2015–16 Premier League

Premier League

Season	2015–16
Champions	Leicester City 1st Premier League title 1st English title
Relegated	Newcastle United Norwich City Aston Villa
Champions League	Leicester City Arsenal Tottenham Hotspur Manchester City
Europa League	Manchester United Southampton West Ham United
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1026 (2.7 per match)
Top goalscorer	Harry Kane (25 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Petr Čech (16 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Manchester City 6–1 Newcastle United (3 October 2015)
Biggest away win	Aston Villa 0–6 Liverpool (14 February 2016)
Highest scoring	Norwich City 4–5 Liverpool (23 January 2016)
Longest winning run	6 matches Tottenham Hotspur
Longest unbeaten run	15 matches Chelsea
Longest winless run	19 matches Aston Villa
Longest losing run	11 matches Aston Villa
Highest attendance	75,415 Manchester United 2–1 Swansea City (2 January 2016)
Lowest attendance	10,863 AFC Bournemouth 1–3 Stoke City (13 February 2016)
Total attendance	13,851,698
Average attendance	36,451
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 Premier League was the 24th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. The fixtures were announced on 17 June 2015. The season began on 8 August 2015, and was scheduled to conclude on 15 May 2016. However, the Manchester United vs Bournemouth fixture was postponed to 17 May 2016 on the final day due to a suspicious package in the stadium.

Chelsea began the season as defending champions of the 2014–15 season. AFC Bournemouth, Watford, and Norwich City entered as the three promoted teams from the 2014–15 Football League Championship.

After narrowly avoiding relegation the previous season, Leicester City won the league for the first time in their 132-year history, becoming the 24th club to become English football champions, and the sixth club to win the Premier League.

Summary

Leicester City were the surprise of the season. Following their narrow escape from relegation in the previous season many pundits had predicted that they would be relegated and bookmakers gave 5,000–1 odds on them winning the title. After the dismissal of manager Nigel Pearson, they began the new season with Italian Claudio Ranieri in charge. Pearson had been known for his short temper with the press, while Ranieri has a reputation for good humour. The appointment was met with scepticism by pundits, including Leicester fan and former player Gary Lineker, as Ranieri had recently been sacked from his previous post as manager of the Greek national team after suffering a humiliating defeat to the Faroe Islands in his last game in charge.

Despite winning their opening game against Sunderland and topping the table, they dropped back following a 5–2 defeat by Arsenal in September. However, aided by Jamie Vardy's record feat of scoring in eleven consecutive Premier League games, they then remained unbeaten – and returned to the top of the table – until 26 December, when a 1–0 defeat by Liverpool dropped them to second place. They returned to the top after a 1–1 draw with Aston Villa on 16 January and remained there for the rest of the season. Following a 2–2 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur on 2 May 2016, Leicester City were confirmed champions, their first title in the top flight of English football, eclipsing the runners-up spot they reached in 1929.

Meanwhile, defending champions Chelsea had a torrid season, sacking manager José Mourinho in December while in 16th place and failing to qualify for European football for the first time in two decades. Eden Hazard, the previous season's PFA Players' Player of the Year, did not score a league goal until late April.

Arsenal were looking for their first title since 2004. Following a poor start their form improved and they took the top spot from Leicester in early January. However, a poor run of results, including draws with Liverpool, Stoke and Southampton, and a loss to Chelsea saw them drop to fourth by mid-February. They remained in contention, but draws with West Ham, Sunderland and Crystal Palace in April saw their title hopes vanish. Meanwhile their London rivals Tottenham Hotspur won six matches in a row, and when Arsenal lost to Manchester United at the end of February, Tottenham leapfrogged them into second place, where they remained until the final weekend of the season. Draws with West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea stopped them winning their first title since 1961. The match in which Tottenham's title challenge ended, their 2–2 draw at Chelsea on 2 May, saw them receive nine yellow cards — a league record. After a 5-1 defeat to Newcastle United in their final match, Tottenham ended the season in third place, one point behind Arsenal.

Aston Villa, a presence in the Premier League since the league's foundation in 1992, were the first team relegated this season, after a 1–0 loss at Manchester United on 16 April. On 11 May, Sunderland won 3–0 against Everton, a result which relegated Newcastle United and Norwich City with one game remaining.

