2009/10 Premier League season review
Chelsea won the 2009/10 Premier League with 86 points, one ahead of Manchester United, in Carlo Ancelotti's first season. They clinched it on the final day with an 8-0 win over Wigan and scored 103 league goals, then a Premier League record and the first century in the top flight since Tottenham in 1962/63. Didier Drogba won the Golden Boot with 29.
In Fantasy Premier League, Frank Lampard was the top scorer with 284 points, and Jon Reeson won the overall game with 2,668 points from about 2.1 million managers.
You can replay the season here with a £100m squad picked from 341 players across all 20 clubs, or read on for how it unfolded.
Ronaldo leaves, City spend
The biggest departure of the summer was Cristiano Ronaldo, who left Manchester United for Real Madrid for a world-record fee. Carlos Tevez went across the city to Manchester City, and United replaced them with Antonio Valencia from Wigan and Michael Owen.
City spent heavily in their first full season under Abu Dhabi ownership. As well as Tevez, Mark Hughes signed Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré from Arsenal, Joleon Lescott from Everton, Gareth Barry from Aston Villa and, for £17.5 million, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn.
Chelsea appointed Carlo Ancelotti from AC Milan and signed Yuri Zhirkov. Tottenham bought Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjcar from Portsmouth. At Sunderland, Steve Bruce took over from Ricky Sbragia, and Roberto Martínez replaced Bruce at Wigan.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City and Burnley came up from the Championship. It was Burnley's first season in the Premier League.
How Chelsea won the 2009/10 title
Chelsea won their first six league games under Ancelotti and led at the turn of the year. United's defence of their title stumbled early: they lost 1-0 at Burnley, the Premier League's newest club, to a Robbie Blake volley, and later lost at home to Aston Villa. On 20 September, though, Owen scored in stoppage time to beat City 4-3 at Old Trafford, a game later voted the best in Premier League history.
Arsenal joined the race in the spring. They went top briefly in March after six straight wins, before United overtook them the next day. A draw at Birmingham followed, and Arsenal took seven points from their last six games to finish third.
The title turned on 3 April at Old Trafford. Joe Cole and Drogba scored as Chelsea won 2-1 and went top. They won three of their next four, including a 2-0 win at Anfield, and went into the final day a point clear.
On 9 May Chelsea beat Wigan 8-0 at Stamford Bridge, with a Drogba hat-trick, while United beat Stoke 4-0. It was Chelsea's third Premier League title and their first since 2006. Their 103 goals beat the record of 97 set by United in 1999/00, and their goal difference of +71 was also a record. They scored seven or more in four league games.
Chelsea then beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup final to complete the Double.
United finished second on 85 points. Wayne Rooney scored 26 league goals and was named PFA Players' Player of the Year and the Premier League's Player of the Season. Dimitar Berbatov added 12.
Tottenham break into the top four
The race for fourth was between Tottenham and Manchester City, who both started with four straight wins. In November, Spurs beat Wigan 9-1 at White Hart Lane, with Jermain Defoe scoring five, including a hat-trick in six minutes. Robbie Keane played 20 league games for them before going on loan to Celtic.
City lost the Manchester derby, then drew seven league games in a row. Hughes was sacked on 19 December and Roberto Mancini appointed the same day. Tevez scored 23 league goals, but the decisive game came in Spurs' penultimate match. Crouch headed an 82nd-minute winner at City, and Tottenham finished fourth on 70 points, their first top-four finish in the Premier League. Harry Redknapp was Manager of the Season, the first manager to win it without winning the title since George Burley in 2000/01.
Behind them:
- Manchester City finished fifth on 67 points.
- Aston Villa were sixth under Martin O'Neill. They won at Old Trafford but faded in the second half of the season.
- Liverpool were seventh, with Fernando Torres scoring 18 league goals.
- Everton finished eighth.
- Birmingham City were ninth in their first season back.
- Fulham finished 12th but reached the Europa League final under Roy Hodgson, beating Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus and Hamburg on the way before losing to Atlético Madrid in extra time.
