injury will be a massive blow.


Everton

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The Toffees began the season with high expectations with Carlo Ancelotti in the dugout and the huge summer signing of James Rodríguez.

Everton looked capable of gatecrashing the top six for large periods of the season but ended the campaign in 10th after just three wins in their last 12 games.

Ancelotti masterminded a first Merseyside Derby win at Anfield since 1999 to go alongside huge wins at Arsenal and Tottenham, but home defeats against the likes of Burnley, Fulham, Newcastle and Sheffield United point to where the problem lies.


Fulham

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A 1-0 win at Liverpool on March 7 suggested the Cottagers were about to give the relegation dogfight a real go but they failed to win any of their 10 games following that.

Scott Parker managed to make his team solid at the back but their lack of goal scorer sealed their fate, where they managed just 27 goals in their 38 games.

Fulham go down with a whimper, just like last time.


Leeds United

Leeds have been a welcome addition back to the Premier League.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side have played exciting football, sprinted more than any other team and became more solid as the season went on.

Wins over Manchester City and Tottenham as well as holding the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United to draws represents a solid return to the big time, capped off by a top-half finish.


Leicester City

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The disappointment of missing out on Champions League qualification for a second consecutive season in similar circumstances will still be raw but this was the second best season in the history of the club.

Brendan Rodgers led the Foxes to their first ever FA Cup win, and their ability to flip between being able to control possession and counter-attack at will was a big factor in their success.


Liverpool

Liverpool lost Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez to season-ending injuries and ended up  playing their sixth and seventh choice centre-backs, which saw their title defence descend into chaos.

There’s a school of thought that you learn more about a team when it’s not going well as opposed to when it’s all rosey in the garden, and maybe Liverpool supporters know more about their players after this season.

The Anfield fortress was reduced to rubble,but Jürgen Klopp’s men earned 26 points from their last 30 when the chips were down to earn Champions League qualification on the last day of the season.


Manchester City

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The champions.

Pep Guardiola’s side started slow, winning just three of their first eight league games before completely dominating the division.

And they did it without using any strikers for the most, with the likes of Phil Foden occupying the ‘false nine’ role and İlkay Gündoğan turning into prime-Frank Lampard in front of goal.

They might not have been as scintillating to watch as the 2018/19 title winners but they have been levels above every other team in the country. A third title under the reign of Pep, the dynasty is being built before our very eyes.


Manchester United

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United continue to improve under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and went a whole season unbeaten away from home.

But there are still things to work on. They lost five times at Old Trafford and it’s a fourth year without a trophy following the disappointing loss in the Europa League final to Villarreal.

There have been signs of progress this season and they have another year of Edinson Cavani to look forward to but there is still a long way to go before United are challenging their city rivals at the top.


Newcastle United

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Another season of in-fighting at Newcastle but the Magpies survive again, and quite comfortably in 12th.

They even looked threatening going forward once survival had been guaranteed, scoring four past Leicester and three against Manchester City.

Things are never quite settled at St James’ Park and there will be speculation over Steve Bruce’s future this summer.


Sheffield United

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They were a revelation in 2019/20 with their overlapping centre-backs and ninth-placed finish but this year was a disaster with the Blades.

Their strikers couldn’t score goals, they lost Jack O’Connell to a season-ending injury early on and parted ways with Chris Wilder in March.


Southampton

There will be a lot of people left scratching their heads at St.Mary’s this summer trying to deconstruct the 20/21 campaign.  The Saints were top in November, were still flying after beating Liverpool 1-0 on January 4 but went on to win only four out of their last 21 league games from that point.

There was also *another* 9-0 defeat – this time to Manchester United, and although Danny Ings ended on 12 goals, getting the ball to him from midfield became a significant problem in the second half of the season.

Will Ralph Hasenhüttl’s style of play work without significant investment this summer?


Tottenham Hotspur

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José Mourinho has come and gone without winning a trophy.

The club want to go back to the ‘Mauricio Pochettino way’ of playing with their next appointment, Harry Kane reportedly wants to leave, and they will become the first English team to play in the UEFA Europa Conference League next season.

Sell Kane and use the money to rebuild? If they get that right an exciting new era could dawn. Get it wrong and it could be disastrous.

A huge summer in north London awaits.


West Bromwich Albion

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The great escape mastermind Sam Allardyce was brought in mid-season to save the Baggies from the drop but for the first in his career, ‘Big Sam’ walks away from a job with a relegation on his CV.

A stunning 5-2 win over Chelsea in April sparked hopes of survival but West Brom’s squad has been imbalanced all season and lacking in quality, a job too big for Allardyce this time.


West Ham United

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What a job David Moyes has done.

The Hammers have gone from fighting relegation to being in the race for the top four in the space of a year. They fell short in the end but Europa League qualification is a tremendous achievement.

Tomáš Souček and Vladimir Coufal have been inspired signings, and the Glaswegian has reinvigorated the career of January arrival Jesse Lingard – with the Euros beckoning for the midfielder.

West Ham were disciplined at the back and exhilarating going forward at times, one of the huge success stories of the season.


Wolves

Nuno Espírito Santo’s four-year reign at the club ends and a new era beckons.

It closes with a whimper as well, with a 13th-placed finish after being preceded by two top-seven finishes.

Wolves never recovered from losing Raul Jiménez to a horrific, season-ending injury at Arsenal in November with the 47-year-old stuck between leaving behind the counter-attacking style that had brought them success and trying to transition the team into one capable of dominating possession.

A purgatory resided over Molineux and now the Halcyon days of Nuno are consigned to the memory books.