Leicester, Watford and Bournemouth: surprising Premiership facts

What was happening in the Premier League with almost half the season gone? This was perhaps the most competitive season ever. Teams such as Leicester, Watford and Bournemouth were able to surprise all the biggest clubs in the division. West Ham, meanwhile, beat all the best teams and lost to the weakest.

To begin with, Leicester City were top of the table. Before the season started, that sentence would have seemed impossible. Yet all of The Foxes’ players were showing great consistency and performing at the top level. Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez were clinical, and Vardy even set a new record for scoring in consecutive matches, finding the net in 11 games in a row.

Chelsea, the reigning champions, were fighting to avoid relegation. The Blues had lost 9 of their 16 matches so far, something nobody would have believed before the season began. Chelsea had won only four matches, and one of the best managers of all time, Mourinho, was about to be sacked.

That was not all. Aston Villa had collected only six points, and unless they found a way to improve, The Lions looked certain to go down. They were in danger of breaking the record for the most defeats in a Premier League season, set by Derby County in 2007/2008. The Villans had the worst attack and the worst defence in the league.

Sunderland were also in danger of relegation. The Black Cats needed to perform at their best in every match until the end of the season if they wanted to keep their place among England’s top teams.

Newly promoted Watford, on the other hand, were doing sensational things. Their efforts had brought seven wins and four draws from the first 16 league games, with their strike duo of Deeney and Ighalo scoring goal after goal. The Hornets were just 10 points behind the leaders, and Watford had no reason to worry about their place in the league for the following season.

The teams from 1st to 13th place in the standings were separated by only 15 points. The margins were really small, the sides were evenly matched and anything was possible in that campaign. Much depended on each team’s form and on injuries.

It was perhaps the hardest league in the world to predict, but also the most exciting. Plenty of questions remained over Leicester, Chelsea, Man United, Man City and Arsenal, and the best was still to come.

How the 2015-16 season ended

Leicester City did not fade. Claudio Ranieri's side were confirmed as champions on 2 May 2016, when Tottenham Hotspur drew 2-2 at Stamford Bridge with two games still to play. The Foxes finished on 81 points, ten clear of Arsenal, with Tottenham third on 70. Bookmakers had offered odds of 5,000-1 on a Leicester title before the season began, and it was the first top-flight championship in the club's history. Riyad Mahrez was named PFA Players' Player of the Year in April 2016, the first African to win the award.

Jamie Vardy's run of goals in 11 consecutive Premier League matches beat the previous record of ten, set by Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2003. The division's top scorer that season, however, was Tottenham's Harry Kane with 25 league goals.

Chelsea, Watford and the relegation fight

Chelsea parted company with Jose Mourinho on 17 December 2015, after a 2-1 defeat at Leicester left the champions 16th, one point above the relegation zone. Under Guus Hiddink, appointed until the end of the season, they recovered to finish tenth on 50 points. Watford ended their first season back in the top flight in 13th place, and Bournemouth stayed up in 16th.

At the bottom, Aston Villa's relegation was confirmed on 16 April 2016 by a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford, with Marcus Rashford scoring the only goal. Villa finished last with 17 points and only three league wins, their first relegation since 1987. Newcastle United and Norwich City went down with them, while Sunderland survived in 17th place with 39 points. Manchester United and Manchester City both finished on 66 points, with City taking fourth place on goal difference.