Premier League team-by-team season verdicts: The big questions for Premier League teams to answer after the 2019/20 season

The 2019/20 season will never be forgotten, for the good and the bad, after a nearly year-long campaign involving a dominant champion, a plethora of manager changes (many just at Watford) and the completion without fans.

Not every team will walk away with their heads held high, but they all have big, big questions to answer in the short period until the new season kick-off on September 12.

Liverpool - The hunters become the hunted

What can you say, yes they missed a few records and maybe overdid the partying a little bit but they got 99 points - the second-best tally ever, even without crowds and with all the champagne and multiple guards of honour. Under the circumstances they did pretty well after wrapping up the title so quickly.

Jurgen Klopp is being measured up for his statue but, although the German likes a party, he already knows he'll face an almighty fight to defend the title next season - and it's a different story going from being the hunters to the hunted.

Big question: Hunger and desire don't seem to be an issue for this bunch, but they are a smallish squad and there's a definite drop-off when the front three especially don't all play. They won't go on forever without getting more injuries, so some reinforcements are needed - the problem is, with such a strong starting XI who do you buy who's good enough but willing to spend time on the bench? That's the problem Klopp has to deal with.

Stat: Liverpool won the Premier League title with seven games to spare, the earliest title win in English top-flight history in terms of games remaining.

• Liverpool are 13/8 to retain their Premier League title

Man City - Can Pep strike back?

Pep Guardiola's side managed to score over 100 goals, have Kevin De Bruyne match the assists record AND have goalkeeper Ederson win the Golden Gloves for keeping the most clean sheets - and still finish 18 points behind Liverpool! Work that one out.

They'll come back stronger, but he'll have to find a way to avoid another nine league defeats - that's a crazy amount for a team with this much talent and investment in it.

Big question: This will be a long-running theme, but City need a defender. Not just a defender, but a leader and an organiser in particular. The way Pep plays they also need to be handy on the ball - converted midfielders Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho have been two of his best performers.

Stat: Manchester City scored 102 Premier League goals in 2019-20 – it’s the fifth occasion of a side scoring 100+ in the competition, with the Citizens accounting for three of those (also in 2013-14 and 2017-18).

• Man City are the Evens favourites for the 2020/21 Premier League title

Man Utd - Ole vindicated

Solskjaer did it his way, so he says, and despite all the criticism that came his way during the season he kept strong and delivered third place - the very best his team could achieve. Closing the gap on the top two is a different story altogether, but he's now surely earned the backing of the club in the transfer market.

Bruno Fernandes has been incredible, and that also gives Solskjaer some weight behind his transfer requests. What is also encouraging is that he's not overly celebrating finishing third, and immediately stated his case for new signings upon qualifying for the Champions League. Maybe he is the answer after all.

Big question: Can they sustain their finishing form over a full season, with Champions League games thrown into the mix? Fernandes is great, but they look a bit slow without him, even with that front three which could be extremely dangerous next season - doing it over 38 games though is a tough ask. They'll need more.

Stat: Manchester United were awarded 14 penalties in 2019-20, the most a team has ever won in a single campaign in the competition.

Top four analysis

Chelsea - Geared up for next season

Chelsea are never a club willing to accept a season in transition, but Frank Lampard was given an almost free hit with Eden Hazard leaving and the transfer ban meaning he could try out his younger players. They've responded with a Champions League place and FA Cup final appearance.

What's more, Lampard has also been given Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech for next season, and if any team looks geared up to challenge the top two then it's the Blues - as long as they can tighten up at the back.

Big question: Can Lampard coach defenders? They conceded 54 goals this season, the worst record in top half of table, and at set pieces they look all at sea at times. That lack of organisation is a worry. Maybe Lampard can buy his way out of the problem by signing a big-name centre back, but if not it could haunt him next season.

Stat: Chelsea finished fourth under manager Frank Lampard – the highest finish for an English manager in their debut Premier League campaign since Frank Clark with Nottingham Forest in 1994-95 (3rd).

Leicester - Success or failure?

It's a head scratcher this one as, pre-season, finishing fifth and having a chance of the Champions League right down to the wire would be seen as a huge achievement by Brendan Rodgers. Trouble is, he overachieved early and then just faded down the stretch.

