2009–10 Premier League

The 2009–10 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. A total of 20 teams competed in the league, with Chelsea unseating the three-time defending champions Manchester United, scoring a then Premier League record 103 goals in the process.^[4][5] The season began on 15 August 2009 and concluded on 9 May 2010.^[6] Prior to each opening week match, a minute's applause was held in memory of Sir Bobby Robson. Nike provided a new match ball – the T90 Ascente – for this season. Barclays sponsored the league.

Premier League

Season	2009–10
Dates	15 August 2009 – 9 May 2010
Champions	Chelsea 3rd Premier League title 4th English title
Relegated	Burnley Hull City Portsmouth
Champions League	Chelsea Manchester United Arsenal Tottenham Hotspur
Europa League	Manchester City Aston Villa Liverpool
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,053 (2.77 per match)
Top goalscorer	Didier Drogba (29 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Petr Čech (17 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Tottenham Hotspur 9–1 Wigan Athletic (22 November 2009)[1] Chelsea 8–0 Wigan Athletic (9 May 2010)
Biggest away win	Everton 1–6 Arsenal (15 August 2009) Wigan Athletic 0–5 Manchester United (22 August 2009) Portsmouth 0–5 Chelsea (24 March 2010) Burnley 1–6 Manchester City (3 April 2010)
Highest scoring	Tottenham Hotspur 9–1 Wigan Athletic (22 November 2009)[1]
Longest winning run	6 games[2] Arsenal Chelsea
Longest unbeaten run	12 games[2] Birmingham City
Longest winless run	14 games[2] Sunderland
Longest losing run	7 games[2] Portsmouth
Highest attendance	75,316[3] Manchester United 4–0 Stoke City (9 May 2010)
Lowest attendance	14,323[3] Wigan Athletic 0–0 Portsmouth (14 April 2010)
Total attendance	12,977,252[3]
Average attendance	34,150[3]
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

The race for the title went to the final day of the season with Chelsea one point ahead of Manchester United; Chelsea's 8–0 win over Wigan Athletic was enough to secure their first title since 2006, despite Manchester United's 4–0 defeat of Stoke City.^[7] The title win came in Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti's first season at the club and he followed this up a week later by securing Chelsea's first FA Cup and League double with a win over Portsmouth at Wembley. Chelsea striker Didier Drogba won the Golden Boot award as the league's top goalscorer for the second time^[8] The victorious Chelsea side were noted for their attacking style of football: the team averaged 2.71 goals per game, scoring a Premier League record 103 goals for the season, compared to the average of 1.89 when they won the title in the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons.^[9]

In February 2010, Portsmouth became the first club to go into administration whilst a member of the Premier League.^[10] They were docked nine points, and two months later they were the first team of the season to be relegated. Hull City and Premier League debutants Burnley were relegated alongside them.

Overview

Pre-season

Pre-season was overshadowed by the death of Sir Bobby Robson on 31 July. On the opening games of the season, players stood around the centre circle for a minute's applause for the former Newcastle United, Fulham, Ipswich Town, Barcelona, Porto, PSV and England manager who died at the age of 76.

Broadcasting

Main article: List of Premier League broadcasters

This season was the last of a three-year domestic television rights deal agreed in 2006. Television rights continue to provide a large portion of Premier League clubs' revenue. However, on 19 June 2009, the Premier League annulled its contract with Ireland-based broadcaster Setanta Sports after the company failed to pay an instalment to the league with speculation mounting that the company would enter administration. As a result, Setanta Sports' share was bought by United States–based broadcasters ESPN, while Sky Sports continue to hold four of the six 23-live match packages.^[11] In the United States, the Disney-owned network is making use of sibling-network ESPN2 to televise early Saturday matches and Monday matches. This was possible due to Setanta Sports' financial troubles, which required their US-based North America division to sell its rights to those games back to Fox Sports International, who in turn sublicensed them to ESPN. Setanta continues to broadcast a reduced number of matches in Ireland. In Australia, most games are available live on Fox Sports. Sentanta Sports USA operations ceased on 28 February, and Fox Soccer Plus replaced Sentanta as a pay service the following day.

