Premier League Season Review 2016/17: Conte's Chelsea Romp Home to Emphatic Title Win

The 2016/17 Premier League season will be remembered as the “Battle of the Coaches”. Never before has a competition hosted so many of the world’s best football managers at the same time, and while Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho all had seasons of ups and downs, it was Antonio Conte who proved the canniest of the lot.

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Despite Chelsea being an outside bet among bookies for the title behind both Manchester clubs, the Blues maintained a high level of consistency on their route to a 2nd Premiership title in 3 years.

The Premier League Tactical Battleground

Tactical variations and formations were hot topics in the football news in the opening weeks of the season, and Pep Guardiola’s City side won their first 6 Premiership fixtures, leading many to believe the Catalonian’s football philosophy would allow them to run away with the league. However, following Chelsea’s defeat to Arsenal in late September, Antonio Conte reshuffled his pack tactically, reorganizing his Chelsea team into a 3-5-2 formation – from there the Blues never looked back, winning 13 league games on the spin to open up a sizeable gap at the top of the table by the New Year. Chelsea finished the season with 30 wins from their 38 games, a magnificent return of victories for the new champions.

The Race for Fourth

A youthful Tottenham Hotspur side pushed Chelsea as hard as they could in the title race - their final tally of 86 points was a record-breaking total for the club, and would have been enough to win the Premier League title in 8 of the previous 24 seasons. Manchester City had to settle for 3rd spot, a full 15 points off first place after an underwhelming and trophyless first season under Pep Guardiola. There were big football news headlines when Liverpool also secured Champions League football on the final day, beating Arsenal to 4th place.

Basement Battle: How the Race for Survival Unfolded

David Moyes’ Sunderland side were firmly rooted to the bottom of the table for the majority of the season, exiting the Premiership with a whimper, losing 8 of their last 10 fixtures. Middlesbrough were also making the football news for all the wrong reasons, and they were relegated in similar fashion, winning 1 of their last 13 Premiership games and ending the campaign as the division’s lowest scorers with 27 goals from their 38 games. Hull City completed the trio of relegated sides winning just once in their last 7 to help seal their fate.