It's tough, as if James Maddison, Ricardo Pereira and Ben Chilwell would have stayed fit in the closing games then I think they'd have made it, but their squad just isn't deep enough to cope with those injuries. Let's face it, if you took four of Man United's top players out they'd have not bagged third would they? I'm giving Rodgers the benefit of the doubt.

Big question: In general, it's what now? If we don't know how to judge this season, what to do we set out as a target for next? With European football the need to strengthen is there, but equally they need to keep Maddison away from the vultures who'll be circling. Leicester could be a decent cup team next season if they go for them.

Stat: Leicester’s 9-0 win at Southampton was the biggest away win in English top-flight history.

Tottenham - Mourinho mission accomplished

Oh you Mourinho doubters! Spurs were 14th when Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino yet after some lumps and bumps in the road they've made the Europa League. Yes, it doesn't feel quite right celebrating that for the team that contested the Champions League final, but it always seemed that their appearance in Madrid was a one-off.

Injuries threatened to derail their season, but the enforced gap gave Harry Kane time to get fit and, despite yet more criticism of his handling of his star striker, Mourinho got Kane fit, got him scoring goals and got Spurs into Europe. Job done.

Big question: Money! Chiefly, how much money will Jose get? He's already said they won't be spending £100m, anyone who even half knows Daniel Levy knew that. Kane should stay at least one more season so it's just a case of getting a supporting cast around him. Injuries have been creeping in though so Spurs' 2020/21 season could yet again depend on his fitness.

Stats: With his goal against Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min became the first Asian player to score 50 goals in Premier League history.

Wolves - Marathon men

Nuno Espirito Santo's men clocked in with 57 games (and counting) and a season that lasted a full 12 months after kicking off in Europa League qualifying last July. That eventually took its toll as they just stumbled close to the line with a place back in Europe at their mercy.

Nuno has them defending well, playing some nice football and being incredibly tough to beat - only Man United and Liverpool lost fewer games. They're not elite scorers though and that's the next stage of their progression if they're to really mix it with the big boys.

Big question: Keeping their dynamic duo Adam Traore and Raul Jimenez - with the Mexican in particular looking like the perfect No.9 for this league. His goals have bagged Wolves 19 points and he's been involved in 45% of their goals - big clubs will be on alert.

Stat: Wolverhampton Wanderers became the fourth different team to not have a single English goalscorer across an entire Premier League campaign, after Fulham (2001-02 and 2005-06), Arsenal (2006-07) and Stoke City (2015-16).

Arsenal - Keep Aubameyang

Eighth place but an FA Cup final appearance and a sense of hope at the Emirates as Mikel Arteta seems to have an idea of what he's doing and where he wants to take this team. Still, though, those defensive frailties (looking at you, David Luiz) have been holding them back.

You have to be excited if you're an Arsenal fan, especially going forward with the likes of Lacazette, Aubameyang, Nketiah, Pepe, Saka among others. Arteta has also been string enough to basically freeze out Mesut Ozil yet bring back Granit Xhaka.

Big question: Although defence is their main Achilles' heel, two words sum up Arteta's immediate priority: Keep Aubameyang. He scored 22 goals this season, almost nabbing a share of the Golden Boot, but more importantly his goals won Arsenal 20 points - that's the most in the league so makes him the most vital player to any team in the division.

Stat: Arsenal finished eighth in the 2019-20 Premier League, their lowest finish in the competition since 1994-95 when they finished 12th.

Sheffield United - Follow that!

Chris Wilder is a legend, and you really can't say too many good things about him after the way his Blades side played this season.

They were prepared, together and more than good enough for this league. Away from home especially they were impressive and even though they struggled somewhat after the lockdown they were a credit to Wilder and the Steel City.

Big question: Avoiding second season syndrome will be a huge challenge for this squad, as there's unlikely to be any serious investment. Teams also know what to expect now when they face Wilder's side so, unless he comes up with another innovation it's likely to be a tougher year next year.

Stat: Sheffield United conceded just 39 goals in the Premier League this season, the fewest for any promoted side in the history of the competition.

Burnley - Dyche keeps delivering

It almost goes unnoticed now that Sean Dyche is continually performing heroics at Turf Moor on a shoestring budget - but the cracks began to show after lockdown when he could hardly fill the newly-expanded benches in the Premier League.

It's led to some interesting conversations about transfer budgets and surely there's only so long a man like Dyche will hang around at a club like Burnley if they're showing little to no ambition.

