2011–12 Premier League


The 2011–12 Premier League was the 20th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 13 August 2011 and ended on 13 May 2012 with Manchester City sealing their first league title since 1968 with victory over Queens Park Rangers on the final day. The title was City's first Premier League success, making them the fifth club to win the Premier League in its 20-year history. City finished level on 89 points with Manchester United, but their goal difference was eight better than their local rivals', making it the first time the Premier League had been won on goal difference.
The league was contested by 20 teams, 17 returning from the 2010–11 season and three promoted from the Football League Championship. Championship winners Queens Park Rangers and runners-up Norwich City gained automatic promotion whilst Swansea City gained promotion through the Football League Championship play-offs beating Reading 4–2 in May 2011, becoming the first non-English team to play in the Premier League. All three promoted clubs avoided relegation for the first time since the 2001–02 campaign. The season was voted as the greatest Premier League season in the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards.

Season summary

won the title in a tense finale, their first championship since 1968. City's local rivals Manchester United were the early pace-setters, leading the table until October when they drew at Liverpool allowing Manchester City to overtake them. The following week, City increased their lead to five points with a shock 6–1 away victory at Old Trafford, which they maintained until December, when they dropped points and their lead narrowed, but City remained in front until March, when a defeat at Swansea City saw them drop behind United. City's bad form continued for the next month while United went on a winning run, so that with six matches remaining United were eight points ahead of City and the title seemingly decided. However, United then faltered with a defeat and a draw in their next two games, while City won all three to narrow the gap to three points. City then beat United 1–0 at the City of Manchester Stadium to move back ahead of United on goal difference. Both sides won their penultimate matches to maintain the status quo.
Going into the final matches, which were played simultaneously, City were top of the league, ahead of Manchester United on goal difference. However, a Wayne Rooney goal away to Sunderland gave United the advantage. A 39th-minute goal from Pablo Zabaleta, his first of the season, put City back on top at half time. In a dramatic second half Djibril Cissé equalised for Queens Park Rangers in the 48th minute. Shortly after, Joey Barton of QPR was sent off for elbowing Carlos Tevez; on his way off the pitch, he kicked Sergio Agüero, attempted to headbutt Vincent Kompany and squared up to Mario Balotelli. Despite the numerical advantage, City went behind after Jamie Mackie gave QPR the lead in the 66th minute. As time wound down in both matches, it appeared that Manchester United would win the title with their victory over Sunderland. But Edin Džeko equalised for City in the 92nd minute. While United players waited on the field at Sunderland for a possible trophy presentation, Manchester City's Sergio Agüero scored the game winner in the 94th minute to clinch the title on goal difference. The 6–1 loss was even more important than it seemed at the time, because if the score had been 2–1 then both teams would have ended with identical records which by Premier League rules would have meant a play-off game at a neutral ground to decide the title.
For most of the season, Tottenham Hotspur were in third place, a couple of points behind the Manchester clubs, and there was much speculation as to whether Tottenham could mount a title challenge. However, from late February onward their season collapsed, starting with a 5–2 defeat to local rivals Arsenal, whom they had been 10 points ahead of before the game, and just four wins in their last 13 games condemned Tottenham to finishing a point below Arsenal, who finished third to join Manchester City and Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League, Arsenal completed a strong recovery from a disastrous start to the season including their 8–2 defeat at Manchester United in August. Tottenham finished in the fourth and final Champions League slot but missed out on qualification for the competition because Chelsea's victory in the 2012 Champions League Final automatically entitled them to defend their title in the 2012–13 tournament at the expense of the lowest ranked team that would otherwise qualify for the competition through league position. This was the first time that this rule had been implemented in the Premier League, having been introduced by UEFA after Liverpool's controversial qualification for the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League. This consequently marked the first time that the club finishing fourth in the Premier League had not qualified for the tournament since the fourth qualifying spot was introduced in the 2001–02 season. Newcastle United finished fifth and qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. Everton finished 7th, just above local rivals Liverpool. Despite finishing above them for the first time in seven years, it was Liverpool who claimed the final Europa League slot, by virtue of winning the 2011–12 Football League Cup.
Elsewhere in the league, QPR avoided relegation, despite losing to Manchester City; Bolton Wanderers could only draw at Stoke City, failing to overtake QPR, and therefore joining Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers in being relegated to the Championship. For the second time in the Premier League's history, none of the three clubs promoted from the Championship in the previous season were relegated at the end of the season with the other two teams, Swansea City and Norwich City, finishing 11th and 12th respectively. The last time all three newly promoted teams stayed up, Blackburn and Bolton were two of those teams.
Liverpool's Luis Suárez was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra and was given an eight-match ban.

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 Queens Park Rangers, Norwich City and Swansea City, returning to the top flight after absences of fifteen, six and twenty-eight years respectively. This was also Swansea City's first season in the Premier League. They replaced Birmingham City, Blackpool and West Ham United, ending their top-flight spells of two, one and six years respectively. This was the first season in the Premier League era where a Welsh team competed and the first season where a Welsh team competed in the top flight of English football since the 1982–83 season.

