2011–12 Premier League

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Premier League
Season 2011 (2011)–12
Champions Manchester City
1st Premier League title
3rd English title
Relegated Blackburn Rovers
Bolton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Champions League Manchester City
Manchester United
Arsenal
Chelsea
Europa League Tottenham Hotspur
Newcastle United
Liverpool
Matches played 380
Goals scored 1066 (2.81 per match)
Top goalscorer Robin van Persie (30 goals)
Best goalkeeper Joe Hart (17 clean sheets)
Biggest home win Manchester United 8–2 Arsenal
Arsenal 7–1 Blackburn Rovers
Fulham 6–0 Queens Park Rangers
Biggest away win Manchester United 1–6 Manchester City
Bolton Wanderers 0–5 Manchester United
Fulham 0–5 Manchester United
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0–5 Manchester United
Norwich City 1–6 Manchester City
Highest scoring Manchester United 8–2 Arsenal (10 goals)
Longest winning run 8 games[1]
Manchester United
Longest unbeaten run 14 games[1]
Manchester City
Longest winless run 12 games[1]
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Longest losing run 8 games[1]
Wigan Athletic
Highest attendance 75,627[1]
Manchester United 4–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Lowest attendance 15,195[1]
Queens Park Rangers 0–4 Bolton Wanderers
Total attendance 13,148,465[1][2]
Average attendance 34,601[1][2]

The 2011–12 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The 2011–12 fixtures were announced on 17 June 2011 at 9:00 BST.[3] The season began on 13 August 2011 and ended on 13 May 2012. Manchester City won their first league title since 1968, beating Queens Park Rangers 3–2 on the final day of the season with stoppage time goals from Edin Džeko and Sergio Agüero. The title was City's first Premier League success, making them the fifth club to win the Premier League in its twenty-year history.[4] It was the first time the Premier League had been won on goal difference and the first time a previously relegated club in the Premier League had won the title.

The league was contested by 20 teams, seventeen returning from the 2010–11 season and three promoted from the Football League Championship. Championship winners Queens Park Rangers and runners-up Norwich City gained automatic promotion whilst Swansea City gained promotion through the Football League Championship play-offs beating Reading 4–2 in May 2011 becoming the first non-English team to play in the Premiership in the history of the current league setup. All three promoted clubs avoided relegation for the first time since the 2001–02 campaign. The season was voted as the greatest Premier League season in the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards.[5]

Season summary

Manchester City won the title in a tense finale, their first championship since 1968. City's local rivals Manchester United were the early pace-setters, leading the table until October when they drew at Liverpool allowing Manchester City to overtake them. The following week, City increased their lead to 5 points with a shock 6–1 away victory at Old Trafford, which they maintained until December, when they dropped points and their lead narrowed, but City remained in front until March, when a defeat at Swansea City saw them drop behind United. City's bad form continued for the next month while United went on a winning run, so that with six matches remaining United were 8 points ahead of City and the title seemingly decided. However United, then faltered with a defeat and a draw in their next three games, while City won all three to narrow the gap to 3 points. City then beat United 1–0 at the Etihad Stadium to move back ahead of United on goal difference. Both sides won their penultimate matches to maintain the situation.

Going into the final matches, which were played simultaneously, City were top of the league, ahead of Manchester United on goal difference. However, a Wayne Rooney goal away to Sunderland gave United the advantage. A 39th-minute goal from Pablo Zabaleta, his first of the season, put City back on top at half time. In a dramatic second half Djibril Cissé equalised for Queens Park Rangers in the 48th minute. Shortly after, Joey Barton of QPR was sent off for elbowing Carlos Tevez; on his way off the pitch, he kicked Sergio Agüero, attempted to headbutt Vincent Kompany and squared up to Mario Balotelli. Despite the numerical advantage, City went behind after Jamie Mackie gave QPR the lead in the 66th minute. As time wound down in both matches, it appeared that Manchester United would win the title with their victory over Sunderland. But Edin Džeko equalised for City in the 92nd minute. While United players waited on the field at Sunderland for a possible trophy presentation, Manchester City's Sergio Agüero scored the game winner in the 94th minute to clinch the title on goal difference.[6][7] The 6-1 loss was even more important than it seemed at the time, as if the score had been 2-1 then both teams would have ended with identical records (points, goal difference, goals scored, win record, etc.) which by Premier League rules would have meant a play-off game at a neutral ground to decide the title.[8]