Big question: There's a stalemate at Burnley - the result of which will form the basis of their future. If Dyche is to stay, they'll have to spend, if they can't then he'll start to look elsewhere, and if you think any other manager could get this team, this club, into 10th in the Premier League then good luck!

Stat: Burnley won 15 Premier League games in 2019-20, their highest amount of wins in a single season in the competition.

Southampton - Ings can only get better

Hats off to Ralph Hasenhuttl who managed to galvanise his sorry lot after being humiliated by Leicester into a serious outfit after the lockdown - beating Man City on the way to 18 points as they swaggered away from the relegation zone.

Away from home they were especially potent, grabbing 31 of their 52 points on the road, while in Danny Ings they have a player that now looks like he could have actually made it at Liverpool (as a back-up at least) had injuries not ended his chances.

Big question: Can they continue their improvement? The relatively short turnaround may help teams to remain in some sort of form, and if so then the Saints may be popular for a top six finish at least. They'll need to improve their home form at St Mary's though - only Norwich won fewer points on home turf.

Stat: Danny Ings became just the third different Southampton player to hit 20+ goals in a single Premier League season after Matt Le Tissier and James Beattie.

Everton - Will Carlo get cash?

Carlo Ancelotti is a great appointment, and he got some response from his team when taking over, but the problems at Everton look huge as they limped over the line - and his frustration was evident towards the end of the campaign when he slammed his team's attitude.

Attitude is sometimes even harder to fix than just a lack of talent, so he has a real job on!

Big question: Just how much money do they have? Farhad Moshiri is said to be worth $1.9billion, his business partner Alisher Usmanov is worth about seven times that, but just how much are they willing to spend on the squad this summer? Ancelotti will not wait around forever - he'll want a lump sum up front this summer.

Stat: Everton finished 12th in the 2019-20 Premier League, their lowest finish since 2003-04 (17th).

Newcastle - Brucie bonus?

Isn't 13th just about right for this Newcastle squad? Bruce has spent a few quid on attackers who failed spectacularly until lockdown, but upped their game somewhat since the restart. They're so consistently below-average though that they finished 13th in the overall table and just one place lower in the post-lockdown table.

All the takeover talk can't have helped so let's cut Bruce some slack, as it's set to be another summer of uncertainty on Tyneside. Might be worth an early bet on another bottom half finish next season.

Big question: This summer is all about the takeover, it really is, and I just don't think the new owners appreciate how urgently they need this sorted. How can the club sanction, let alone make, new signings when they don't even know who the manager will be once pen has been put to paper. Newcastle could be a superpower of the future, but else they get a wriggle on it won't be next season.

Stat: Newcastle averaged just 37.8% possession across the 2019-20 Premier League campaign, their lowest in a single campaign in the competition on record (since 2003-04).

Crystal Palace - Bad omens for next season

I really don't like the way Palace are moving - you can't judge anything really seriously by the behind-closed-doors form, but if you could then these Eagles would be favourites for the drop next season. One win in nine with five goals is awful form, and that's WITH Wilfried Zaha.

Zaha looks set to leave, with Everton, Arsenal and Tottenham in the frame, and if he goes then you're looking at a side with hardly any star power in it at all. If they don't use that money, as they didn't with the Aaron Wan-Bissaka sale, I've got them pegged as relegation candidates next season.

Big question: What is their plan? They sold Wan-Bissaka for £50m last season and spent £6m on Jordan Ayew and James McCarthy - that's almost like super advanced planning for the Championship. They need to up their game or they'll be gone.

Stat: Crystal Palace failed to score more than twice in any of their Premier League games this season. It’s the eighth time a team has gone through a whole campaign without doing so, while Palace are the first to do so while avoiding relegation.

Brighton - Potter to weave his magic?

I bet nobody's made the Harry Potter joke before? Anyway, Graham Potter's first season in charge started with that 3-0 win at Watford that suggested his more expansive style would be just what the Seagulls wanted when they brought him in to replace Chris Hughton.

The style is different, they did look to play out from the back a lot more, but results were only marginally better - they got five more points than last season, but only one more than two years ago. They also finished in the same position and won the same number of games as in 2018 - they'll just hope the trajectory is in the opposite direction.

Big question: Can you play your way up the league? We've seen time and time again that teams attempting to play passing football without the super expensive players Liverpool and Man City field fall flat on their faces. Signing Adam Lallana would help, as is expected, but Potter has to find more ball-playing gems like that to stand a chance.