On 31 January 2010, Sky Sports broadcast the match between Arsenal and Manchester United in 3D. The 3D broadcast was shown at nine pubs in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin, making the match the first sports event to be televised in 3D to a public audience anywhere in the world.^[12][13]

List of 2009–10 transfers

Main articles: List of English football transfers summer 2009 and List of English football transfers winter 2009–10

Final results

Chelsea won the league by a point over second placed Manchester United on 9 May 2010, with an 8–0 win at home to Wigan Athletic. They won despite Manchester United's 4–0 win against Stoke. The title win came in Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti's first season with the club. Portsmouth were the first team to be relegated on 10 April 2010, followed by Hull City and Burnley.^[14][15][16] Fulham's manager Roy Hodgson was voted manager of the year by the League Managers Association.^[17] The season saw Liverpool, runners-up the previous season and considered one of the established 'Big Four', finish outside the top four for the first time since 2004–05 leaving them unable to compete in the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the 2003–04 season. Tottenham Hotspur finished with their best point total at the time in the Premier League era, finishing in fourth place on 70 points, earning their first ever berth into the Champions league.

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, Birmingham City and Burnley returning to the top flight after absences of five, one and thirty-three years respectively. This was also Burnley's first season in the Premier League. They replaced Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion, who were relegated to the Championship after their top flight spells of sixteen, eleven and one year respectively.

Stadiums and locations

London

Greater Manchester

West Midlands

Blackburn Rovers

Burnley

Everton

Hull City

Liverpool

Portsmouth

Stoke City

Sunderland

London teams:
Arsenal
Chelsea
Fulham
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United

West Midlands teams:
Aston Villa
Birmingham City
Wolverhampton Wanderers

Greater Manchester teams:
Bolton Wanderers
Manchester City
Manchester United
Wigan Athletic

Locations of the 2009–10 Premier League teams

Arsenal

Chelsea

Fulham

Tottenham
Hotspur

West Ham United

Greater London Premier League football clubs

Bolton Wanderers

Manchester City

Manchester United

Wigan Athletic

Greater Manchester Premier League football clubs

Aston Villa

Birmingham City

Wolverhampton Wanderers

West Midlands Premier League football clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Arsenal	London (Holloway)	Emirates Stadium	60,355
Aston Villa	Birmingham (Aston)	Villa Park	42,788
Birmingham City	Birmingham (Bordesley)	St Andrew's	30,009
Blackburn Rovers	Blackburn	Ewood Park	31,367
Bolton Wanderers	Bolton	Reebok Stadium	28,723
Burnley	Burnley	Turf Moor	22,546
Chelsea	London (Fulham)	Stamford Bridge	42,055
Everton	Liverpool (Walton)	Goodison Park	40,157
Fulham	London (Fulham)	Craven Cottage	25,700
Hull City	Kingston upon Hull	KC Stadium	25,404
Liverpool	Liverpool (Anfield)	Anfield	45,276[18]
Manchester City	Manchester (Bradford)	City of Manchester Stadium	55,097
Manchester United	Trafford (Old Trafford)	Old Trafford	76,212
Portsmouth	Portsmouth	Fratton Park	20,688
Stoke City	Stoke-on-Trent	Britannia Stadium	28,383
Sunderland	Sunderland	Stadium of Light	49,000
Tottenham Hotspur	London (Tottenham)	White Hart Lane	36,240
West Ham United	London (Upton Park)	Boleyn Ground	35,309
Wigan Athletic	Wigan	DW Stadium[a]	25,138
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Wolverhampton	Molineux Stadium	29,303

1. Wigan Athletic announced that from the 2009–10 season onward, the JJB Stadium would be renamed to the DW Stadium.

Personnel and kits

(as of 9 May 2010)

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal	Arsène Wenger	Cesc Fàbregas	Nike	Emirates
Aston Villa	Martin O'Neill	Stiliyan Petrov	Nike	Acorns Children's Hospice
Birmingham City	Alex McLeish	Stephen Carr	Umbro	F&C Investments
Blackburn Rovers	Sam Allardyce	Ryan Nelsen	Umbro	Crown Paints
Bolton Wanderers	Owen Coyle	Kevin Davies	Reebok	188BET
Burnley	Brian Laws	Steven Caldwell	Erreà	Cooke Fuels
Chelsea	Carlo Ancelotti	John Terry	Adidas	Samsung
Everton	David Moyes	Phil Neville	Le Coq Sportif	Chang Beer
Fulham	Roy Hodgson	Danny Murphy	Nike	LG Electronics
Hull City	Iain Dowie*	Ian Ashbee	Umbro	Totesport.com
Liverpool	Rafael Benítez	Steven Gerrard	Adidas	Carlsberg
Manchester City	Roberto Mancini	Kolo Touré	Umbro	Etihad Airways
Manchester United	Sir Alex Ferguson	Gary Neville	Nike	AIG
Portsmouth	Avram Grant	David James	Canterbury	Jobsite
Stoke City	Tony Pulis	Abdoulaye Faye	Le Coq Sportif	Britannia
Sunderland	Steve Bruce	Lorik Cana	Umbro	Boylesports
Tottenham Hotspur	Harry Redknapp	Ledley King	Puma	Mansion
West Ham United	Gianfranco Zola	Matthew Upson	Umbro	SBOBET
Wigan Athletic	Roberto Martínez	Mario Melchiot	Vandanel	188BET
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Mick McCarthy	Karl Henry	Le Coq Sportif	Sportingbet