Portsmouth's administration and the relegation fight
Portsmouth lost their first seven league games. In February they became the first Premier League club to enter administration and were docked nine points, finishing with 19. They were relegated on 10 April, the first club to go down, and still reached the FA Cup final.
Burnley and Hull City went down with them, each on 30 points. Burnley lost their manager, Owen Coyle, to Bolton in January. Hull's Phil Brown resigned in March and Iain Dowie took over, but Hull won six games all season, the fewest in the league.
West Ham survived in 17th, five points clear of the bottom three.
2009/10 Premier League final table
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 38 | 27 | 5 | 6 | 103 | 32 | +71 | 86 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 38 | 27 | 4 | 7 | 86 | 28 | +58 | 85 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 38 | 23 | 6 | 9 | 83 | 41 | +42 | 75 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 67 | 41 | +26 | 70 |
| 5 | Manchester City | 38 | 18 | 13 | 7 | 73 | 45 | +28 | 67 |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 38 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 52 | 39 | +13 | 64 |
| 7 | Liverpool | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 61 | 35 | +26 | 63 |
| 8 | Everton | 38 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 60 | 49 | +11 | 61 |
| 9 | Birmingham | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 38 | 47 | -9 | 50 |
| 10 | Blackburn | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 41 | 55 | -14 | 50 |
| 11 | Stoke | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 34 | 48 | -14 | 47 |
| 12 | Fulham | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 39 | 46 | -7 | 46 |
| 13 | Sunderland | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 48 | 56 | -8 | 44 |
| 14 | Bolton | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 42 | 67 | -25 | 39 |
| 15 | Wolves | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 32 | 56 | -24 | 38 |
| 16 | Wigan | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 37 | 79 | -42 | 36 |
| 17 | West Ham | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 47 | 66 | -19 | 35 |
| 18 | Burnley | 38 | 8 | 6 | 24 | 42 | 82 | -40 | 30 |
| 19 | Hull | 38 | 6 | 12 | 20 | 34 | 75 | -41 | 30 |
| 20 | Portsmouth* | 38 | 7 | 7 | 24 | 34 | 66 | -32 | 19 |
* Portsmouth were deducted 9 points for entering administration in February 2010.
The bottom three were relegated. In the game, every result behind this table plays out as it really happened.
2009/10 top scorers
| Player | Goals | Assists | Our price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Didier Drogba Chelsea | 29 | 10 | £11.5m |
| Wayne Rooney Manchester United | 26 | 3 | £10.5m |
| Darren Bent Sunderland | 24 | 1 | £9.5m |
| Carlos Tevez Manchester City | 23 | 7 | £10.0m |
| Frank Lampard Chelsea | 22 | 14 | £11.5m |
| Fernando Torres Liverpool | 18 | 3 | £8.5m |
| Jermain Defoe Tottenham Hotspur | 18 | 4 | £9.0m |
| Cesc Fàbregas Arsenal | 15 | 13 | £10.5m |
| Emmanuel Adebayor Manchester City | 14 | 3 | £8.0m |
| Louis Saha Everton | 13 | 1 | £7.5m |
2009/10 assist leaders
| Player | Assists | Goals | Our price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Lampard Chelsea | 14 | 22 | £11.5m |
| Cesc Fàbregas Arsenal | 13 | 15 | £10.5m |
| James Milner Aston Villa | 12 | 7 | £9.0m |
| Didier Drogba Chelsea | 10 | 29 | £11.5m |
| Aaron Lennon Tottenham Hotspur | 9 | 3 | £7.5m |
| Ryan Giggs Manchester United | 9 | 5 | £8.5m |
| Florent Malouda Chelsea | 8 | 12 | £10.0m |
| Craig Bellamy Manchester City | 8 | 10 | £8.0m |
| Matthew Etherington Stoke | 8 | 5 | £7.5m |
| Leighton Baines Everton | 8 | 1 | £5.5m |
League goals and assists only. Players who moved clubs mid-season are listed under the club they played most for.