All of the final fixtures of the season were scheduled for 15 May, and to kick off at the same time. However, Manchester United's home game against Bournemouth was postponed for a future date after Old Trafford was evacuated because of the discovery of a suspicious device, which was destroyed in a controlled explosion. It was confirmed to be an accidental leftover from a training exercise.

Reactions

The unlikely nature of Leicester's title led to a flood of coverage from across the globe. Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted his congratulations, saying it was "An extraordinary, thoroughly deserved, Premier League title." Congratulations were also sent by the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who praised his compatriot Ranieri.

Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore described it as "biggest story we've ever had" in English football. Former Leicester manager Martin O'Neill described it as the "greatest achievement of this century". Gary Lineker, the former Leicester striker who led a consortium that saved the club from administration in 2002, had said he would host the BBC football show Match of the Day in his underwear if Leicester won the title. After they won the title he said: "There were no odds that I would have taken at the start of the season. No odds. You could have given me 10 million to one and I’d have said ‘Nah, it’s a waste of a quid’". José Mourinho, manager of 2015 champions Chelsea and Ranieri's replacement at the same team eleven years earlier, sent his congratulations, saying: "I lost my title to Claudio Ranieri and it is with incredible emotion that I live this magic moment in his career." Ranieri said after winning his first title at the age of 64 that he wouldn't have appreciated it as a young man: "Now I am an old man I can feel it much better."

The long odds bookmakers had given Leicester at the start of the season led to them incurring losses of up to £25 million, with one punter winning over £100,000.

Superstitious claims of phenomena helping Leicester win the league include the club's Thai owners employing Buddhist monks to bless the players, and the reburial of King Richard III in the city's cathedral in March 2015.

Teams

AFC Bournemouth

Everton

Liverpool

Manchester City

Manchester United

Newcastle United

Norwich City

London

Southampton

Stoke City

Sunderland

Swansea City

Watford

West Bromwich Albion

Aston Villa

Leicester City

London teams

Arsenal
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United

Locations of the 2015–16 Premier League teams

Arsenal

Chelsea

Crystal Palace

Tottenham Hotspur

West Ham United

Greater London Premier League football clubs

A total of 20 teams compete in the league, including 17 sides from the 2014–15 season and three promoted from the 2014–15 Football League Championship. On 25 April 2015, Watford became the first Championship side to be promoted following their 2–0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. On the final day of the season AFC Bournemouth won the Championship title and their first-ever promotion to the top flight, with a 3–0 victory over Charlton Athletic. Norwich City became the third and final team to be promoted after beating Middlesbrough 2–0 in the Championship play-off final, bouncing back from relegation from the Premier League following the 2013–14 season.

The three promoted clubs replaced Burnley, Queens Park Rangers and Hull City. Burnley were relegated despite a 1–0 victory at Hull City, and Queens Park Rangers suffered the same fate after a 6–0 defeat by Manchester City. Hull City became the third team to be relegated after a 0–0 draw with Manchester United on the final day of the 2014–15 season.

Stadia

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Stadium	Capacity
AFC Bournemouth	Dean Court	11,464
Arsenal	Emirates Stadium	60,260
Aston Villa	Villa Park	42,660
Chelsea	Stamford Bridge	41,798
Crystal Palace	Selhurst Park	25,073
Everton	Goodison Park	39,571
Leicester City	King Power Stadium	32,312
Liverpool	Anfield	44,742
Manchester City	Etihad Stadium	55,097
Manchester United	Old Trafford	75,653
Newcastle United	St James' Park	52,338
Norwich City	Carrow Road	27,010
Southampton	St Mary's Stadium	32,505
Stoke City	Britannia Stadium	27,740
Sunderland	Stadium of Light	48,707
Swansea City	Liberty Stadium	20,909
Tottenham Hotspur	White Hart Lane	36,284
Watford	Vicarage Road	21,500
West Bromwich Albion	The Hawthorns	26,850
West Ham United	Boleyn Ground	35,345