* – Football Management Consultant

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Sunderland	Ricky Sbragia	Resigned	24 May 2009	Pre-season	Steve Bruce	2 June 2009
Chelsea	Guus Hiddink	End of interim contract	31 May 2009		Carlo Ancelotti	1 June 2009
Wigan Athletic	Steve Bruce	Signed by Sunderland	2 June 2009		Roberto Martínez	15 June 2009
Portsmouth	Paul Hart	Sacked	24 November 2009[19]	20th	Avram Grant	26 November 2009[20]
Manchester City	Mark Hughes		19 December 2009[21]	6th	Roberto Mancini	19 December 2009[21]
Bolton Wanderers	Gary Megson		30 December 2009[22]	18th	Owen Coyle	8 January 2010[23]
Burnley	Owen Coyle	Signed by Bolton Wanderers	8 January 2010[23]	14th	Brian Laws	13 January 2010[24]
Hull City	Phil Brown	Resigned	15 March 2010[25]	19th	Iain Dowie	17 March 2010[26]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Chelsea (C)	38	27	5	6	103	32	+71	86	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Manchester United	38	27	4	7	86	28	+58	85
3	Arsenal	38	23	6	9	83	41	+42	75
4	Tottenham Hotspur	38	21	7	10	67	41	+26	70	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Manchester City	38	18	13	7	73	45	+28	67	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round[a]
6	Aston Villa	38	17	13	8	52	39	+13	64
7	Liverpool	38	18	9	11	61	35	+26	63	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[b]
8	Everton	38	16	13	9	60	49	+11	61
9	Birmingham City	38	13	11	14	38	47	−9	50
10	Blackburn Rovers	38	13	11	14	41	55	−14	50
11	Stoke City	38	11	14	13	34	48	−14	47
12	Fulham	38	12	10	16	39	46	−7	46
13	Sunderland	38	11	11	16	48	56	−8	44
14	Bolton Wanderers	38	10	9	19	42	67	−25	39
15	Wolverhampton Wanderers	38	9	11	18	32	56	−24	38
16	Wigan Athletic	38	9	9	20	37	79	−42	36
17	West Ham United	38	8	11	19	47	66	−19	35
18	Burnley (R)	38	8	6	24	42	82	−40	30	Relegation to Football League Championship
19	Hull City (R)	38	6	12	20	34	75	−41	30
20	Portsmouth (R)	38	7	7	24	34	66	−32	19[c]

Source: Premier League
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since Manchester United won the League Cup and then qualified for the Champions League, their spot in the Europa League was passed down to the 6th-placed team. The 6th-placed Aston Villa was coincidentally also the League Cup runners-up.
2. Originally Portsmouth qualified for the third qualifying round of the Europa League as the FA Cup runners-up, replacing the winners, Champions League-qualified Chelsea. However, they failed to apply for a UEFA licence. Therefore, Liverpool as the best placed team not qualified for the European competitions took their place.
3. Portsmouth were docked nine points for entering administration.^[27]

