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On this day: Lamela's rabona and Okazaki's overhead kick
Pep Guardiola guided Manchester City to a fifth Premier League title in 10 seasons as they finished 12 points clear of runners-up Manchester United.
Despite stuttering at the start of the campaign, finding themselves as low as eighth place on Christmas Day, a 15-match winning run lifted City to top spot. Once they had hit the front in March, they never looked back.
The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic forced a late start to the 2020/21 season, which kicked off on 12 September, only 48 days after the 2019/20 campaign had ended. The pandemic also meant matches continued to be played without fans in stadiums and with staggered kick-off times.
Liverpool got their title defence off to a winning start with a 4-3 victory over a Leeds United side who would mark the end to their 16-year absence from the top flight by finishing in ninth place with 59 points, the highest tally for a promoted side since Ipswich Town’s 66 in 2000/01.
Everton were also among the early pacesetters, Dominic Calvert-Lewin helping Carlo Ancelotti’s side string together four successive wins from the start for the first time since 1993/94 to go top of the table.
After losing 3-1 at home to Crystal Palace, Manchester United scrambled a 3-2 win at Brighton & Hove Albion thanks to a Bruno Fernandes penalty awarded after the final whistle following a VAR review. At 99.45 minutes, it was the competition’s latest winner recorded by Opta.
Early-season form was also a worry for Man City, who were beaten 5-2 at home by Leicester City on Matchday 2.
A week later Tottenham Hotspur stunned Man Utd with a 6-1 victory and on the same astonishing day Liverpool were humbled 7-2 by Aston Villa. Striker Ollie Watkins produced a perfect hat-trick as the Reds, after three straight wins, became the first defending top-flight champions to concede so many goals in a league match.
Liverpool suffered an even bigger blow in the Merseyside derby when a knee ligament injury to Virgil van Dijk prematurely ended the defender’s campaign.
A Goal of the Season contender from Manuel Lanzini crowned a remarkable comeback by West Ham United, who were three goals down with just eight minutes remaining before drawing 3-3 at Spurs.
Jose Mourinho's side rallied to embark on a four-match winning run that culminated in a 2-0 over Man City. Spurs became one of nine different sides to top the table but this result proved a turning point for City.
With summer signing Ruben Dias settling into an effective central defensive partnership alongside John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan scoring 11 goals in 12 matches, Guardiola’s team soared to the summit.
Liverpool’s title defence began to falter just after Boxing Day, as they failed to win any of their subsequent five matches, The 1-0 defeat by Burnley was their first home loss in three years and 273 days and left them in fourth. It was the start of an unprecedented run of six consecutive defeats at Anfield, including a first there against Everton in 22 years.
With summer signings Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz and Thiago Silva beginning to impress, a 3-1 victory over Leeds in December sent Chelsea top of the league.
But two wins from their next eight encounters proved Frank Lampard’s undoing and the Blues’ legend was replaced in January by former Paris Saint-Germain head coach Thomas Tuchel. The German immediately shored up the Chelsea defence and a 10-match unbeaten sequence lifted the Blues from ninth to fourth.
Inspired by Bruno Fernandes, Man Utd recovered from their poor start and equalled the biggest winning margin in Premier League history by beating Southampton 9-0 in February. It was the second successive season that Saints had been on the wrong end of this scoreline and their brief spell at the top of the league in November, the first in their history, now seemed a distant memory.
It was even worse for Sheffield United, who were unable to repeat the heroics of their ninth-placed finish of 2019/20. The Blades mustered only two points from their opening 17 matches, recording the longest winless sequence from the start for a Premier League side. A famous win at Old Trafford could not preserve Chris Wilder’s position and in March he was replaced until the end of the season by Paul Heckingbottom.
West Bromwich Albion had tried to change course sooner, bringing in Sam Allardyce to take over from Slaven Bilic in December. Despite improved results, including a 5-2 win over Chelsea, the task of avoiding relegation would for once elude the man taking charge of a record eighth Premier League club.
Fulham would also fail to retain their top-flight status under Scott Parker. A run of seven draws in nine matches through December and January meant their spell of good form was not rewarded by the points required to keep them out of trouble.
By April Spurs were also drifting, and days before the EFL Cup final, Jose Mourinho parted ways with the club, lying seventh, who brought in Ryan Mason on an interim basis. At 29 years of age, the former Spurs midfielder became the youngest head coach in Premier League history.
In late April Liverpool were themselves lying seventh and looking destined to miss out on a top-four place after drawing 1-1 at Newcastle. But five straight wins, including a dramatic 2-1 victory over West Brom sealed by a last-gasp header from Alisson, their goalkeeper, propelled them into the Champions League places.
The Reds finished third in the end, while Leicester City, who had spent a season-high 242 days in the top four, finished fifth after losing their final two matches against Chelsea and Spurs.
Brendan Rodgers’ side did at least manage to win the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating Chelsea 1-0 in front of 21,000 returning fans at Wembley Stadium.
The Foxes also played their part in the title race, Caglar Soyuncu's header securing a 2-1 win against Man Utd to confirm City as champions on 9 May.
On the final day of the season, Sergio Aguero came off the bench to mark his last appearance for City by breaking Wayne Rooney's Premier League goalscoring record. His brace in the 5-0 win over Everton took him to 184 goals for the same club, one more than Rooney managed for Man Utd.
With 19 clean sheets, Aguero’s team-mate Ederson claimed the Golden Glove, beating Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy’s 16 shutouts.
Harry Kane claimed double honours. His final-day strike in the 4-2 victory at Leicester helped him win the Premier League Golden Boot with 23 goals, one more than Mohamed Salah, while he also collected the Playmaker Award after amassing 14 assists. He thus became only the third player to finish a PL season with both accolades.
Spurs’ victory ensured Chelsea finished fourth, despite losing to Aston Villa, and the Blues’ season ended on an even higher note when they triumphed 1-0 against Man City in the UEFA Champions League final in only the third all-English final in the competition’s history.