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager1	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
AFC Bournemouth	Eddie Howe	Tommy Elphick	JD Sports	Mansion Group
Arsenal	Arsène Wenger	Mikel Arteta	Puma	Emirates
Aston Villa	Eric Black (caretaker)	Micah Richards	Macron	Intuit QuickBooks
Chelsea	Guus Hiddink (caretaker)	John Terry	Adidas	Yokohama
Crystal Palace	Alan Pardew	Mile Jedinak	Macron	Mansion Group
Everton	David Unsworth Joe Royle (caretakers)	Phil Jagielka	Umbro	Chang
Leicester City	Claudio Ranieri	Wes Morgan	Puma	King Power
Liverpool	Jürgen Klopp	Jordan Henderson	New Balance	Standard Chartered
Manchester City	Manuel Pellegrini	Vincent Kompany	Nike	Etihad Airways
Manchester United	Louis van Gaal	Wayne Rooney	Adidas	Chevrolet
Newcastle United	Rafael Benítez	Fabricio Coloccini	Puma	Wonga
Norwich City	Alex Neil	Russell Martin	Erreà	Aviva
Southampton	Ronald Koeman	José Fonte	Adidas	Veho
Stoke City	Mark Hughes	Ryan Shawcross	New Balance	Bet365
Sunderland	Sam Allardyce	John O'Shea	Adidas	Dafabet
Swansea City	Francesco Guidolin	Ashley Williams	Adidas	GWFX
Tottenham Hotspur	Mauricio Pochettino	Hugo Lloris	Under Armour	AIA
Watford	Quique Flores	Troy Deeney	Puma	138.com
West Bromwich Albion	Tony Pulis	Darren Fletcher	Adidas	Tlcbet
West Ham United	Slaven Bilić	Mark Noble	Umbro	Betway

• ¹ According to current revision of List of English Football League managers.
• Additionally, referee kits are made by Nike, sponsored by EA Sports, and Nike has a new match ball, the Ordem Premier League.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
West Ham United	Sam Allardyce	End of contract	24 May 2015	Pre-season	Slaven Bilić	9 June 2015
Watford	Slaviša Jokanović		5 June 2015		Quique Flores	5 June 2015
Newcastle United	John Carver	Sacked	9 June 2015		Steve McClaren	10 June 2015
Leicester City	Nigel Pearson		30 June 2015		Claudio Ranieri	13 July 2015
Sunderland	Dick Advocaat	Resigned	4 October 2015	19th	Sam Allardyce	9 October 2015
Liverpool	Brendan Rodgers	Sacked	4 October 2015	10th	Jürgen Klopp	8 October 2015
Aston Villa	Tim Sherwood		25 October 2015	19th	Rémi Garde	2 November 2015
Swansea City	Garry Monk		9 December 2015	15th	Alan Curtis	7 January 2016
Chelsea	José Mourinho	Mutual consent	17 December 2015	16th	Guus Hiddink	19 December 2015
Swansea City	Alan Curtis	End of caretaker spell	18 January 2016	18th	Francesco Guidolin	18 January 2016
Newcastle United	Steve McClaren	Sacked	11 March 2016	19th	Rafael Benítez	11 March 2016
Aston Villa	Rémi Garde	Mutual consent	29 March 2016	20th	Eric Black	29 March 2016
Everton	Roberto Martínez	Sacked	12 May 2016	12th

Results

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Leicester City (C)	38	23	12	3	68	36	+32	81	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Arsenal	38	20	11	7	65	36	+29	71
3	Tottenham Hotspur	38	19	13	6	69	35	+34	70
4	Manchester City	38	19	9	10	71	41	+30	66	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Manchester United	38	19	9	10	49	35	+14	66	Qualification for the Europa League group stage
6	Southampton	38	18	9	11	59	41	+18	63
7	West Ham United	38	16	14	8	65	51	+14	62	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
8	Liverpool	38	16	12	10	63	50	+13	60
9	Stoke City	38	14	9	15	41	55	−14	51
10	Chelsea	38	12	14	12	59	53	+6	50
11	Everton	38	11	14	13	59	55	+4	47
12	Swansea City	38	12	11	15	42	52	−10	47
13	Watford	38	12	9	17	40	50	−10	45
14	West Bromwich Albion	38	10	13	15	34	48	−14	43
15	Crystal Palace	38	11	9	18	39	51	−12	42
16	AFC Bournemouth	38	11	9	18	45	67	−22	42
17	Sunderland	38	9	12	17	48	62	−14	39
18	Newcastle United (R)	38	9	10	19	44	65	−21	37	Relegation to the Football League Championship
19	Norwich City (R)	38	9	7	22	39	67	−28	34
20	Aston Villa (R)	38	3	8	27	27	76	−49	17

