Chelsea's emphatic thrashing of Wigan Athletic at Stamford Bridge, the home of the new Champions, wrapped up the Barclays Premier League for another season.
Chelsea have taken Manchester United off their Premier League pedestal by lifting their first Premiership trophy since Jose Mourinho led the Blues to glory in 2006. Avram Grant, Luis Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink all toiled to no avail when they were in charge at Stamford Bridge, but Carlo Ancelotti has impressively steered them to the title in his first season in English football, and having watched his side score a record 103 league goals in the process the Italian is intent on domination which is something that will please impatient billionaire owner Roman Abramovic who is still desperate to win the Champions League. However with Chelsea on the verge of a historic Premier League and F.A Cup double, faith which in recent years has been lacking amongst the Chelsea ranks has been restored and the Italian is seen to be the man to bring European glory to Stamford Bridge. "I hope to stay here a long time and win a lot of titles," said 50-year-old Ancelotti which is a dream that the Chelsea fans long for as well.
The other big story of the season is Tottenham Hotspur's fantastic achievement of breaking the top four monopoly in the Barclays Premier League, resulting in recently named Premier Division manager of the Year Harry Redknapp focussing on preparing for a Champions League campaign next year. Despite letting off the gas on the final day of the season and succumbing to a 4-2 loss at the hands of relegated Burnley, Spurs have performed very well over the course of the season and victories over Liverpool, Champions Chelsea and the double over their closer top 4 challengers Manchester City cemented their place amongst Europe's elite. Their first challenge will be navigating their way through what will prove to be a challenging qualifying stage, something which Everton, the last team to break the stronghold of the top 4 in England, fell in when they were knocked out by Villereal. Tottenham could be faced with a long away trip to Russia or a potential tie against this season's semi-finalists Lyon. Whatever happens in their Champions League campaign, this season will be looked back upon with great fondness by the White Hart Lane faithful.
At the other end of the table, it was Hull City, Burnley and cash strapped Portsmouth who fell through the Premier League trap door and into the Championship, passing Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion and one from Cardiff City and Blackpool on their way down. Whilst and F.A Cup final will provide some consolation for Portsmouth fans, the fans of Hull City and Burnley have less to be happy about. The tigers sold their star player in Michael Turner just four weeks into the season and never found an adequate replacement. Burnley lost their inspiration and manager when Owen Coyle jumped ship and joined near neighbours Bolton Wanderers, and his successor Brian Laws, appointed because of his exploits with a small budget whilst he was manager at Sheffield Wednesday, who interestingly were also relegated this season. Whether the three relegated clubs can bounce back up remains to be seen and a long hard grind in the Championship is guaranteed next year.
Elsewhere Sunderland, who had a fantastic start to life under Steve Bruce finished a disappointing 13th having undergone a horrendous winter spell where the Black Cats went 14 Premier League games without a win. Although the season ended in disappointing fashion for the Mackems, the form of record buy Darren Bent whose 25 goals this season resulted in the former Tottenham man being called up to Fabio Capello's provisional 30 man World Cup squad, will provide some relief. Liverpool finished a disappointing 7th prompting huge question marks over the futures of star players Fernando Torres and talismanic captain Steven Gerrard, who have been linked with monumental moves to Manchester City and Real Madrid respectively. Wolverhampton Wanderers finished the season comfortably in 15th and will be looking to push on to a mid table finish next time out as Mick McCarthy aims to cement Wolves as a Premier League force. Elsewhere Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic and West Ham all steered their way to Premier League safety with Rovers in particular finishing in an impressive 10th place, whilst Birmingham City had an exceptional season under the control of Alex Mcleish who guided the Blues to a top half finish.
Fulham under the stewardship of Roy Hodgson produced another fantastic season in the Premiership, finishing comfortably mid-table, but it will be their exploits in Europe that will be remembered this season, as they deservedly made it all the way to the final of the Uefa Europa League only to fall at the final hurdle at the hands of Diego Forlan and Athletico Madrid. Nevertheless by taking such scalps as Juventus and Wolfsburg, and in doing so becoming the nations second team, they cemented themselves in history as one of the greatest ever Fulham sides.
So with the Barclays Premier League book closed for another season, attention will be switched to South Africa in what promises to be an unforgettable World Cup.
You can here about all your World Cup news at www.worldcupsa10.blogspot.com
THE FINAL BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE 2009/2010
1 Chelsea 86
2 Man Utd 85
3 Arsenal 75
4 Tottenham 70
5 Man City 67
6 Aston Villa 64
7 Liverpool 63
8 Everton 61
9 Birmingham 50
10 Blackburn 50
11 Stoke 47
12 Fulham 46
13 Sunderland 44
14 Bolton 39
15 Wolves 38
16 Wigan 36
17 West Ham 35
18 Burnley 30
19 Hull 30
20 Portsmouth 19 * Docked 9 points for entering administration
By Paul Seed
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