2007-2008
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This was the season for a lot of changes as United welcomed Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and Tevez. Arsenal got Eduardo as Henry departed for Barcelona and Chelsea signed Florent Malouda. The biggest addition happened at Merseyside who saw Fernando Torres join and boy was he going to shake things up!
Manchester United had built a formidable team that was capable of standing on equal footing with any team in Europe. It just so happened that United won the Premier League and went onto win the Champions League in an all-English final against Chelsea who were led by Avram Grant after they had sacked Mourinho.
Arsenal too challenged for the title finishing two points behind Chelsea in 3rd place but this was becoming a scene of every season where they would challenge and would eventually fizzle out. Cristiano Ronaldo outshone everyone to score 31 league goals and won the Ballon d'Or following this season.
The final day drama was not just for the top positions but also for relegation as Fulham won 1-0 on the final day and avoided relegation due to their -22 goal difference over -25 of Reading. The great escape people called it.
United contested City on the 50th Anniversary of the Munich Air Crash during which both fans showed great solidarity and respected the occasion and City ran out 2-1 winners on the day.
2008-2009
This was probably the season with so many moments that picking out a picture was very tough. These included moments like – Macheda’s winner against Villa, Arshavin scoring 4 against Liverpool, United’s 5-2 win against Spurs, Arsenal 4-4 Spurs and so on. Torres destroyed Vidic in a 1-4 rout by Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Liverpool were clear favourites to win the title with United still hungover from their last season’s exploits and Chelsea had set the early pace with Scolari at the helm. Liverpool didn't lose a home game throughout the season but as had become the usual, they eventually let United take over the lead and Chelsea had again changed their manager mid-season with Guus Hiddink coming in and City getting their much-awaited big money owner takeover.
United won the title equalling Liverpool's mighty 18 league titles followed by Liverpool and Chelsea. Manchester City finished 10th with Robinho being signed on the deadline day. The season is fondly remembered for Hull City’s bright start to the season when they topped the league in the early weeks but then were resigned to a relegation battle which they eventually won on the final day. The season also saw Edwin van der Sar go 1,311 minutes without conceding a league goal - a new PL record.
2009-2010
After 3 seasons of Manchester United’s dominance, Chelsea won the title thanks to Carlo Ancelotti’s arrival and attacking play which had them score a PL record of 103 goals averaging 2.71 goals a season. Cristiano Ronaldo departed for less rainy pastures in Madrid at a world record fee of £80m. Wigan Athletic were one of the teams that were on the receiving ends of the league’s two biggest routs – a 9-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur and an 8-0 defeat to Chelsea on the final day.
Didier Drogba scored 29 goals and led the Chelsea line and the season had some wonderful games like the 4-3 win of United against City with Michael Owen scoring in the 97th minute. The iconic image is of the game between Liverpool and Sunderland where a beach ball was dropped by a fan onto the pitch. Darren Bent shot at the goal which would’ve been saved but somehow the referee allowed the game to go on as the ball hit the beach ball, deflected into the goal.
This is something Liverpool fans won’t ever forget. This season saw Manchester City and Spurs face each other in the penultimate game of the season for a Champions League position which Tottenham secured thanks to a Peter Crouch shot from outside the box! You think that’d happen? It was a header from inside the six-yard area. The Big 4 broken?
