Chelsea won the Premier League with three games to spare, while Burnley, QPR and Hull were relegated into the Championship.
But which of those outcomes did I predict when I previewed the Premier League season in August?
Who has impressed and who hasn't? Which teams, players and managers have sprung a surprise and which have disappointed?
Here I go through each team and rate their performance, as well as my own...
CHELSEA 1st (prediction 1st)
Jose Mourinho has had the
best player in the league in Eden Hazard, a creative fulcrum in Cesc
Fabregas and a finisher in Diego Costa
Manager:
Jose Mourinho 9 out of 10
Players:
8 out of 10
Season:
8 out of 10
Chelsea were
worthy Premier League champions
as they were the best team from start to finish, setting the pace
from the opening games with flair, then finishing strongly with
resilience to complete the job. The Capital One Cup made it a season of
double success but marks off for a
Champions League campaign that ended in the last 16.
Mourinho put the finishing touches to the side that
finished last season empty-handed by signing a goalscorer in Diego Costa
and a midfield creator in Cesc Fabregas - and in Eden Hazard he had the
season's superstar.
MANCHESTER CITY 2nd (prediction 2nd)
Manager:
Manuel Pellegrini 5
Players:
5
Season:
5
Manchester City made a lame attempt at defending the
title - especially after the turn of the year when Chelsea moved into
the distance and manager Manuel Pellegrini seemed unable to inspire his
side - and there was even a worry at one stage that they would not make
the top four.
Eventually finished second but a poor season by their
standards and by the standards of the players in their squad. Yaya
Toure, usually City's key performer, was pedestrian so expect City's
driven and ambitious Abu Dhabi-based owners to put matters right this
summer.
ARSENAL 3rd (prediction 5th)
Manager:
Arsene Wenger 6
Players:
7
Season:
7
Another qualification for the Champions League and signs of greater steel with
wins at Manchester City
in the Premier League and
at Manchester United
in the FA Cup quarter-final.
At no stage, however, were Arsenal ever relevant to the
Premier League title pursuit so no tangible progress, especially after a
disappointing Champions League exit to Monaco. Still off the pace and
with work needed to be done.
The end-of-term report will read better if they can beat Aston Villa in the FA Cup final at Wembley on 30 May.
European masters |
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Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League group stages for the last 18 seasons |
MANCHESTER UNITED 4th (prediction 3rd)
Manager:
Louis van Gaal 7
Players:
7
Season:
7
The idea of United finishing in the top four was
greeted by scorn before the start of the season, but with a proven
manager of Louis van Gaal's ilk in place and quality still in the squad
it was always a realistic possibility.
Van Gaal shuffled his resources,
£59.7m signing Angel Di Maria
and
on-loan striker Falcao
were big disappointments, but he got it right during a golden spell
that brought big wins against Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester City. No
trophies but a season that will have satisfied Old Trafford's
powerbrokers.
TOTTENHAM 5th (prediction 7th)
Manager:
Mauricio Pochettino 6
Players:
6
Season:
6
The emergence of striker Harry Kane and reaching the Capital One Cup final, where
they lost to Chelsea,
were highlights but in many respects Pochettino's first season at White Hart Lane was one where Spurs stood still.
The impression remains that the Argentine has still not
got the players he wants - or needs - to implement his trademark high
pressing style.
LIVERPOOL 6th (prediction 4th)
Steven Gerrard is definitely leaving Liverpool. But what about Brendan Rodgers?
Manager:
Brendan Rodgers 5
Players:
4
Season:
5
Said pre-season that this could either be the start of a
great Anfield era or one of the great missed opportunities after just
failing to win the Premier League last year. Now we know.
A season of three parts. Poor until December, then
excellent until March before a collapse that saw Liverpool lose to Aston
Villa in the FA Cup semi-final and miss out on the Champions League
places - in other words a failure.
Rodgers and his transfer committee have had a poor return for an outlay of more than £100m, armed with £75m just from the
sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona.
Now they must work out how to replace iconic captain Steven Gerrard and solve the
unrest surrounding Raheem Sterling.
And as if all that was not unsettling enough, the horrendous humiliation of that last day
6-1 thrashing at Stoke City
will be a shock that will reverberate through the entire club - and
not the best result for manager Rodgers to take into his end-of-season
review with owners Fenway Sports Group.