For most of the season, Tottenham Hotspur were in third place, a couple of points behind the Manchester clubs, and there was much speculation as to whether Tottenham could mount a title challenge. However, from late February onwards their season collapsed, starting with a 5–2 defeat to local rivals Arsenal, who they had been 10 points ahead of before the game, and just 4 wins in their last 13 games condemned Tottenham to finishing a point below Arsenal, who finished third to join Manchester City and Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League,[9] completing a strong recovery from a disastrous start to the season including an 8–2 defeat at Manchester United in August. Tottenham finished in the fourth and final Champions League slot but missed out on qualification for the competition because Chelsea's victory in the 2012 Champions League Final automatically entitles them to defend their title in the 2012–13 tournament at the expense of the lowest ranked team that would otherwise qualify for the competition through league position. This is the first time that this rule has been implemented in the Premier League, having been introduced by UEFA after Liverpool's controversial qualification for the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League. This consequently marked the first time that the club finishing fourth in the Premier League had not qualified for the tournament since the fourth qualifying spot was introduced in the 2001–02 season. Newcastle United finished fifth and qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.[10] Everton finished 7th, just above local rivals Liverpool. Despite finishing above them for the first time in seven years, it was Liverpool who claimed the final Europa League slot, by virtue of winning the 2011–12 Football League Cup.[11]

Elsewhere in the league, QPR avoided relegation, despite losing to Manchester City; Bolton Wanderers could only draw at Stoke City, failing to overtake QPR, and therefore joining Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers in being relegated to the Championship. For the second time in the Premier League's history, none of the three clubs promoted from the Championship in the previous season were relegated at the end of the season with the other two teams, Swansea City and Norwich City, finishing 11th and 12th respectively. The last time all three newly promoted teams stayed up (2001–02), Blackburn and Bolton were two of those teams.

Liverpool's Luis Suárez was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra and was given an eight match ban.

Teams

The teams ending the 2010–11 season in the bottom three places of the table were relegated to the 2011–12 Football League Championship. West Ham United finished in last place, ending the East London side's six-year tenure in the league. Blackpool and Birmingham City both joined them in relegation, following dramatic games on the last day of the season.

Queens Park Rangers as 2010–11 Football League Championship winners and runners-up Norwich City were directly promoted at the end of the season. Queens Park Rangers appeared in the Premier League for the first time in fifteen years, while Norwich City returned after a six-year absence and two successive promotions, becoming the first team since Manchester City to do so in eleven years. The last team to be promoted was decided by the Championship play-off final on 30 May 2011, where Swansea City defeated Reading 4–2 to become the first Welsh-based team to enter the Premier League.[12][13]

Stadia and locations

Team Location Stadium Capacity[14]
Arsenal London Emirates Stadium 60,361
Aston Villa Birmingham Villa Park 42,785
Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Ewood Park 31,154
Bolton Wanderers Bolton Reebok Stadium 28,100
Chelsea London Stamford Bridge 42,449
Everton Liverpool Goodison Park 40,157
Fulham London Craven Cottage 25,700
Liverpool Liverpool Anfield 45,276
Manchester City Manchester Etihad Stadium[15] 47,405
Manchester United Trafford Old Trafford 75,811
Newcastle United Newcastle upon Tyne St James' Park(1) 52,409
Norwich City Norwich Carrow Road 27,183
Queens Park Rangers London Loftus Road 18,439
Stoke City Stoke-on-Trent Britannia Stadium 27,740
Sunderland Sunderland Stadium of Light 49,000
Swansea City Swansea Liberty Stadium 20,520
Tottenham Hotspur London White Hart Lane 36,230
West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich The Hawthorns 27,877
Wigan Athletic Wigan DW Stadium 25,133
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Molineux Stadium 27,828(2)
  • 1 Though the official name of the stadium was Sports Direct Arena,[16] it was more commonly referred to as St James' Park, before its change back to St. James Park in the 2012/13 season after Newcastle United signed a new sponsorship deal with Wonga.com.
  • 2 Molineux underwent redevelopment during the 2011–12 season. The season began with capacity limited to 24,259, but increased with the opening of the bottom of a two-tier new stand during September 2011.[17]

