2006/07 Premier League season review

Manchester United won the 2006/07 Premier League with 89 points, six clear of Chelsea, for their first title since 2003. Cristiano Ronaldo scored 17 league goals and won every major individual award, while Didier Drogba took the Golden Boot with 20.

At the bottom, West Ham survived on the final day with a Carlos Tevez goal at Old Trafford, a result that sent Sheffield United down and ended up in the courts. In Fantasy Premier League, Ronaldo was the top scorer with 244 points.

You can replay the season here with a £100m squad picked from 347 players across all 20 clubs, or read on for how it unfolded.

Shevchenko, Ballack and a new home for Arsenal

Chelsea, chasing a third straight title, spent heavily again. Andriy Shevchenko arrived from Milan for £30m and Michael Ballack on a free from Bayern Munich, with Salomon Kalou, Mikel John Obi and Khalid Boulahrouz also signed. On deadline day Ashley Cole moved from Arsenal for £5m plus William Gallas, who went the other way.

Arsenal left Highbury after 93 years and moved into the Emirates Stadium, and Arsène Wenger marked ten years in charge.

West Ham signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Corinthians. Aston Villa replaced David O'Leary with Martin O'Neill, and Middlesbrough appointed Gareth Southgate after Steve McClaren left to manage England.

The promoted clubs were Reading, in the top flight for the first time, Sheffield United, back after 12 years, and Watford, back after six.

How Manchester United won back the title

United's attack was built around Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, with Michael Carrick supplying them from midfield. Rooney scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win at Bolton in October, and a Premier League record crowd of 76,098 saw United come from behind to beat Blackburn 4-1 at Old Trafford.

Chelsea kept chasing. A run of nine straight wins closed the gap, but United kept winning too. Ronaldo scored a late winner at Fulham after Ryan Giggs had equalised, and at Goodison Park United came from 2-0 down to win 4-2, with Rooney and Chris Eagles scoring late on.

The title was confirmed on 6 May 2007, when Chelsea drew 1-1 at Arsenal and were left seven points behind with two games to play. It was United's ninth Premier League title and their first since 2003, and they finished with 89 points and 83 goals, the most in the division.

Ronaldo won the lot: the PFA Players' Player of the Year, the PFA Young Player of the Year, the Football Writers' award and the Premier League's Player of the Season. Sir Alex Ferguson was Manager of the Season.

Chelsea finished second with 83 points and lost only three league games. Drogba scored 20 league goals and 33 in all competitions, and Chelsea won both domestic cups. They beat Arsenal 2-1 in a League Cup final marred by a late brawl and three red cards, then beat United 1-0 in the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley, which denied United the double.

Liverpool, Arsenal and the race for Europe

Liverpool and Arsenal both finished on 68 points, with Liverpool third on goal difference. Liverpool's best league afternoon was a 4-1 win over Arsenal at Anfield on 31 March, when Peter Crouch scored a hat-trick, and Xabi Alonso scored from inside his own half against Newcastle. They reached the Champions League final again, losing 2-1 to AC Milan, after knocking out Chelsea on penalties in the semi-finals. Pepe Reina won the Golden Glove with 19 clean sheets.

Arsenal returned to the top four in their first season at the Emirates.

Behind them:

• Tottenham finished fifth for the second season running, with Dimitar Berbatov making the PFA Team of the Year. In March their goalkeeper Paul Robinson scored from an 83-yard free kick against Watford.
• Everton were sixth and Bolton seventh, both qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Bolton were fourth at the turn of the year, but Sam Allardyce resigned in April.
• Reading, in their first top-flight season, finished eighth with 55 points. They came from 2-0 down to beat Middlesbrough 3-2 on the opening day and beat West Ham 6-0 on New Year's Day.
• Middlesbrough were 12th under Southgate, with Mark Viduka joint fourth in the scoring charts on 14 goals.

It was the lowest-scoring season in Premier League history at the time, with 931 goals, 2.45 a game.

West Ham's escape and the Tevez affair

West Ham looked doomed. Alan Pardew was sacked in December and replaced by Alan Curbishley, and after a 4-3 defeat by Tottenham on 4 March the team were ten points from safety.

They then won seven of their last nine games. Tevez scored seven goals in the last ten league matches, including the only goal at Old Trafford on the final day, 13 May. That win kept West Ham up and sent Sheffield United down instead: on the same afternoon Sheffield United lost 2-1 at home to Wigan, who stayed up on goal difference, and Neil Warnock resigned three days later.

Tevez turned out to have been owned by a third party rather than by West Ham, which broke the rules. The Premier League fined West Ham £5.5m, and Sheffield United took the case to an FA arbitration panel, which ruled in their favour. The clubs later settled for an undisclosed sum.

The other relegated clubs:

• Watford finished bottom with 28 points and five wins, the lowest totals in the division, and were relegated on 21 April.
• Charlton went down on 6 May after losing to Tottenham, ending a seven-year stay in the top flight. They had three managers in the season, Iain Dowie, Les Reed and Alan Pardew, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink managed two league goals for them.

Surprises and disappointments

United's return to the top was the headline. Several other stories stood out.

• Reading finished eighth in their first ever top-flight season.
• West Ham were ten points adrift in March and still stayed up, winning seven of their last nine games.
• Wigan survived on goal difference on the final day, beating Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
• Paul Robinson became the first goalkeeper to score for the winning side in a Premier League match, from an 83-yard free kick.

Others had seasons to forget:

• Chelsea won both domestic cups but lost their title, despite Shevchenko and Ballack arriving in the summer.
• Sheffield United went down on goal difference after a single season back, and took West Ham to arbitration over Tevez.
• Charlton used three managers and were relegated after seven years in the top flight.
• Watford won five league games and finished bottom.
• Manchester City finished 14th and scored only 29 league goals, as few as bottom club Watford.

2006/07 in Fantasy Premier League

Mike Dolan won Fantasy Premier League 2006/07 with 2,268 points, playing as Divers & Cheats XI.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the game's top scorer with 244 points, from 17 goals and 8 assists, in the season that brought United their first title since 2003. Frank Lampard was next with 202, and Ronaldo's FPL season matched his real one: the top of the scoring charts and every major award.

The PFA Team of the Year

The champions dominated the players' own Team of the Year, with eight of the eleven places.

The season's awards: Ronaldo was PFA Players' Player of the Year, PFA Young Player of the Year, the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year and the Premier League's Player of the Season. Drogba won the Golden Boot, Reina the Golden Glove, and Ferguson was Manager of the Season.

2006/07 quick answers

Who won the Premier League in 2006/07? Manchester United, with 89 points, six ahead of Chelsea.

Who was relegated in 2006/07? Sheffield United, Charlton Athletic and Watford.

Who was the Premier League top scorer in 2006/07? Didier Drogba, with 20 league goals.

What was the Tevez affair? Carlos Tevez's goals kept West Ham up, but he was owned by a third party. West Ham were fined £5.5m and later settled with Sheffield United, who had been relegated instead.

Who was PFA Player of the Year in 2006/07? Cristiano Ronaldo, who was also Young Player of the Year.

Who scored the most FPL points in 2006/07? Cristiano Ronaldo, with 244.

Who won Fantasy Premier League in 2006/07? Mike Dolan, with 2,268 points.