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	AVL	BIR	BLB	BOL	BUR	CHE	EVE	FUL	HUL	LIV	MCI	MUN	POR	STK	SUN	TOT	WHU	WIG	WOL
Arsenal		3–0	3–1	6–2	4–2	3–1	0–3	2–2	4–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	1–3	4–1	2–0	2–0	3–0	2–0	4–0	1–0
Aston Villa	0–0		1–0	0–1	5–1	5–2	2–1	2–2	2–0	3–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	2–2
Birmingham City	1–1	0–1		2–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1
Blackburn Rovers	2–1	2–1	2–1		3–0	3–2	1–1	2–3	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	3–1	0–0	2–2	0–2	0–0	2–1	3–1
Bolton Wanderers	0–2	0–1	2–1	0–2		1–0	0–4	3–2	0–0	2–2	2–3	3–3	0–4	2–2	1–1	0–1	2–2	3–1	4–0	1–0
Burnley	1–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–1		1–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–4	1–6	1–0	1–2	1–1	3–1	4–2	2–1	1–3	1–2
Chelsea	2–0	7–1	3–0	5–0	1–0	3–0		3–3	2–1	2–1	2–0	2–4	1–0	2–1	7–0	7–2	3–0	4–1	8–0	4–0
Everton	1–6	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–0	2–0	2–1		2–1	5–1	0–2	2–0	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–2	2–1	1–1
Fulham	0–1	0–2	2–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	0–2	2–1		2–0	3–1	1–2	3–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	3–2	2–1	0–0
Hull City	1–2	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–4	1–1	3–2	2–0		0–0	2–1	1–3	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–5	3–3	2–1	2–2
Liverpool	1–2	1–3	2–2	2–1	2–0	4–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	6–1		2–2	2–0	4–1	4–0	3–0	2–0	3–0	2–1	2–0
Manchester City	4–2	3–1	5–1	4–1	2–0	3–3	2–1	0–2	2–2	1–1	0–0		0–1	2–0	2–0	4–3	0–1	3–1	3–0	1–0
Manchester United	2–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	3–0	1–2	3–0	3–0	4–0	2–1	4–3		5–0	4–0	2–2	3–1	3–0	5–0	3–0
Portsmouth	1–4	1–2	1–2	0–0	2–3	2–0	0–5	0–1	0–1	3–2	2–0	0–1	1–4		1–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	4–0	3–1
Stoke City	1–3	0–0	0–1	3–0	1–2	2–0	1–2	0–0	3–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–0		1–0	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–2
Sunderland	1–0	0–2	3–1	2–1	4–0	2–1	1–3	1–1	0–0	4–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0		3–1	2–2	1–1	5–2
Tottenham Hotspur	2–1	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	5–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	3–0	1–3	2–0	0–1	2–0		2–0	9–1	0–1
West Ham United	2–2	2–1	2–0	0–0	1–2	5–3	1–1	1–2	2–2	3–0	2–3	1–1	0–4	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–2		3–2	1–3
Wigan Athletic	3–2	1–2	2–3	1–1	0–0	1–0	3–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	0–5	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–3	1–0		0–1
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–4	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	0–2	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–3	0–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–2	0–2

Source: Barclays Premier League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: 27 minutes and 12 seconds – Stephen Hunt for Hull City against Chelsea (15 August 2009)^[28]
• Fastest goal in a match: 36 seconds – Darren Bent for Sunderland against Tottenham Hotspur (3 April 2010)^[29]
• Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 90+5 minutes and 48 seconds – Wade Elliott for Burnley against Hull City (10 April 2010)^[30]
• First own goal of the season: Stephen Jordan (Burnley) for Stoke City, 32 minutes and 28 seconds (15 August 2009)^[31]
• First hat-trick of the season: Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur) against Hull City (19 August 2009)^[32]
• Quickest hat-trick: 6 minutes – Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur) against Wigan Athletic (22 November 2009)
• Widest winning margin: 8 goals
  • Tottenham Hotspur 9–1 Wigan Athletic (22 November 2009)
  • Chelsea 8–0 Wigan Athletic (9 May 2010)
• Most goals in one half: 9 goals – Tottenham Hotspur 9–1 Wigan Athletic (1–0 at half time) (22 November 2009)^[1]
• Most goals in one half by a single team: 8 goals – Tottenham Hotspur 9–1 Wigan Athletic (22 November 2009)^[1]
• Most goals scored by losing team: 3 goals –
  • Manchester United 4–3 Manchester City (20 September 2009)^[33]
  • West Ham United 5–3 Burnley (28 November 2009)^[34]
  • Manchester City 4–3 Sunderland (19 December 2009)^[35]
• Most goals scored in a match by one player: 5 goals – Jermain Defoe for Tottenham Hotspur against Wigan Athletic (22 November 2009)^[1]
• Shortest time between goals: 50 seconds – Robin van Persie (41'52") and Cesc Fàbregas (42'42") for Arsenal against Tottenham Hotspur (31 October 2009)^[36]
• Most own goals scored in a match by same team: 3 – Portsmouth (Anthony Vanden Borre, Richard Hughes and Marc Wilson) against Manchester United (6 February 2010)^[37] However, on 26 May 2010, the Dubious Goal Committee declared the second own goal by Richard Hughes as Michael Carrick's goal.
• Last goal of the season: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Everton) against Portsmouth 93 minutes and 10 seconds (9 May 2010)^[38]
• Fewest times failed to score: 1 game – Chelsea against Birmingham^[39]
• Most times failed to score: 17 games – Wolverhampton Wanderers^[39]
• Highest scoring draw: 6 goals:
  • Bolton 3–3 Manchester City
  • Chelsea 3–3 Everton
  • Hull City 3–3 West Ham
  • Manchester City 3–3 Burnley

