2018-19 Premier League

Manchester City retained the title on the final day.

The 2018–19 Premier League was the 27th season of the top English professional football league since its 1992 establishment, and the 120th season of top-flight English football overall. It began on 10 August 2018 and ended on 12 May 2019, with fixtures announced on 14 June 2018. Manchester City, the defending champions, won their fourth Premier League title and sixth English top-flight title overall.

Quick Facts

Season

2018–19

Dates

10 August 2018 – 12 May 2019

Winners

Manchester City
4th Premier League title
6th English title

Relegated

Cardiff City
Fulham
Huddersfield Town

Best goalkeeper

Alisson (21 clean sheets)

Competition

Premier League

Matches

380

Total goals

1072

Facts from the source article.

Summary

Manchester City secured the league championship on the last matchday by defeating Brighton & Hove Albion 4–1, finishing with 98 points after winning their final 14 league games. Liverpool, who held a seven-point lead over City on 3 January, ended as runners-up with 97 points, the highest total ever recorded by a second-placed team in English top-flight history, having lost only one league match all season. Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur took the remaining Champions League berths in third and fourth places; Tottenham had been considered potential title contenders until a 1–2 loss to Burnley in February, while Chelsea later won the UEFA Europa League by beating Arsenal 4–1 in the final.

Arsenal began April in third place after a fourteen-game unbeaten run but dropped to fifth after earning only four points from six matches, missing Champions League qualification. Manchester United sacked manager José Mourinho in December after their worst start in 28 years and a 3–1 loss to Liverpool; former player Ole Gunnar Solskjær replaced him initially as caretaker, was appointed permanently after an away goals victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, but the team then won none of its final five league matches and finished sixth.

Newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers finished seventh, their highest placing since 1980, taking points from every league opponent except Liverpool and Huddersfield Town, and achieving the best finish for a promoted team since Ipswich Town in 2000–01. Huddersfield Town became the first team relegated, after a 0–2 defeat at Crystal Palace on 30 March 2019, the second Premier League side to be relegated before March ended. Fulham followed on 2 April after a 1–4 loss at Watford, and Cardiff City was the final relegated team after a 2–3 home defeat to Crystal Palace on 4 May.

Teams

The league featured twenty clubs: the seventeen that stayed up and three newcomers from the Championship. Wolverhampton Wanderers ended a six-year top-flight hiatus, while Cardiff City and Fulham returned after four years away. They took the places of Swansea City, Stoke City, and West Bromwich Albion, whose top-tier runs lasted seven, ten, and eight years in that order. Nike provided the Merlin as the official match ball.