Arsenal
Emery is entitled to a bit of a free pass in this transitional season but inevitably there’s a mood of discontent over the way we faded in the league. There would have been few complaints back in the summer if we’d been offered a European final and a top-four challenge – and no doubt all will be forgiven and forgotten if we win in Baku. But it wouldn’t mask the size of the task on his hands. This ageing squad has some obvious inadequacies, and he’s failed to motivate them too often. His relentless tinkering, in a struggle to shore up our porous defence, has left us all bemused. We’ve still no definitive vision of what “brand Unai” footie is supposed to be all about. 5/10
Stars/flops Torreira and Guendouzi showed plenty of early-season promise but sadly both flagged. Leno is yet another half-decent shot-stopper who lacks the authoritative personality to dominate the area. Lacazette is just about the only player who can take pride in always leaving everything out on the park. Xhaka and Mkhitaryan reminded us that they just aren’t good enough.
Biggest surprise Our abysmal away form.
Best and worst away fans Rennes were the liveliest; Spurs the worst. This season made even worse by the reprehensible banana skin incident.
Moment that made you smile Watching the total football from the fearless Ajax youngsters. A real treat.
Bernard Azulay GoonersDiary.co.uk @GoonerN5
Bournemouth
Things started amazingly well with 20 points in the first 10 games, but that wasn’t going to last. Eddie Howe still hasn’t found a way to avoid us having one of the worst goals-against records but you can’t complain about a lack of entertainment, at least. The main thing is that the club will get a fifth year in the Premier League – so on that basis, I’ll give the season a solid 7/10.
Stars/flops David Brooks, Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser were the star performers. If anyone deserves a quick exit this summer, though, I’d say Asmir Begovic could be walking the plank. He’s no better than Artur Boruc, who he was brought in to replace, and now we’ve seen Mark Travers perform outstandingly in goal in his first Premier League game.
Biggest surprise The failure to get more points against the top six. We’ve always taken points and pushed the best teams in previous seasons. The run of away defeats was also very testing, especially after the team had started so well.
Best and worst away fans Brighton enjoyed their day out. Burnley got a bit carried away, but most visitors were good.
Moment that made you smile Bitterly, Begovic’s howler in the Burnley home game. We usually sing “Oh Benik Afobe!” when the strikers miss an open goal; we’ll have to work out a version for our keepers’ gaffes at this rate.
Peter Bell AFCBchimes.blogspot.co.uk @CherryChimes
Brighton
I didn’t expect Fortress Amex to collapse, nor that I’d become a Palace fan, but I’ll love them for ever after they sent Cardiff down. Though we beat Palace twice and got to an FA Cup semi-final, what looked a promising season became incredibly draining, especially the last few weeks when we were gripped with fear and lost 5-0 and 2-0 at home to Bournemouth and Cardiff within four days. We couldn’t string two passes together, bickered and argued, while some of our own fans chipped in with horrible abuse. But after going 1-0 down to Newcastle a couple of weeks later with a performance worthy of The Walking Dead, we pulled it together and proved this team do have grit – though Chris Hughton had to rely on the old guard who had brought us up. Many think he is too cautious but he’s done a great job after some disappointing recruitment last summer – despite all my pre-season optimism. Hopefully a better transfer window will mean we can become more attacking. It will be interesting to see what impact Dan Ashworth has. 7/10
Stars/flops Mostly stars: Dunk and Duffy – the best defensive partnership in the league – Bissouma, Bernardo, Solly March, Maty Ryan. Flops: Locadia, Jahanbakhsh and Andone are unreliable. Anthony Knockaert needs to grow up.
Biggest surprise The day the Amex turned on our players and manager.
Best and worst away fans Cardiff were loud. Worst? No contest. Palace again.
Moment that made you smile In retrospect, at least – while nervously fiddling with my poured-from-the-bottom-up half-time pint at the new Spurs ground, I dislodged the magnet and the whole lot went everywhere.
Steph Fincham Observer reader
Burnley
It’s been a very strange season: a shocking first half and an outstanding second half. We were warned that being in the Europa League and having to play on six successive Thursdays in July and August would have a detrimental effect and there’s no doubt it did. We looked dead and buried at Christmas but team changes helped turn it round. 7/10
Stars/flops Dwight McNeil has been one of the stars in his breakthrough season. It’s not often we have teenagers coming through but he’s been outstanding, as have Charlie Taylor and Ashley Westwood. Joe Hart, meanwhile, leads the flops. Our big improvement came when he was left out and I don’t expect to see him in a Burnley shirt again. Steven Defour and Robbie Brady haven’t been able to have any impact because of injuries.