Stadiums and locations

TeamLocationStadiumCapacity
ArsenalLondon Emirates Stadium
Aston VillaBirminghamVilla Park
Blackburn RoversBlackburnEwood Park
Bolton WanderersBoltonReebok Stadium
ChelseaLondon Stamford Bridge
EvertonLiverpool Goodison Park
FulhamLondon Craven Cottage
LiverpoolLiverpool Anfield
Manchester CityManchesterCity of Manchester Stadium
Manchester UnitedOld TraffordOld Trafford
Newcastle UnitedNewcastle upon TyneSt James' Park
Norwich CityNorwichCarrow Road
Queens Park RangersLondon Loftus Road
Stoke CityStoke-on-TrentBritannia Stadium
SunderlandSunderlandStadium of Light
Swansea CitySwanseaLiberty Stadium
Tottenham HotspurLondon White Hart Lane
West Bromwich AlbionWest BromwichThe Hawthorns
Wigan AthleticWiganDW Stadium
Wolverhampton WanderersWolverhamptonMolineux Stadium

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsor
Arsenal NikeEmirates
Aston Villa 4NikeGenting Casinos
Blackburn Rovers 5UmbroThe Prince's Trust
Bolton Wanderers Reebok188BET
Chelsea AdidasSamsung
Everton Le Coq SportifChang Beer
Fulham KappaFxPro
Liverpool AdidasStandard Chartered
Manchester City UmbroEtihad Airways
Manchester United 6NikeAon
Newcastle United PumaNorthern Rock/Virgin Money1
Norwich City ErreàAviva
Queens Park Rangers LottoNo sponsor7/Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia2
Stoke City AdidasBritannia
Sunderland UmbroTombola
Swansea City Adidas32Red
Tottenham Hotspur PumaAurasma3
West Bromwich Albion AdidasBodog
Wigan Athletic MiFit12BET
Wolverhampton Wanderers BURRDASportingbet

In addition, Nike had a new design for their match ball called Seitiro, featuring a modified flame design.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Scoring

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstResultDate
4Manchester CityTottenham Hotspur5–128 8 2011
Manchester UnitedArsenal8–228 8 2011
Manchester CityWigan Athletic3–010 9 2011
Manchester UnitedBolton Wanderers5–010 9 2011
Newcastle UnitedBlackburn Rovers3–124 9 2011
ChelseaBolton Wanderers5–12 10 2011
FulhamQueens Park Rangers6–02 10 2011
ArsenalChelsea5–329 10 2011
Newcastle UnitedStoke City3–131 10 2011
Yakubu4Blackburn RoversSwansea City4–23 12 2011
Manchester UnitedWigan Athletic5–026 12 2011
FulhamNewcastle United5–221 1 2012
ArsenalBlackburn Rovers7–14 2 2012
West Bromwich AlbionWolverhampton Wanderers5–112 2 2012
FulhamWolverhampton Wanderers5–04 3 2012
LiverpoolEverton3–013 3 2012
Manchester CityNorwich City6–114 4 2012
LiverpoolNorwich City3–028 4 2012
ChelseaQueens Park Rangers6–129 4 2012

On 21 December in a 2–1 loss to Arsenal at Villa Park, Marc Albrighton of Aston Villa was officially credited with the 20,000th goal scored since the formation of the Premier League in 1992. He was given £20,000 from league sponsor Barclays to donate to a charity of his choice. He chose Acorns Children's Hospice, who used to sponsor Aston Villa.

Clean sheets

Club

1 Retrospectively suspended for three matches, using video evidence.

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Premier League Manager of the Season

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew, 50, received the Premier League Manager of the Season. Pardew was the first Newcastle manager to receive the award, and only the second Englishman after Harry Redknapp to do so.

Premier League Player of the Season

The Premier League Player of the Season award was won by Vincent Kompany of Manchester City.

Premier League Goal of the season

The Goal of the Season award was given to Papiss Cissé of Newcastle United for his second goal in their 2–0 victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 28 April, becoming the first player for the club to win the award since its inception.

PFA Players' Player of the Year

The PFA Players' Player of the Year was awarded to Robin van Persie.

PFA Team of the Year

PFA Young Player of the Year

The PFA Young Player of the Year was awarded to Kyle Walker.

FWA Footballer of the Year

The FWA Footballer of the Year was also awarded to Robin van Persie.

Premier League Golden Boot

The Premier League Golden Boot award went to Robin van Persie, who scored 30 goals throughout the season.

Premier League Golden Glove

The Premier League Golden Glove award was won by Joe Hart of Manchester City, who achieved 17 clean sheets.

Premier League Fair Play Award

Swansea City won the Premier League Fair Play Award after finishing the 2011–12 Premier League top of the Fair Play Table. The award for best behaved fans went to Norwich.