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team Manager1 Captain Kit manufacturer[14] Shirt sponsor[14]
Arsenal Arsène Wenger Robin van Persie Nike Emirates
Aston Villa Alex McLeish Stiliyan Petrov5 Nike Genting Casinos
Blackburn Rovers Steve Kean Paul Robinson6 Umbro The Prince's Trust[18]
Bolton Wanderers Owen Coyle Kevin Davies Reebok 188BET
Chelsea Roberto Di Matteo John Terry Adidas Samsung
Everton David Moyes Phil Neville Le Coq Sportif Chang Beer
Fulham Martin Jol Danny Murphy Kappa FxPro
Liverpool Kenny Dalglish Steven Gerrard Adidas Standard Chartered
Manchester City Roberto Mancini Vincent Kompany Umbro Etihad Airways
Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson Nemanja Vidić7 Nike Aon
Newcastle United Alan Pardew Fabricio Coloccini Puma Northern Rock/Virgin Money2
Norwich City Paul Lambert Grant Holt Erreà Aviva
Queens Park Rangers Mark Hughes Joey Barton Lotto No sponsor8/Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia3
Stoke City Tony Pulis Ryan Shawcross Adidas Britannia
Sunderland Martin O'Neill Lee Cattermole Umbro Tombola
Swansea City Brendan Rodgers Garry Monk Adidas 32Red
Tottenham Hotspur Harry Redknapp Ledley King Puma Aurasma4
West Bromwich Albion Roy Hodgson Chris Brunt Adidas Bodog
Wigan Athletic Roberto Martínez Gary Caldwell MiFit 12BET
Wolverhampton Wanderers Terry Connor Roger Johnson BURRDA Sportingbet
  • 1 According to current revision of List of English Football League managers
  • 2 Following Virgin Money's acquisition of Northern Rock on 1 January 2012, Virgin Money started to appear on the team's kits from 4 January 2012.[19]
  • 3 Malaysia Airlines will appear on Queens Park Rangers' home kit, with Air Asia appearing on their two away kits.[20]
  • 4 Aurasma is a subsidiary of Autonomy
  • 5Stiliyan Petrov was Villa's captain until March, when he was diagnosed with acute leukaemia. Gabriel Agbonlahor was handed the captaincy in Petrov's absence.[21]
  • 6Chris Samba was previously Blackburn's captain. Following Samba's transfer to Anzhi Makhachkala, Robinson was handed the captaincy.[22]
  • 7On 7 December 2011, Vidić twisted his knee during United's Champions League clash at Basel and left the field on a stretcher.[23] Vidic missed the rest of the season and Patrice Evra assumed the captaincy of Manchester United.[24]
  • 8 Queens Park Rangers ran sponsorless until 12 September 2011

In addition, Nike will have a new design for their match ball (white from August to October and March to May; high-visibility yellow from November through February) called Seitiro, featuring a modified flame design.[25]

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position at departure Incoming manager Date of appointment
Chelsea Carlo Ancelotti Sacked 22 May 2011[26] Pre-season André Villas-Boas 22 June 2011[27]
Aston Villa Gérard Houllier Resigned on grounds of ill health 1 June 2011[28] Alex McLeish 17 June 2011[29]
Fulham Mark Hughes Resigned 2 June 2011[30] Martin Jol 7 June 2011[31]
Sunderland Steve Bruce Sacked 30 November 2011[32] 16th Martin O'Neill 3 December 2011[33]
Queens Park Rangers Neil Warnock 8 January 2012[34] 17th Mark Hughes 10 January 2012[35]
Wolverhampton Wanderers Mick McCarthy 13 February 2012[36] 18th Terry Connor 24 February 2012[37]
Chelsea André Villas-Boas 4 March 2012[38] 5th Roberto Di Matteo 4 March 2012[38]

League table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Manchester City (C) 38 28 5 5 93 29 +64 89 2012–13 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2 Manchester United 38 28 5 5 89 33 +56 89
3 Arsenal 38 21 7 10 74 49 +25 70
4 Tottenham Hotspur 38 20 9 9 66 41 +25 69 2012–13 UEFA Europa League Group stage 1
5 Newcastle United 38 19 8 11 56 51 +5 65 2012–13 UEFA Europa League Play-off round
6 Chelsea 38 18 10 10 65 46 +19 64 2012–13 UEFA Champions League Group stage 1
7 Everton 38 15 11 12 50 40 +10 56
8 Liverpool 38 14 10 14 47 40 +7 52 2012–13 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round 2
9 Fulham 38 14 10 14 48 51 −3 52
10 West Bromwich Albion 38 13 8 17 45 52 −7 47
11 Swansea City 38 12 11 15 44 51 −7 47
12 Norwich City 38 12 11 15 52 66 −14 47
13 Sunderland 38 11 12 15 45 46 −1 45
14 Stoke City 38 11 12 15 36 53 −17 45
15 Wigan Athletic 38 11 10 17 42 62 −20 43
16 Aston Villa 38 7 17 14 37 53 −16 38
17 Queens Park Rangers 38 10 7 21 43 66 −23 37
18 Bolton Wanderers (R) 38 10 6 22 46 77 −31 36 Relegation to Football League Championship
19 Blackburn Rovers (R) 38 8 7 23 48 78 −30 31
20 Wolverhampton Wanderers (R) 38 5 10 23 40 82 −42 25