Biggest surprise Even with the Europa League, I just didn’t see us struggling near the bottom. We had only 12 points at halfway: it’s been a real battle.
Best and worst away fans The best were undoubtedly the Aberdeen fans back in July. They gave their team great support and then showed real humility in defeat. That’s how to support a team. Not many came from Bournemouth.
Moment that made you smile It was impossible not to enjoy the sacking of José Mourinho. I hope we don’t see him back in English football again.
Tony Scholes UpTheClarets.com @UTCdotcom
Cardiff
I’m sure a book or two will be written about our season – a story of tragedy, travesty, pride and frustration. We hosted Leicester just after their owner was killed in a helicopter crash, then made Emiliano Sala our record signing only for the poor lad to lose his life as he flew to Wales to start a new chapter. On the field the club suffered (far less important) blows, including that ridiculous goal awarded to Chelsea and the reversal of a penalty at Burnley. It was a 6/10 season all things considered. It would have been 11/10 if we’d stayed up.
Stars/flops Keeper Neil Etheridge was our player of the season and Bruno Manga shone too, covering for Sol Bamba. Callum Paterson was a goal machine (if you can only count in single figures) and Victor Camarasa was a breath of fresh air. Sorry to say, though, that the scoring threat of Zohore and Niasse was below all expectations.
Biggest surprise Emiliano Sala RIP. We never had the chance to know what you could do for Cardiff, and what Cardiff could do for you.
Best and worst away fans There was a mutual respect to and from Leicester fans. The worst had to be Chelsea. They spent most of the game chanting against their manager, then celebrated their unjust win as if they were a club at one.
Moment that made you smile Warnock staring down the officials after that game.
Michael Morris CardiffCity-mad.co.uk @cardiffcitymad
Chelsea
If you judge it by nothing other than where we find ourselves – namely in a Champions League position, the final of the Europa League and League Cup finalists – then you’d consider this a pretty damn successful season. But, and it’s a big but, this has been an awful year. We’ve had to endure terrible football under an inept manager, and we owe Arsenal, United and Tottenham a debt of thanks for their own extensive shortcomings which have allowed us to overachieve. It’s an underserved 7/10.
Stars/flops Hazard and Kanté as usual have been our best players, even out of position. God only knows where we would have found ourselves without them. The flops – how long have you got? Jorginho promised so much and delivered so little. Alonso and Azpilicueta had bad seasons by their standards, so did Higuaín, Morata … I’ll stop before I depress myself even more.
Biggest surprise “Sarriball” turning out to be a myth. It was like ordering lobster thermidor and getting a spam sandwich.
Best and worst away fans Eintracht Frankfurt were loud, positive and supported their team throughout. West Ham were lame this season, unusually.
Moment that made you smile It was sad to see Hazard apparently bidding farewell at our last home game – but seeing the mini-Hazards with him lifted the mood, especially the youngest who, despite being three years old and two foot high, dazzled everyone with his skills. Better than Jorginho, to be honest.
Trizia Fiorellino ChelseaSupportersGroup.net
Crystal Palace
A classic Jekyll and Hyde season: the only team to beat Manchester City at the Etihad, the only team apart from Barcelona to put three past Liverpool, and only City, Spurs, and Liverpool winning more away games than us. And yet only Huddersfield have a worse home record: we’ve scored just 14 goals at “Fortress Selhurst”. Add to that losing to Brighton twice, and Watford three times, and it’s hard to get past the conclusion we could have done better with more proactive game management from Roy. 6/10
Stars/flops Aaron Wan-Bissaka was consistently brilliant; Vicente Guaita made the number one jersey his own; and Zaha added goals to his arsenal. Sadly Max Meyer struggled to adapt to the pace and physicality in England, and Patrick van Aanholt’s form dipped alarmingly. It’s also amazing to have gone through another season without a competent striker.
Biggest surprise Probably this headline on theguardian.com in April: “Wayne Hennessey is ‘desperate’ to learn about the Nazis, says Roy Hodgson.”