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[40]
1	Didier Drogba	Chelsea	29
2	Wayne Rooney	Manchester United	26
3	Darren Bent	Sunderland	24
4	Carlos Tevez	Manchester City	23
5	Frank Lampard	Chelsea	22
6	Fernando Torres	Liverpool	18
	Jermain Defoe	Tottenham Hotspur	18
8	Cesc Fàbregas	Arsenal	15
9	Emmanuel Adebayor	Manchester City	14
10	Gabriel Agbonlahor	Aston Villa	13
	Louis Saha	Everton	13

Table-related statistics

Overall

• Most wins – Chelsea and Manchester United (27)
• Fewest wins – Hull City (6)
• Most losses – Burnley and Portsmouth (24)
• Fewest losses – Chelsea (6)
• Most goals scored – Chelsea (103)
• Fewest goals scored – Wolverhampton Wanderers (32)
• Most goals conceded – Burnley (82)
• Fewest goals conceded – Manchester United (28)
• Best goal difference – Chelsea (+71)
• Worst goal difference – Wigan Athletic (−42)

Home

• Most wins – Chelsea (17)
• Fewest wins – Portsmouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers (5)
• Most losses – Portsmouth (11)
• Fewest losses – Chelsea (1)
• Most goals scored – Chelsea (68)
• Fewest goals scored – Wolverhampton Wanderers (13)
• Most goals conceded – Portsmouth (32)
• Fewest goals conceded – Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur (12)

Away

• Most wins – Manchester United (11)
• Fewest wins – Hull City (0)
• Most losses – Burnley (17)
• Fewest losses – Manchester City (4)
• Most goals scored – Arsenal and Chelsea (35)
• Fewest goals scored – Portsmouth and Stoke City (10)
• Most goals conceded – Wigan Athletic (55)
• Fewest goals conceded – Manchester United (16)

Clean sheets

• Most clean sheets – Manchester United (19)
• Fewest clean sheets – Burnley (3)

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Bernard Mendy for Hull City against Chelsea, 45+1 minute and 30 seconds (15 August 2009)^[41]
• First red card of the season: Sean Davis for Bolton Wanderers against Liverpool, 53 minutes and 57 seconds (29 August 2009)^[42]
• Card given at latest point in a game: Barry Ferguson (red) at 90+5 minutes and 27 seconds for Birmingham City against Manchester City (1 November 2009)^[43]
• Most yellow cards in a single match: 9
  • Manchester United 2–1 Arsenal – 3 for Manchester United (Wes Brown, Patrice Evra and Wayne Rooney) and 6 for Arsenal (Manuel Almunia, Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Emmanuel Eboué, Alex Song, and Robin van Persie) (29 August 2009);^[44]
  • Sunderland 1–1 Wigan Athletic – 4 for Sunderland (Lorik Cana, Lee Cattermole, Kenwyne Jones and George McCartney) and 5 for Wigan (Gary Caldwell, Maynor Figueroa, James McCarthy, Charles N'Zogbia and Hugo Rodallega) (6 February 2010)^[45]
• Most red cards in a single match: 3 – Portsmouth 1–1 Sunderland – 1 for Portsmouth (Ricardo Rocha) and 2 for Sunderland (Lee Cattermole and David Meyler) (9 February 2010)^[46]

Miscellaneous

• Longest first half injury time: 8 minutes, 26 seconds – Stoke City against Chelsea (12 September 2009)^[47]
• Longest second half injury time: 10 minutes, 25 seconds – Hull City against Aston Villa (21 April 2010)^[48]
• Worst start to a Premier League season: 0 points from 7 games – Portsmouth (26 September 2009). Losing streak ended on 3 October 2009, with 1–0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers^[49]
• Most own goals in a season for a single team: 10 – Manchester United

