Here's our annual awards for what was a remarkable Premier League season
A Leicester City player, perhaps? In this most remarkable season, and with the greatest of respect to Tottenham striker Harry Kane, Manchester City hitman Sergio Aguero and Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil, the selection could hardly come from anywhere else.
An obvious case could be made for Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy and either would be a deserving winner. However, neither player was quite as magnificent in the second half of the campaign as they had been before the turn of the year. Just four of Mahrez’s 17-goal tally came after Christmas while Vardy’s goalscoring touch deserted him from the end of February until April 10.
N’Golo Kante had no such dip, a remarkable feat given the amount of ground he covered in every single game this season. Little was known about the French midfielder when joined the Foxes for a bargain fee of €8m last summer. Everyone knows him now. A fabulous player.
... and the Balltalk team's verdict
As ever, a fiercely contested category. Matt Richie’s belter of a volley into the top corner in Bournemouth’s 2-0 win over Sunderland in September warrants a mention, as does Alexis Sanchez’s rocket in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Manchester United a month later.
Dele Alli’s brilliant flick and volley in Tottenham’s 3-1 win at Crystal Palace in January has to be up there, as does Jamie Vardy’s masterful strike in Leicester City’s 2-0 win over Liverpool in February and Harry Kane’s curler from a seemingly impossible angle in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal in March.
However, the choice has to be another goal conceded by the Gunners, Cuco Martina’s remarkable curling half-volley from 30 yards out in Southampton’s 4-0 win over Arsene Wenger’s men on St Stephen’s Day. He simply could not have struck it any sweeter.
It’s ironic that the two main contenders for this unwanted gong came from players who scored twice in the same game. Last month Dele Alli hit a double in an outstanding individual display as Tottenham hammered Stoke 4-0. There was, however, one moment that he’ll want to forget. At 2-0, Alli rounded Shay Given and, with the goal gaping, rolled the ball against the post. An astonishing miss but not quite as bad as Olivier Giroud’s ‘effort’ in Arsenal’s 3-3 draw at Liverpool in January. Giroud has already scored the first of his brace when a brilliant cross from Theo Walcott — a rarity in itself — found the Frenchman just three yards out. However, he somehow managed to turn a seemingly unmissable chance into a clearance. “I’d like to think I wouldn’t miss that,” a bemused Ian Wright said on BT Sport. He wouldn’t have.
Petr Cech may not, as John Terry suggested at the start of the season, have proved worth an extra 12 or 15 points extra to Arsenal this season but he still produced some critical interventions. None was more impressive than the one he produced to thwart Christian Benteke as far back as August. It seemed the Liverpool striker just had to score when he got on the end of a low cross from Roberto Firmino just six yards out but Cech somehow got down to his left to turn the effort around the post.
There aren’t many players who can score five goals in 20 minutes in a competition as competitive as the Premier League. Then again, Sergio Aguero is no ordinary player. The Argentine has showcased his brilliance time and again since his arrival in England in 2011 and Newcastle were on the receiving end last October as five expertly taken goals inspired Manchester City to a 6-1 win at the Etihad Stadium. A brilliant display from a brilliant player.
Southampton’s 4-0 win over Arsenal at Christmas warrants a mention given the Saints went into the game having taken just one point from the previous 15 available while the Gunners were then title favourites. More recently, Tottenham’s 4-0 win at Stoke was simply a masterclass but the award has to go to the champions. Leicester’s 3-1 win over Everton on the day they were crowned has to be on the shortlist given they peppered the Toffees’ goal, firing in no less than 32 shots over the course of 90 minutes. However, a more significant victory came back in February, the Foxes going to the Etihad and hammering Manchester City 3-1. It was a performance and result that made even the sceptics believe.
Stamford Bridge hasn’t been the happiest of places this season but it was still the venue for the most dramatic, feisty and entertaining game of the campaign. Tottenham arrived at the Bridge earlier this month knowing only three points would keep their title dreams alive. In their path stood a Chelsea team who had had produced the most feeble title defence in Premier League history. What followed was a ferocious battle that had just everything: Super goals, heavy tackles, touchline melees, an eye-gouging incident and a brilliant comeback capped by a stunning Eden Hazard goal that secured the title for Leicester. In short, a game that had everything.
Chelsea’s second half recovery in the Battle of the Bridge certainly warrants a mention as does the way West Ham picked themselves up off the canvas to come from 2-1 down to beat Manchester United 3-2 in their final game at the Boyeln Ground last week. But the game that stands out is Southampton’s comeback at home to Liverpool in March. Trailing 2-0 to a Liverpool team in complete control, Southampton’s hopes or a recovery looked slim when Sadio Mane missed a penalty early in the second half. However, he then went from zero to hero, first halving the deficit and then scoring a late winner after Graziano Pelle has equalised with seven minutes left.
Only one possible winner here. What on earth happened to Eden Hazard this season? His belated return to something resembling his best in the final games of the season only adds to the mystery.
... and the BallTalk team's verdict
Plenty of managers have enhanced their reputation this season. Eddie Howe defied a crippling injury list to keep Bournemouth up, Sam Allardyce rescued Sunderland, Southampton had a fine campaign under Ronald Koeman as did West Ham under Slaven Bilic while Mauricio Pochettino transformed the perception of Tottenham. In most seasons any of that quintet could be the choice. This, however, is a special season and the only selection could be Claudio Ranieri, the man who made the impossible possible.
... and the BallTalk team's verdict
It’s a tradition at this stage. Sunderland start the season with a manager who worked miracles to save them the previous campaign. They begin the campaign deplorably, the manager is replaced, moderate improvement in performances follows but, by April, things look dicey. Then comes the great escape. Then the cycle repeats. However, this season’s Houdini act might just have been Sunderland’s best yet given that, not to put too fine a point on it, they’re a truly abject team. Keeping them up must rank as Sam Allardyce’s biggest achievement in management.
Chelsea’s implosion dominated the headlines in the first half of the season but after the Christmas the realisation Leicester City, 5,000/1 outsiders at the start of the campaign, could actually be champions slowly dawned. Yes, Manchester City and Arsenal should have made more of a fist of challenging the Foxes and yes, Tottenham faltered late on but, ultimately, Leicester were the worthiest of title winners.
Not only was their relentless march to glory the story of the season, it was the greatest, most improbable tale of the Premier League era.
Not, sadly, a huge host of options, a state of affairs that should, but won’t, temper expectations ahead of the Euros.
Of the top eight, Shane Long at Southampton is only Irishman regularly starting. That’s a sobering thought, as it fact that two key Irish players, Robbie Brady and Wes Hoolahan, will be going to France on a downer having suffered the agony of relegation with Norwich. The same fate befell Ciaran Clark at Aston Villa.
On the plus side, Long did finish the campaign in flying form and the Tipperary man is the unopposable choice for this gong. Martin O’Neill can only hope his star striker maintains that form next month.
... Finally, here's the BallTalk team's alternative team of the season
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