Surprises and disappointments
Some of the season's best stories came from outside the top four.
- Darren Bent scored 24 league goals for Sunderland, the third-highest total in the league behind Drogba and Rooney.
- Birmingham City finished ninth after promotion, and their goalkeeper Joe Hart made the PFA Team of the Year.
- Burnley, in their first Premier League season, beat the champions 1-0 at Turf Moor.
- Fulham finished 12th in the league but played in a European final.
- Wigan's Maynor Figueroa scored a free kick from inside his own half in a 2-2 draw at Stoke.
Others had seasons to forget:
- Liverpool finished seventh, a year after pushing United all the way.
- Portsmouth went into administration and finished bottom, 16 points from safety.
- Manchester City spent heavily, drew seven league games in a row and changed manager in December, then missed out on fourth to Tottenham.
- Wigan became the first side to lose two league games by eight goals in one season, 9-1 at Tottenham and 8-0 at Chelsea.
- Arsenal went top in March and then took seven points from their last six games.
2009/10 in Fantasy Premier League
About 2.1 million managers played Fantasy Premier League in 2009/10. Jon Reeson, from England, won with 2,668 points playing as Westfield Irons. No winner from 2009/10 onwards scored more until Michael Coone's 2,680 in 2020/21.
Frank Lampard was the game's top scorer with 284 points from a season of 22 league goals. That put him ahead of Drogba (242), even though Drogba won the Golden Boot. Rooney (224), Cesc Fàbregas (214) and Tevez (210) came next.
Patrice Evra was the top defender with 168 points, and Liverpool's Pepe Reina the top goalkeeper with 164.
The PFA Team of the Year
The champions had only two players in the players' own Team of the Year, while runners-up United had four.
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Joe Hart (Birmingham City) |
| Defenders | Branislav Ivanović (Chelsea), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Patrice Evra (Manchester United) |
| Midfielders | Antonio Valencia (Manchester United), Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal), Darren Fletcher (Manchester United), James Milner (Aston Villa) |
| Forwards | Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Didier Drogba (Chelsea) |
The season's awards: Rooney was PFA Players' Player of the Year and the Premier League's Player of the Season. Milner was PFA Young Player of the Year, Redknapp was Manager of the Season and Drogba won his second Golden Boot.
Most expensive players by position
The premium picks a £100m budget forces you to choose between in 2009/10.
Goalkeepers
- Manuel Almunia£6.0m
- Petr Čech£6.0m
- Pepe Reina£6.0m
Defenders
- Antonio Valencia£7.0m
- Ashley Young£6.5m
- Charles N'Zogbia£6.0m
Midfielders
- Frank Lampard£11.5m
- Cesc Fàbregas£10.5m
- Florent Malouda£10.0m
Forwards
- Didier Drogba£11.5m
- Wayne Rooney£10.5m
- Carlos Tevez£10.0m
2009/10 on Retro Fantasy Football
94 managers have finished a 2009/10 season on our leaderboard (as of October 2026). The best scores so far:
- 2,262 pts
- 2,210 pts
- 2,158 pts
- 2,153 pts
- 2,110 pts
Points follow our scoring rules. Think you can beat them?
2009/10 quick answers
Who won the Premier League in 2009/10? Chelsea, with 86 points, one ahead of Manchester United.
When was the 2009/10 title decided? On the final day, 9 May 2010, when Chelsea beat Wigan 8-0.
How many goals did Chelsea score in 2009/10? 103, a Premier League record at the time.
Who was relegated in 2009/10? Burnley, Hull City and Portsmouth.
Who was the Premier League top scorer in 2009/10? Didier Drogba, with 29 league goals.
Who was PFA Player of the Year in 2009/10? Wayne Rooney. James Milner was Young Player of the Year.
Who scored the most FPL points in 2009/10? Frank Lampard, with 284.
Who won Fantasy Premier League in 2009/10? Jon Reeson, with 2,668 points.