SOUTHAMPTON 7th (prediction 14th)
Ronald Koeman had to rebuild Southampton and recruited well
Manager:
Ronald Koeman 9
Players:
8
Season:
8
Never joined the band expecting Saints to be relegated
but never expected such an outstanding season either after Pochettino
left for Spurs and players such as Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Rickie
Lambert, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers were sold.
New manager Ronald Koeman made some magnificent
acquisitions and guided Saints through a season that was a delight to
everyone at St Mary's. Outstanding.
SWANSEA 8th (prediction 16th)
Manager:
Garry Monk 8
Players:
7
Season:
7
Never expected the Swans to be in trouble but they not
only survived under manager Garry Monk, they flourished for a deserved
top-half finish and a club record Premier League points haul of 56.
Monk's astute handling of his squad and sound grasp of
tactics marks him down as a manager with a bright future at the Liberty
Stadium.
STOKE 9th (prediction 9th)
Stoke's campaign culminated with a stunning 6-1 win over Liverpool
Manager:
Mark Hughes 8
Players:
7
Season:
7
Fine campaign of consolidation, and more, as Mark
Hughes built on his first season in charge after succeeding Tony Pulis
in 2013, with a second one in which Stoke secured a club record points
tally in the Premier League.
Hughes has
repaired a reputation damaged at QPR
and is ambitious enough to look for further ways to progress The Potters next season.
CRYSTAL PALACE 10th (prediction 12th)
Manager:
Neil Warnock 3 / Alan Pardew 8
Players:
7
Season:
7
A season separated by the struggles until
Neil Warnock's sacking
in December and the successes and optimism engendered by the appointment of Alan Pardew.
Palace looked doomed
until Pardew returned
to Selhurst Park, but were rejuvenated almost instantly and ended
in perfect safety, powered by the attacking talent of players such as
Yannick Bolasie and Jason Puncheon.
EVERTON 11th (prediction 6th)
Everton spent big on Romelu Lukaku, left, signing him for a club record £28m, but struggled badly for much of the campaign
Manager:
Roberto Martinez 5
Players:
5
Season:
4
From the high ground of almost qualifying from the
Champions League last season, Everton's decline has been sharp and much
of the season deadly dull, played out among much unrest from supporters
about the somewhat passive style of play under Roberto Martinez.
No cup runs to offer hope and little of the excitement
of last season. Big summer ahead for Martinez as Everton must keep star
turns such as Romelu Lukaku, James McCarthy, Ross Barkley and John
Stones while rebuilding to challenge the top six again.
WEST HAM 12th (prediction 11th)
Manager:
Sam Allardyce 5
Players:
5
Season:
6
A disappointing second half of the season overshadowed
all the good results of the early months of the campaign when Sam
Allardyce's team played fine football and goals were flowing around the
attacking impetus of Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho.
The tame conclusion has left the Hammers in a state of flux, with
Allardyce leaving
and a replacement needing to be appointed to lead them towards their move into the Olympic Stadium for the 2016-17 season.
Big Sam's West Ham reign |
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Allardyce had been at the club since June 2011, earning
promotion from the Championship in his first season in charge and
ensuring that the team finished no lower than 13th place (2013-14) in
his three top-flight campaigns. |
WEST BROM 13th (prediction 19th)
Tony Pulis, right, brought in Darren Fletcher, centre, to a West Brom side reliant on the goals of Saido Berahino, left
Manager:
Alan Irvine 4 / Tony Pulis 8
Players:
6
Season:
6
Feared for West Brom pre-season after the appointment
of Irvine, who had failed in previous posts at Preston and Sheffield
Wednesday. Those concerns were realised as Irvine, a gentleman and a
fine coach if not a manager, lost his job in December after only seven
months with West Brom in 16th place.
In came Tony Pulis and the relegation worries drifted
away. Pulis, whose work is so often underrated, organised West Brom
brilliantly and the
landmark win at Old Trafford
was a testimony to his expertise.
LEICESTER 14th (prediction 18th)
Manager:
Nigel Pearson 7
Players:
7
Season:
7
This pre-season prediction was almost looking a trifle
optimistic as The Foxes struggled and lay bottom of the table at the
start of April. There was little sign of what was to come, even though
they had always been in games throughout the campaign.
Manager Nigel Pearson was a controversial and divisive
figure who had argued with one of his own fans, appeared to throttle
Crystal Palace's James McArthur in a touchline clash and bizarrely
called a
reporter "an ostrich"
in an embarrassing televised attack.