Source: Barclays Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1Chelsea won the 2011–12 Champions League and thus qualified for the group stage of the 2012–13 competition as defending champions. This meant that Tottenham were to compete in the Europa League in the 2012–13 season, since, pursuant to the rules in effect at the time, only four clubs from the Premier League could play in the Champions League.
2Liverpool won the 2011–12 Football League Cup and thus qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away ARS AST BLB BOL CHE EVE FUL LIV MCI MUN NEW NOR QPR STK SUN SWA TOT WBA WIG WOL
Arsenal 3–0 7–1 3–0 0–0 1–0 1–1 0–2 1–0 1–2 2–1 3–3 1–0 3–1 2–1 1–0 5–2 3–0 1–2 1–1
Aston Villa 1–2 3–1 1–2 2–4 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–1 0–1 1–1 3–2 2–2 1–1 0–0 0–2 1–1 1–2 2–0 0–0
Blackburn Rovers 4–3 1–1 1–2 0–1 0–1 3–1 2–3 0–4 0–2 0–2 2–0 3–2 1–2 2–0 4–2 1–2 1–2 0–1 1–2
Bolton Wanderers 0–0 1–2 2–1 1–5 0–2 0–3 3–1 2–3 0–5 0–2 1–2 2–1 5–0 0–2 1–1 1–4 2–2 1–2 1–1
Chelsea 3–5 1–3 2–1 3–0 3–1 1–1 1–2 2–1 3–3 0–2 3–1 6–1 1–0 1–0 4–1 0–0 2–1 2–1 3–0
Everton 0–1 2–2 1–1 1–2 2–0 4–0 0–2 1–0 0–1 3–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 4–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 3–1 2–1
Fulham 2–1 0–0 1–1 2–0 1–1 1–3 1–0 2–2 0–5 5–2 2–1 6–0 2–1 2–1 0–3 1–3 1–1 2–1 5–0
Liverpool 1–2 1–1 1–1 3–1 4–1 3–0 0–1 1–1 1–1 3–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–2 2–1
Manchester City 1–0 4–1 3–0 2–0 2–1 2–0 3–0 3–0 1–0 3–1 5–1 3–2 3–0 3–3 4–0 3–2 4–0 3–0 3–1
Manchester United 8–2 4–0 2–3 3–0 3–1 4–4 1–0 2–1 1–6 1–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 2–0 3–0 2–0 5–0 4–1
Newcastle United 0–0 2–1 3–1 2–0 0–3 2–1 2–1 2–0 0–2 3–0 1–0 1–0 3–0 1–1 0–0 2–2 2–3 1–0 2–2
Norwich City 1–2 2–0 3–3 2–0 0–0 2–2 1–1 0–3 1–6 1–2 4–2 2–1 1–1 2–1 3–1 0–2 0–1 1–1 2–1
Queens Park Rangers 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–4 1–0 1–1 0–1 3–2 2–3 0–2 0–0 1–2 1–0 2–3 3–0 1–0 1–1 3–1 1–2
Stoke City 1–1 0–0 3–1 2–2 0–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–3 1–0 2–3 0–1 2–0 2–1 1–2 2–2 2–1
Sunderland 1–2 2–2 2–1 2–2 1–2 1–1 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 0–1 3–0 3–1 4–0 2–0 0–0 2–2 1–2 0–0
Swansea City 3–2 0–0 3–0 3–1 1–1 0–2 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 0–2 2–3 1–1 2–0 0–0 1–1 3–0 0–0 4–4
Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 2–0 2–0 3–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 4–0 1–5 1–3 5–0 1–2 3–1 1–1 1–0 3–1 1–0 3–1 1–1
West Bromwich Albion 2–3 0–0 3–0 2–1 1–0 0–1 0–0 0–2 0–0 1–2 1–3 1–2 1–0 0–1 4–0 1–2 1–3 1–2 2–0
Wigan Athletic 0–4 0–0 3–3 1–3 1–1 1–1 0–2 0–0 0–1 1–0 4–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 1–4 0–2 1–2 1–1 3–2
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0–3 2–3 0–2 2–3 1–2 0–0 2–0 0–3 0–2 0–5 1–2 2–2 0–3 1–2 2–1 2–2 0–2 1–5 3–1

Updated to games played on 13 May 2012.
Source: Premier League
^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Season statistics