Born in the south east of Ireland, Simon put his life-long love of football to good use when he started a successful independent blog in 2010. That opened up an alternative route to a career in journalism, and having had work published across a number of sites and publications, Simon joined the staff at Spotlight Sports Group in 2018.
The 2019/20 Premier League season concluded on Sunday, bringing an end to the elongated competition that will go down in history as one of the division’s most remarkable campaigns.
The finale – almost a year in the making – finished in typically dramatic fashion, with the shake up for points and places at either end of the table settled over a compelling final day of top-tier action.
Manchester United stole 3rd place and a spot in next year’s Champions League place away from Leicester at the death with a 2-0 win over the injury-hit Foxes at the King Power Stadium, while Chelsea’s 2-0 triumph at home to Wolves will see them join the Red Devils in Europe’s elite club competition via a 4th place finish.
At the opposite end, Aston Villa’s point at West Ham allowed them to beat the drop, though Watford and Bournemouth’s valiant last day efforts weren’t enough to keep them afloat.
Below, we take a look back at the campaign through a statistical lens with our feature – the 2019/20 Premier League season in numbers.
The 2019/20 Premier League season in numbers
5 – With five relegations, Norwich City have now been demoted from the Premier League more often than any other club in the division’s history.
5 – Regularly lampooned Arsenal centre-half David Luiz gave away five Premier League penalties in 2019/20, setting the record for the most spot kicks conceded by an individual player for a single campaign.
6 – Man City’s Kevin de Bruyne, Man Utd’s Marcus Rashford and Southampton’s Danny Ings all hit the woodwork a joint league-high six times each during the 2019/20 campaign. The Citizens hit the woodwork more than any other club in the division, with a staggering 27 different efforts hitting the frame of the goal overall.
7 – Liverpool won the Premier League title with seven games to spare this season, the earliest title win in English top-flight history in terms of fixtures remaining.
8 – Arsenal finished eighth in the 2019-20 Premier League, their lowest finish in the competition since 1994-95 when they finished in a lowly 12th spot.
9 – The number of goals Leicester City hit past Southampton at St. Mary’s Stadium on October 25th last year, in what was the biggest Premier League away victory of all time.
14 – The number of Premier League penalties won by Manchester United this season, setting a new record for the highest number of spot kicks won by team during a single campaign in the competition’s history.
15 – Burnley, who finished 10th, won 15 Premier League games in the 2019-20 season, their highest number of wins in a single top flight campaign. The Clarets won just 14 games when they finished 7th in 2017/18.
22 – The number of times Leicester City attacker Ayoze Perez was substituted off during the season. No other Premier League player was withdrawn from the action more often than the Foxes’ Spanish summer signing.
35 – Burnley centre-forward Chris Wood was caught offside more often than any other Premier League combatant this term. The New Zealander was flagged 35 times in all for the Clarets.
50 – With his strike against Aston Villa on February 16, Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min became the first Asian player to score 50 goals in Premier League history.
59 – Ruben Neves took more shots from outside the penalty area (58) than any other Premier League player. The Portuguese midfielder, who has a reputation for hitting long-range bangers, scored just two goals all season.
127 – Anthony Taylor was the Premier League’s most card happy referee last season. Taylor handed out 122 yellow and five red cards overall across the 32 fixtures he officiated.
129 – Man Utd’s hard-hitting fullback Aaron Wan-Bissaka made more tackles (129) than any other Premier League player during the 2019/20 campaign. Remarkably, Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi made just one tackle fewer than Wan-Bissaka over the season. The pair faced off on the final day at the King Power Stadium, where the players made five tackles each.
136 – With 136 chance creating key passes last season, Kevin de Bruyne was the league’s most creative player. The Belgian finished his campaign with an unbeatable 20 assists.
140 – Newcastle stopper Martin Dubravka made 140 saves in the Premier League last season, making him the busiest goalkeeper in the division. The Slovakian also made more errors (five) leading to a goal than any other net minder in the league.
148 – Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha was dispossessed more times (148) than any other player in the league last term. The Ivorian lost possession a full 53 times more than the league’s next guiltiest offender, his Eagles teammate Jordan Ayew (95).
167 – The number of times Jack Grealish was fouled this season for Aston Villa. That figure is the highest number of fouls won in a season by a player in the competition on record (since 1998-99).
183 – Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse took a league-high 183 corner kicks over the course of the 2019/20 season.
352 – The total number of shots registered by Sheffield United during their 2019/20 Premier League campaign. No club racked up fewer attempts than the Blades.
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