Best and worst away fans Grimsby’s huge support for a 5.30pm kick-off at Selhurst in the FA Cup third round was great. Everton fans, though, must have fallen asleep in our 0-0 bore draw, as we barely heard a peep out of them.
Moment that made you smile Raheem Sterling’s tribute to Damary Dawkins, a Palace youth team player who very sadly died of leukaemia, was hugely touching. Sterling’s activism to fight racism in football was also great to see.
Chris Waters PalaceTrust.org.uk @Clapham_Grand
Everton
Plenty of optimism at the start: new manager, great signings, top-six ambitions. It started well, too – we were sixth going into December’s Merseyside derby and only lost that to a freak injury-time winner. But then it all fell apart with eight defeats in 11. That run didn’t hurt us much, though: we were eighth when it started, eighth when it finished and we’re eighth now, going into the final day. Marco Silva stabilised us and we’ve lost twice since, beating Chelsea, Arsenal and hammering United. So in short, a great start, bad middle and decent end. Silva needs time to sort through what he inherited from Moyes, Koeman and Allardyce (still can’t believe I’m saying his name as a former manager of Everton). All in all, 6/10.
Stars/flops Lucas Digne: what a player, what a signing. Also worth a mention: Sigurdsson for his free-kicks and Richarlison, when he stays on his feet. Yerry Mina has been held back by injuries, though. Hopefully he’ll come good.
Biggest surprise Our under-23s doing the double. David “Unsy” Unsworth guided the kids to league and cup success: augurs well.
Best and worst away fans Even at 4-0 down, Man United fans kept singing. Worst? Liverpool. Hardly a peep.
Moment that made you smile Wolves had just scored their third at Goodison when a black cat strolled on and took a rest in the six-yard box. Hilarious watching the stewards trying to catch it.
Steve Jones @BlueKippercom
Fulham
It’s been a calamitous campaign, one that’s been botched by astonishing mismanagement and desperately poor recruitment. Three gaffers and a limp relegation are testament to that. Jokanovic was hamstrung, Ranieri was ham-fisted and Parker hampered by the mess he inherited. A generous 3/10.
Stars/flops The supporters have been the stars, particularly those who’ve regularly travelled away, somehow maintaining the camaraderie, humour and support despite the dreadful results. On the field, Babel has impressed since arriving in January, while Chambers has been one of the few to put in a shift come what may. The list of flops is as lengthy as the Brexit negotiations.
Biggest surprise We really thought the powers-that-be would have learned from their mistakes. Having a balanced squad at the start of any season is imperative. After the superb highs of forging back to the top flight via the play-offs, we didn’t expect the massive lows that followed. The goals-against column highlights the key oversight: despite spending big, we didn’t upgrade our defence. And with so many new players dropped into the mix at once it’s little wonder we struggled from the off.
Best and worst away fans Oldham’s fans enjoyed their deserved FA Cup success in January. Liverpool fans also savoured their narrow win – and, curiously, many did so from the Hammersmith End. How on earth did they get their tickets…?
Moment that made you smile Schürrle’s “worldie” at Burnley got us all on our feet, believing that it might yet turn out OK. That superb strike briefly suggested we’d not only score a rare victory at Turf Moor but also that the player himself was remotely bothered about our plight.
David Lloyd Toofif.co.uk
Huddersfield
It’s been nothing short of terrible – and things actually got worse after Jan Siewert replaced David Wagner. I don’t think all of that is his fault but it would feel wrong to give anything higher than 3/10.
Stars/flops Philip Billing performed excellently for most of the season and it will be sad to see him go in the summer. Karlan Grant has been a rare bright spark in the past few months and it’ll be interesting to see how he performs in the Championship. As for flops? It would be unfair (and entirely impossible) to single out one player in particular. We have had a LOT of flops.
Biggest surprise The backing of our fans. I’ve known for a long time that my fellow supporters are a loyal bunch but I must admit I expected a lot more discontent in the past few months than there has been. Despite poor performances the fans have remained loud, proud and loyal.
Best and worst away fans Crystal Palace were very loud as they always are. Newcastle brought a big and vociferous following with them, too. The worst? Probably Bournemouth.
Moment that made you smile David Wagner’s big-screen message to the fans after he left the club. Normally a managerial departure is acrimonious but Wagner’s was nothing like that. We were all genuinely sad to see him go.
John McNamara TerrierBlog.co.uk @TerrierBlog
