Leicester's fairytale ended with the worst title defence in Premier League history
A year after their astonishing 2016 title, Leicester City lost their very first match to newly promoted Hull City, the first time a reigning champion had done that. They sacked Claudio Ranieri in February and finished 12th. Meanwhile Antonio Conte, new at Chelsea, was piling up a record number of league wins.
The 2016–17 season, the Premier League's 25th, opened in August 2016 with a crop of star managers. Conte took over Chelsea, José Mourinho Manchester United and Pep Guardiola Manchester City, while Jürgen Klopp began his first full season at Liverpool. The league also dropped its sponsor's name, becoming simply the Premier League with a new logo, and capped away tickets at £30.
Conte's Chelsea clinched the club's fifth Premier League title with two games to spare, winning 1–0 at West Bromwich Albion on 12 May. Only a slow start kept them from a points record too. Tottenham pushed them hard and finished with the best attack and the best defence, Harry Kane again topping the scorers, in their last season at White Hart Lane after 118 years.
Further down, the drama was sharper. Arsenal won seven of their last eight games yet finished fifth, missing the Champions League for the first time since 1997, though an FA Cup win made Arsène Wenger its most successful manager. Manchester United drew 15 times and ended sixth, but won the Europa League for the first time, joining just four other clubs with all three major European trophies.
Leicester's 12th place beat Chelsea's previous record for a poor defence, 10th the year before, and was the worst by any English champion since Leeds dropped to 17th in 1992–93. Sunderland fell after a decade in the top flight, and of the three promoted sides only Burnley stayed up, their home ground Turf Moor proving a fortress.
Source: 2016–17 Premier League