Stat: Brighton’s Neal Maupay was the top scoring Premier League player in 2019-20 among players not to score more than once in a game (10 goals).

West Ham - Moyes feeling at home

Twelve points post-lockdown saved their bacon - notably when they battered Watford in their relegation showdown, and now David Moyes simply must be given time and money to try and shape his side into one that at least doesn't have to battle relegation every year.

Moyes is much more comfortable operating at this level, finding players who will scrap and run themselves into the ground to dig out results - it's something West Ham have been missing for a bit, but it's certainly something Moyes can instil in a team.

Big question: Will Moyes be allowed to do it his way? Having no fans for a bit might actually help with this, as there may not be too many style points for the way Moyes will go about things, at least early on. The Hammers need to recognise this and just back Moyes, at least for a season, to get players out as much as in - do that and they'll be fine and relatively comfortable in mid-table.

Stat: Michail Antonio became the first West Ham United player to score four goals in a top-flight match since David Cross did so against Spurs in September 1981.

Aston Villa - Skin of their teeth

Eight points from their last four games did the trick, but THAT VAR decision against Sheffield United also helped in keeping them up. Away from that though, let's give Dean Smith credit as his side were transformed defensively after the lockdown - going from one of the top teams for allowing shots on target to one of the meanest.

They also had a team spirit lacking in Bournemouth and Watford, which also made a huge difference.

Big question: Jack Grealish's future - what else? Villa spent plenty last summer, and those players may begin to show themselves, but playing without the club captain is a huge difference and Villa need to know sooner rather than later what he's doing. They'll be down there again regardless, but the experience of this year could just help them survive again.

Stat: Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish was fouled 167 times in the 2019-20 Premier League campaign, the most fouls won in a season by a player in the competition on record (since 1998-99).

Bournemouth - No case for the defence

As the stat shows, you just can't go conceding that many goals year after year and get away with it, the Premier League just won't let you - and not learning that lesson is now a huge black mark agains Eddie Howe's name, if he decides to leave for pastures new.

The atmosphere around the club was all wrong from a long way out, that's why I backed them to go down around the end of November time. It's not often I'm right so far in advance, but body language and the way they played just stuck out a mile as a club struggling for motivation - mojo even.

Big question: Howe will they get back up? No, that's not a typo, but a clever play on words....I just don't think Howe is the man for the Championship, he's been in the Premier League too long and with so many contracts and players to sort out, they need a clean break if they want to bounce back up.

Stat: Bournemouth became the first side to concede 60+ goals in five consecutive Premier League campaigns, eventually suffering relegation from the top-flight for the first time.

Watford - Got what they deserved

Who else would sack three managers in a season? It's absurd and quite frankly Watford's owners got what they deserved. Nigel Pearson's not everyone's cup of tea, but he got them out of a real hole and even just having a chance of survival with two games left was some achievement.

They may have gone anyway, but you'd like to think Pearson may have engineered a lighter defeat against City and even a point at Arsenal, which in the end would've kept them up. Having the manager sacked out of the blue like that must have really hit the players hard.

Big question: Who wants to manage Watford? An ageing squad with Premier League players on Premier League wages, no manager and an ownership who just love wielding the axe. Not exactly your dream job is it?

Stat: Watford’s 3-0 win against Liverpool was the biggest top-flight victory for a side in the relegation zone against the side top of the table since Leicester beat Man Utd 3-0 in November 1985.

Norwich - Never in it

We all knew what the plan was with Norwich. Trouble is, the players knew as well, and they played like a team just waiting to go down. Yes they beat Man City and they gave plenty of effort, but Daniel Farke never sounded like a man certain his side had what it took to stay up.

Contrast him with Chris Wilder with a team of relatively similar value and stature and his attitude and desire to stay up - their teams played accordingly.

Big question: Will the yo-yo gamble pay off? Norwich planned to go down, they always looked like a team prepared for it, and now they've got it, they really do need to bounce right back up to make that gamble worthwhile.

Stat: Norwich City were relegated from the Premier League for the fifth time, more than any other side in the history of the competition.

Follow Sporting Life on social - find us on Facebook here or tweet @SportingLifeFC

Related football content

• Transfer Market: Latest updates
• Transfer Window: Done deals
• Premier League review & highlights
• Latest football previews and tips
• Sporting Life App: Android & iOS