Result table

Home ╲ Away

ARS

AST

BOU

CHE

CRY

EVE

LEI

LIV

MCI

MUN

NEW

NOR

SOU

STK

SUN

SWA

TOT

WAT

WBA

WHU

Arsenal

4–0

2–0

0–1

1–1

2–1

2–1

0–0

2–1

3–0

1–0

1–0

0–0

2–0

3–1

1–2

1–1

4–0

2–0

0–2

Aston Villa

0–2

1–2

0–4

1–0

1–3

1–1

0–6

0–0

0–1

0–0

2–0

2–4

0–1

2–2

1–2

0–2

2–3

0–1

1–1

AFC Bournemouth

0–2

0–1

1–4

0–0

3–3

1–1

1–2

0–4

2–1

0–1

3–0

2–0

1–3

2–0

3–2

1–5

1–1

1–1

1–3

Chelsea

2–0

2–0

0–1

1–2

3–3

1–1

1–3

0–3

1–1

5–1

1–0

1–3

1–1

3–1

2–2

2–2

2–2

2–2

2–2

Crystal Palace

1–2

2–1

1–2

0–3

0–0

0–1

1–2

0–1

0–0

5–1

1–0

1–0

2–1

0–1

0–0

1–3

1–2

2–0

1–3

Everton

0–2

4–0

2–1

3–1

1–1

2–3

1–1

0–2

0–3

3–0

3–0

1–1

3–4

6–2

1–2

1–1

2–2

0–1

2–3

Leicester City

2–5

3–2

0–0

2–1

1–0

3–1

2–0

0–0

1–1

1–0

1–0

1–0

3–0

4–2

4–0

1–1

2–1

2–2

2–2

Liverpool

3–3

3–2

1–0

1–1

1–2

4–0

1–0

3–0

0–1

2–2

1–1

1–1

4–1

2–2

1–0

1–1

2–0

2–2

0–3

Manchester City

2–2

4–0

5–1

3–0

4–0

0–0

1–3

1–4

0–1

6–1

2–1

3–1

4–0

4–1

2–1

1–2

2–0

2–1

1–2

Manchester United

3–2

1–0

3–1

0–0

2–0

1–0

1–1

3–1

0–0

0–0

1–2

0–1

3–0

3–0

2–1

1–0

1–0

2–0

0–0

Newcastle United

0–1

1–1

1–3

2–2

1–0

0–1

0–3

2–0

1–1

3–3

6–2

2–2

0–0

1–1

3–0

5–1

1–2

1–0

2–1

Norwich City

1–1

2–0

3–1

1–2

1–3

1–1

1–2

4–5

0–0

0–1

3–2

1–0

1–1

0–3

1–0

0–3

4–2

0–1

2–2

Southampton

4–0

1–1

2–0

1–2

4–1

0–3

2–2

3–2

4–2

2–3

3–1

3–0

0–1

1–1

3–1

0–2

2–0

3–0

1–0

Stoke City

0–0

2–1

2–1

1–0

1–2

0–3

2–2

0–1

2–0

2–0

1–0

3–1

1–2

1–1

2–2

0–4

0–2

0–1

2–1

Sunderland

0–0

3–1

1–1

3–2

2–2

3–0

0–2

0–1

0–1

2–1

3–0

1–3

0–1

2–0

1–1

0–1

0–1

0–0

2–2

Swansea City

0–3

1–0

2–2

1–0

1–1

0–0

0–3

3–1

1–1

2–1

2–0

1–0

0–1

0–1

2–4

2–2

1–0

1–0

0–0

Tottenham Hotspur

2–2

3–1

3–0

0–0

1–0

0–0

0–1

0–0

4–1

3–0

1–2

3–0

1–2

2–2

4–1

2–1

1–0

1–1

4–1

Watford

0–3

3–2

0–0

0–0

0–1

1–1

0–1

3–0

1–2

1–2

2–1

2–0

0–0

1–2

2–2

1–0

1–2

0–0

2–0

West Bromwich Albion

2–1

0–0

1–2

2–3

3–2

2–3

2–3

1–1

0–3

1–0

1–0

0–1

0–0

2–1

1–0

1–1

1–1

0–1

0–3

West Ham United

3–3

2–0

3–4

2–1

2–2

1–1

1–2

2–0

2–2

3–2

2–0

2–2

2–1

0–0

1–0

1–4

1–0

3–1

1–1

Updated to games played on 17 May 2016.
Source: Barclays Premier League football scores & results
1 ^{^} 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