Records

• Chelsea broke the record for most goals scored in a season with 103 goals, becoming the first Premier League club to cross the century mark. The previous record of 97 goals was set by Manchester United in the 1999–2000 season. The Blues also broke the record for the highest goal difference in a season with +71 goals. The previous record of +58 goals was set by Manchester United in the 2007–08 campaign. United equalled their own previous record during the 2009–10 campaign.
• Wigan Athletic were the first team to lose two matches by eight goals in a Premier League season, away to Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.
• Chelsea scored seven or more goals in four league matches, a record for both the club and the Premier League, and in consecutive home fixtures achieved an aggregate score of 15–0, in their last two home matches of the season against Stoke City and Wigan Athletic, having already scored seven in home matches against Sunderland and Aston Villa.

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August[50]	Harry Redknapp	Tottenham Hotspur	Jermain Defoe	Tottenham Hotspur
September[51]	Sir Alex Ferguson	Manchester United	Fernando Torres	Liverpool
October[52][53]	Roy Hodgson	Fulham	Robin van Persie	Arsenal
November[54][55]	Carlo Ancelotti	Chelsea	Jimmy Bullard	Hull City
December[56][57]	Alex McLeish	Birmingham City	Carlos Tevez	Manchester City
January[58][59]	David Moyes	Everton	Wayne Rooney	Manchester United
February[60]	Roy Hodgson	Fulham	Mark Schwarzer	Fulham
March[61][62]	David Moyes	Everton	Florent Malouda	Chelsea
April[63][64]	Martin O'Neill	Aston Villa	Gareth Bale	Tottenham Hotspur

Annual awards

Premier League Manager of the Season

Harry Redknapp, 63, received the Premier League Manager of the Season for the first time in his career, as a result of leading Tottenham Hotspur to Champions League qualification. Redknapp winning Manager of the Season marked the first time a non-title winning manager received the award since George Burley in the 2000–01 Premier League season.^[65][66]

Premier League Player of the Season

The Premier League Player of the Season award was won by Wayne Rooney of Manchester United.

PFA Players' Player of the Year

The PFA Players' Player of the Year was awarded to Wayne Rooney.

The shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, in alphabetical order, was as follows:^[67]

• Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
• Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal)
• Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
• Carlos Tevez (Manchester City)

PFA Team of the Year

PFA Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	Joe Hart (Birmingham City)
Defenders	Patrice Evra (Manchester United)			Branislav Ivanović (Chelsea)			Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal)			Richard Dunne (Aston Villa)
Midfielders	James Milner (Aston Villa)			Antonio Valencia (Manchester United)			Darren Fletcher (Manchester United)			Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal)
Forwards	Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)						Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

PFA Young Player of the Year

The PFA Young Player of the Year was awarded to James Milner for the first time.

Premier League Golden Boot

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba won the Premier League Golden Boot award, scoring 29 goals in 32 appearances; this was the second time he won the award.

Premier League Fair Play Award

The Premier League Fair Play Award was given to Arsenal, the team deemed to have been the most sporting and best behaved. Sunderland occupied last place as the least sporting side^[68]

Behaviour of The Public Fair Play League

The Public Fair Play League was again given to Fulham for the third consecutive year.^[69]

Premier League Merit Award

Chelsea collected the Premier League Merit Award for being the first team to score 100 goals in a Premier League season.

Attendances

Manchester United drew the highest average home attendance in the 2009-10 edition of the Premier League.

#	Football club	Home games	Average attendance[70]
1	Manchester United	19	74,864
2	Arsenal FC	19	59,927
3	Manchester City	19	45,513
4	Liverpool FC	19	42,864
5	Chelsea FC	19	41,423
6	Sunderland AFC	19	40,355
7	Aston Villa	19	38,573
8	Everton FC	19	36,725
9	Tottenham Hotspur	19	35,794
10	West Ham United	19	33,683
11	Wolverhampton Wanderers	19	28,366
12	Stoke City	19	27,162
13	Blackburn Rovers	19	25,428
14	Birmingham City	19	25,246
15	Hull City	19	24,390
16	Fulham FC	19	23,909
17	Bolton Wanderers	19	21,881
18	Burnley FC	19	20,654
19	Portsmouth FC	19	18,249
20	Wigan Athletic	19	18,006