All that was forgotten as he inspired an outstanding
late run to safety, rattling off wins against West Brom, Swansea City,
Burnley, Newcastle and Southampton to move away from trouble.
NEWCASTLE 15th (prediction 8th)
Manager:
Alan Pardew 6 / John Carver 3
Players:
3
Season:
3
Only defence for this optimistic pre-season prediction
was the rider that plain logic could never be attached to Newcastle
United. And so it has proved.
Newcastle were ninth after Pardew's last game, a win against Everton in late December. He left for Crystal Palace and
John Carver was appointed
in what now looks the rather complacent belief that there was no threat of relegation.
Carver's hapless reign was underlined by eight straight
defeats that culminated in the 3-0 loss at Leicester and his subsequent
astonishing attack on defender Mike Williamson,
who he suggested had got himself sent off deliberately.
The club has been little short of a shambles in the closing weeks of the season.
Newcastle stayed in the division under John Carver, but won just three games under his stewardship
SUNDERLAND 16th (prediction 10th)
Manager:
Gus Poyet 4 /Dick Advocaat 8
Players:
5
Season:
4
Sunderland failed to build on the momentum from last
season's escape and the threat of relegation saw the end of Gus Poyet in
late March with only nine games to go.
It was a gamble by owner Ellis Short but one that
worked after the appointment of the experienced Dick Advocaat saw
Sunderland rediscover their steel and collect enough points to
survive with a game to spare.
Advocaat at the Black Cats |
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Sunderland is the 20th - and final, he says - job Advocaat has taken as a manager or assistant |
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The Black Cats had won just four games before he replaced Gus Poyet on 17 March |
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He has previously had four stints on the coaching staff of the Netherlands national team |
ASTON VILLA 17th (prediction 17th)
Manager:
Paul Lambert 4 / Tim Sherwood 8
Players:
6
Season:
5
Villa, as a club and a team, looked to be dying a slow
death until the labouring Paul Lambert was sacked in February after they
dropped into the relegation zone.
Tim Sherwood's positive outlook has electrified Villa
Park - Christian Benteke, in particular. The new manager has not only
steered them out of trouble but has also guided them to the
FA Cup final
against Arsenal at Wembley.
Win there and those marks go up.
HULL 18th (prediction 13th)
Manager:
Steve Bruce 5
Players:
5
Season:
4
Hull City thought they were edging towards safety with
wins against Crystal Palace and Liverpool, but it was a false dawn and
they were back in trouble.
The vast experience of Steve Bruce was not enough to keep them from the drop and big-money buys such as Tom Ince and
club record signing £10m Abel Hernandez
- a Uruguayan brought in from Palermo - were failures. Bruce now
faces what he will regard as a Herculean task of rebuilding from the
Championship.
BURNLEY 19th (prediction 20th)
Sean Dyche got the best out of the players at his disposal
Manager:
Sean Dyche 7
Players:
5
Season:
4
High marks for Dyche, despite relegation, for getting
everything out of players who were huge on spirit but ultimately short
on Premier League quality. Could he have spent more? Maybe - but others
in trouble have spent big and it has not kept them away from danger.
Burnley have not been short of effort and application
but simply lacked enough players who could turn around those fine
margins, their inability to score goals a very obvious flaw.
QPR 20th (prediction 15th)
Manager:
Harry Redknapp 4 / Chris Ramsey 4
Players:
3
Season:
2
A shocking season from first to last. Hopeless under
Harry Redknapp
and not much better under Chris Ramsey. Looked a relegated side for most of the season.
Now face the prospect of losing stand-out performers
such as Charlie Austin and also goalkeeper Robert Green. Just a dismal,
joyless season and quite a reconstruction job for Ramsey after his
permanent appointment.
De Gea, who has one year left on his contract at United, has been linked heavily with a summer switch to Madrid, with the Bernabeu giants keen to sign him.
“If De Gea does come here, he'll be welcomed," he told El Larguero on Cadena Ser. "Competition is healthy – there is no clause in my contract which states that I have to be first choice.
“We'll have to compete for a place like we do with Spain. De Gea is a great bloke and a goalkeeper for the present and the future. He can handle pressure and the experience he has had at Manchester United will have served him well.”
Casillas also admitted he advised club president Perez to make a move for De Gea.
“Florentino once asked me if it were up to me, which keeper would I sign. I prefer Spanish keepers - Sergio Rico, Asenjo and De Gea. Right now, De Gea is the expert out of the three," he added.