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 15 May 2016.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	25
2	Sergio Agüero	Manchester City	24
	Jamie Vardy	Leicester City
4	Romelu Lukaku	Everton	18
5	Riyad Mahrez	Leicester City	17
6	Olivier Giroud	Arsenal	16
7	Jermain Defoe	Sunderland	15
	Odion Ighalo	Watford
9	Troy Deeney	Watford	13
	Alexis Sánchez	Arsenal

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Premier League hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Callum Wilson	AFC Bournemouth	West Ham United	4–3	22 August 2015
Steven Naismith	Everton	Chelsea	3–1	12 September 2015
Alexis Sánchez	Arsenal	Leicester City	5–2	26 September 2015
Sergio Agüero5	Manchester City	Newcastle United	6–1	3 October 2015
Raheem Sterling	Manchester City	AFC Bournemouth	5–1	17 October 2015
Georginio Wijnaldum4	Newcastle United	Norwich City	6–2	18 October 2015
Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	AFC Bournemouth	5–1	25 October 2015
Arouna Koné	Everton	Sunderland	6–2	1 November 2015
Riyad Mahrez	Leicester City	Swansea City	3–0	5 December 2015
Jermain Defoe	Sunderland	Swansea City	4–2	13 January 2016
Andy Carroll	West Ham United	Arsenal	3–3	9 April 2016
Sergio Agüero	Manchester City	Chelsea	3–0	16 April 2016
Sadio Mané	Southampton	Manchester City	4–2	1 May 2016
Olivier Giroud	Arsenal	Aston Villa	4–0	15 May 2016

Note

⁴ Player scored 4 goals
⁵ Player scored 5 goals

Clean sheets

As of matches played on 17 May 2016.

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Petr Čech	Arsenal	16
2	David de Gea	Manchester United	15
	Joe Hart	Manchester City
	Kasper Schmeichel	Leicester City
5	Hugo Lloris	Tottenham Hotspur	13
6	Heurelho Gomes	Watford	11
	Simon Mignolet	Liverpool
8	Jack Butland	Stoke City	10
9	Adrián	West Ham United	9
	Łukasz Fabiański	Swansea City

Discipline

As of matches played on 15 May 2016.

Player

• Most yellow cards: 11
  • Jack Colback (Newcastle)

• Most red cards: 3
  • Victor Wanyama (Southampton)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 74
  • Aston Villa

• Most red cards: 6
  • Southampton

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Reference
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Manuel Pellegrini	Manchester City	André Ayew	Swansea City
September	Mauricio Pochettino	Tottenham Hotspur	Anthony Martial	Manchester United
October	Arsène Wenger	Arsenal	Jamie Vardy	Leicester City
November	Claudio Ranieri	Leicester City	Jamie Vardy	Leicester City
December	Quique Sánchez Flores	Watford	Odion Ighalo	Watford
January	Ronald Koeman	Southampton	Sergio Agüero	Manchester City
February	Mauricio Pochettino	Tottenham Hotspur	Fraser Forster	Southampton
March	Claudio Ranieri	Leicester City	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur
April	Claudio Ranieri	Leicester City	Sergio Agüero	Manchester City

Annual awards

175px PFA Team of the Year De Gea Alderweireld Bellerín Morgan Rose Mahrez Alli Kanté Payet Vardy Kane

Premier League Player of the Season

Jamie Vardy was named Premier League Player of the Season.

PFA Player of the Year

The PFA Players' Player of the Year was awarded to Riyad Mahrez.

PFA Team of the Year

The PFA Team of the Year was:

• Goalkeeper: David de Gea (Manchester United)
• Defence: Héctor Bellerín (Arsenal), Wes Morgan (Leicester City), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur)
• Midfield: Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), N'Golo Kanté (Leicester City), Dimitri Payet (West Ham United)
• Attack: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

PFA Young Player of the Year

The PFA Young Player of the Year was awarded to Dele Alli.

FWA Footballer of the Year

The FWA Footballer of the Year was awarded to Jamie Vardy.

External links

• Official website