The 2018–19 Premier League was the 27th
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...
of the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
, the top English professional league for
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the 120th season of top-flight English football overall. The season started on 10 August 2018 and concluded on 12 May 2019. Fixtures for the 2018–19 season were announced on 14 June 2018. The league was contested by the top 17 teams from the 2017–18 season as well as
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...
,
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...
and
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...
, who joined as the promoted clubs from the
2017–18 EFL Championship
The 2017–18 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second season of the EFL Championship under its current name, and the twenty-sixth season under its current league structure.
Team changes
The ...
. They replaced
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
,
Swansea City
Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...
and
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
who were relegated to the
2018–19 EFL Championship
The 2018–19 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the EFL Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the ...
.
Defending champions
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
won their fourth Premier League title, and sixth English top-flight title overall. They won their last 14 league games and retained the league title on the final day of the season, finishing on 98 points.
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
finished runners-up with 97 points – the highest total in English top-flight history for a second-placed team.
Summary
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
claimed the league title on the final day of the season with a 4–1 win at
Brighton & Hove Albion, finishing on 98 points after a run of 14 wins.
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
held a 7-point lead over Manchester City on 3 January, but finished runners-up with 97 points – the third highest total in Premier League history and the highest in English top-flight history for a second-placed team, having lost only one league match all season – to eventual champions City.
Chelsea and
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
claimed the other two Champions League berths, finishing in third and fourth place respectively. Tottenham were in third place for much of the season and were considered potential title challengers until a 1–2 loss to
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...
in February. Chelsea would go on to win the season's
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...
, defeating
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...
in the final 4–1. Arsenal had gone on a fourteen-game unbeaten run near the start of the season and began April in third place, but a run of four points in six matches saw them drop to fifth place, finishing outside of the Champions League spots.
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
's worst start to the season for 28 years led to the sacking of manager
José Mourinho
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the Britis ...
in December, with former player
Ole Gunnar Solskjær replacing him, initially as a caretaker. Solskjær was appointed permanently after an impressive run of results which culminated in United's away goals victory over
Paris Saint-Germain in the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
, but the team's poor form soon returned, and they eventually finished sixth after the team had won none of their final five league matches. Newly promoted
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...
achieved their highest finish since 1980 by finishing seventh, having taken points off every team in the league except Liverpool and
Huddersfield Town. Their seventh-place finish was the highest for a newly promoted team since
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...
finished 5th in the
2000–01 season.
Huddersfield were the first team to be relegated, following their 0–2 defeat at
Crystal Palace on 30 March 2019, coinciding with victories for
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...
and
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
. They were relegated with six games remaining. This made Huddersfield the second team in Premier League history to be relegated before March ended, following
Derby County in
2007–08. Fulham joined them after a 1–4 defeat at
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...
on 2 April, relegated with five games remaining.
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...
were the final team to be relegated following a 2–3 loss at home to Crystal Palace on 4 May with one game remaining.
The fastest goal in Premier League history was scored this season on 23 April by
Shane Long in a 1–1 draw between his side
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
and
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...
after 7.69 seconds. On 4 May 2019, Fulham's
Harvey Elliott
Harvey Daniel James Elliott (born 4 April 2003) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club Liverpool.
Having come up through Fulham's academy, Elliott made his first-team debut for Fulham in September 20 ...
became the youngest ever Premier League player at 16 years and 30 days. Tottenham Hotspur had a run of 28 games without a draw, the longest ever recorded from the start of a Premier League season. Manchester City did not draw any of their final
30 matches.
The season saw two aviation incidents involving Premier League personnel. On 27 October 2018,
Leicester City owner
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha ( th, วิชัย ศรีวัฒนประภา;} born Vichai Raksriaksorn, th, วิชัย รักศรีอักษร; 4 April 1958 – 27 October 2018) was a Thai billionaire businessman and th ...
was killed in a
helicopter crash outside the
King Power Stadium
King Power Stadium (also known as the Leicester City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations and formerly known as the Walkers Stadium) is a football stadium in Leicester, England. It has been the home of Premier League club Leicester City ...
, shortly after a 1–1 home draw against
West Ham United. Almost three months later, on 21 January 2019, Cardiff City player
Emiliano Sala, en route to join the club following
his record signing from
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, died on board a Piper PA-46 Malibu aircraft that
crashed off
Alderney
Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependencies, Crown dependency. It is long and wide.
The island's area is , making i ...
.
Teams
Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the
Championship. The promoted teams were
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...
(returning to the top flight after a six-year absence),
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...
and
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...
(both teams returning after a four-year absence). They replaced
Swansea City
Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...
,
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
and
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
, ending their top flight spells of seven, ten and eight years respectively.
Stadiums and locations
:''Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.''
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
League table
Results
Season statistics
Scoring
Top scorers
Hat-tricks
;Notes
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team
Clean sheets
Discipline
Player
* Most yellow cards: 14
**
Étienne Capoue (Watford)
* Most red cards: 2
**
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg
Pierre-Emile Kordt Højbjerg (born 5 August 1995) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Denmark national team.
Højbjerg started his career as a youth for Danish clubs ...
(Southampton)
**
Wes Morgan (Leicester City)
Club
* Most yellow cards: 77
** Watford
* Most red cards: 5
** Leicester City
Awards
Monthly awards
Annual awards
Attendances
References
External links
Official websiteat footballsite
{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Premier League
Premier League seasons
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
1