2016/17 Premier League season review

Chelsea won the 2016/17 Premier League with 93 points and a record 30 wins, seven points clear of Tottenham, in Antonio Conte's first season in England. The title turned on a change of shape: after a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal in September, Conte moved to a back three and Chelsea won their next 13 league games.

In Fantasy Premier League, Alexis Sánchez finished as the top scorer with 264 points, and Ben Crabtree won the overall game with 2,564 points from more than 4.5 million managers.

You can replay the season here with a £100m squad picked from 360 players across all 20 clubs, or read on for how it unfolded.

The summer the managers arrived

The season began with an unusual concentration of elite managers. Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City from Bayern Munich, José Mourinho took over at Manchester United, and Antonio Conte came to Chelsea straight from Euro 2016 with Italy. Jürgen Klopp began his first full season at Liverpool, and Arsène Wenger reached 20 years at Arsenal in October.

Further down the table, Ronald Koeman moved from Southampton to Everton, and David Moyes replaced Sam Allardyce at Sunderland after Allardyce was appointed England manager.

The spending matched the names. Manchester United brought Paul Pogba back from Juventus for a world-record fee and added Zlatan Ibrahimović, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly. City signed John Stones and Leroy Sané, then Gabriel Jesus in January. Chelsea added N'Golo Kanté from Leicester and Michy Batshuayi from Marseille, then Marcos Alonso and David Luiz on deadline day. Liverpool signed Sadio Mané, and Arsenal bought Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi.

How Conte's back three won Chelsea the title

Chelsea's season changed during a 3-0 defeat at the Emirates in September 2016. With his side well beaten by Arsenal, Conte switched to a 3-4-3 in the second half and kept it for the rest of the campaign.

Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso became wing-backs. César Azpilicueta moved inside to join David Luiz and Gary Cahill in a back three, with N'Golo Kanté and Nemanja Matić in front of them. Eden Hazard and Pedro played behind Diego Costa. Cesc Fàbregas lost his place, and Branislav Ivanović left for Zenit St Petersburg in January.

From the next match, Chelsea won 13 league games in a row. The run ended on 4 January 2017 with a 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane, where Dele Alli scored twice. Chelsea lost only five league games all season.

The title was settled on 12 May 2017 at The Hawthorns, with two games to spare. Michy Batshuayi, who played only 254 league minutes all season, came off the bench to score the only goal eight minutes from time. Kanté was named PFA Players' Player of the Year, a year after winning the title with Leicester, and Conte was Manager of the Season.

Tottenham and the race for the top four

Tottenham finished second with 86 points, a total that would have won several earlier titles. They had the best attack (86 goals) and the best defence (26 conceded), and went unbeaten at home in their last season at White Hart Lane, ending a 118-year stay. Harry Kane won the Golden Boot with 29 goals, eight of them in the last three games: one against Manchester United in the final match at White Hart Lane, four at Leicester and a hat-trick at Hull. Alli was PFA Young Player of the Year.

Behind them, the race for the Champions League places went to the final day:

• Manchester City were third on 78 points in Pep Guardiola's first season.
• Liverpool took fourth on 76 points in Jürgen Klopp's first full season.
• Arsenal finished fifth on 75 points and missed the Champions League for the first time since 1997. They beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final, which denied Conte the double.
• Manchester United were sixth. They went 25 league games unbeaten but drew 15 times, then reached the Champions League by winning the Europa League.
• Everton were seventh, with Romelu Lukaku scoring 25 league goals.

Leicester's title defence and the relegation fight

Leicester, champions in 2016, finished 12th: the worst title defence in Premier League history. Claudio Ranieri was sacked on 23 February 2017, nine months after winning the league, and his assistant Craig Shakespeare took over.

At the bottom, two of the three promoted clubs went straight back down, along with Sunderland:

• Sunderland finished last with 24 points, despite 15 league goals from Jermain Defoe.
• Middlesbrough scored only 27 goals, the fewest in the division.
• Hull City conceded 80 and went down in 18th, even after a revival under Marco Silva in the second half of the season.

Swansea survived under Paul Clement, their third manager of the season.

Surprises and disappointments

Some of the season's best stories came from outside the top seven.

• Joshua King scored 16 league goals for Bournemouth, who finished ninth, their best Premier League finish to that point.
• Tom Heaton made more saves than any other keeper as Burnley, promoted as champions, stayed up in 16th.
• Gareth McAuley scored six league goals from centre-back for West Brom, who finished tenth.

Others had seasons to forget:

• Leicester's title-winning attack faded. Jamie Vardy scored 13 league goals after 24 the season before, and Riyad Mahrez, PFA Player of the Year in 2016, scored six.
• Dimitri Payet, one of the stars of Euro 2016, refused to play for West Ham and returned to Marseille in January.
• Daniel Sturridge managed fewer than 800 league minutes, with injuries and Liverpool's new front three of Mané, Firmino and Coutinho keeping him out.

Manchester United's new signings had mixed first seasons. Ibrahimović scored 17 league goals at 35 before a serious knee injury in April. Pogba and Mkhitaryan were inconsistent in the league, but both scored in the Europa League final win over Ajax.

2016/17 in Fantasy Premier League

More than 4.5 million managers played Fantasy Premier League in 2016/17. Ben Crabtree, an Everton fan playing as FC Crab Dogg, won with 2,564 points, five ahead of second place, while the average manager finished on 1,807.

His most talked-about moment came in Gameweek 20, when he gave the captaincy to Leighton Baines at home to Southampton. Baines scored a penalty and kept a clean sheet, and Crabtree climbed from 2,431st to 825th overall.

Alexis Sánchez was the game's top scorer with 264 points, ahead of Dele Alli (225), Hazard and Kane (224 each). Conte's switch showed up in the defensive numbers too: Gary Cahill, Marcos Alonso and César Azpilicueta were FPL's three highest-scoring defenders.

Two quirks stand out. Victor Moses played the season as a wing-back but was listed in the game as a midfielder. And Kanté, the PFA Player of the Year, scored only 83 FPL points, because the game rewards goals, assists and clean sheets rather than the work he did in midfield.

The PFA Team of the Year

The players' own Team of the Year was dominated by the top two, with four from Chelsea and four from Tottenham.

Alexis Sánchez, the league's third-highest scorer with 24 goals, was left out.

2016/17 quick answers

Who won the Premier League in 2016/17? Chelsea, with 93 points, seven ahead of Tottenham.

Who was relegated in 2016/17? Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

Who was the Premier League top scorer in 2016/17? Harry Kane, with 29 league goals.

Who was PFA Player of the Year in 2016/17? N'Golo Kanté. Dele Alli was Young Player of the Year.

Who scored the most FPL points in 2016/17? Alexis Sánchez, with 264.

Who won Fantasy Premier League in 2016/17? Ben Crabtree, with 2,564 points.