It almost seems too great an understatement to describe the season just passed as being ‘strange’. It’s probably fair to say that not many pundits would have predicated a football campaign derailed for three months due to a global pandemic, so kudos for 2019/20 for claiming that particular slice of uniqueness.

Whether football’s return in July after the Covid-19 hiatus was due to financial or sporting reasons, it was probably only right for Liverpool to be crowned champions in as-near-as-possible the ‘normal’ way. Jurgen Klopp’s team has no obvious flaws, even accounting for the fact that their nominal number 9, Roberto Firmino, only found the net at Anfield for the first time in the final fixture.

Liverpool demonstrate modern football perfectly – pressing high and with immense tenacity, combined with rapid attacks on the break and flexible attacking options all over the pitch – the way they have reinvented the full-back role to being the instigation of most opportunities is perhaps most impressive.

Amidst the unprecedented this season, it was either re-assuring or depressing that the Premier League campaign ultimately finished with a top four comprised of Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United. That’s not to say that Frank Lampard and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer don’t deserve credit for the way their respective Chelsea and Manchester United sides ultimately secured their places in next season’s Champions League.

In particular, the signing of Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes reinvigorated the previously directionless United, bringing even acceptable performances from Paul Pogba, proving that he can do it on a sunny Saturday afternoon in July after all.

As a result of finishing in the top four, both United and Chelsea have already started making moves on the transfer market. By adding Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech to Lampard’s squad from RB Leipzig and Ajax respectively, Chelsea will be exciting to watch in 2020/21, as much for their thrust and flair in attack opposite the continued comedy that is their back four. While their next steps in the transfer market really should identify a commanding centre back to build their defence around – think Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool – they instead look set to sign another forward player in the Bundesliga starlet Kai Havertz. Here’s a hint for next season’s fantasy league: don’t buy Chelsea ‘keeper Kepa (but then you probably already knew that).

Elsewhere in the league, it was ultimately disappointing to see three pretenders to the Champions League places slip by the wayside after Project Restart. Going into the break, Leicester, Wolves and Sheffield United all looked primed to upset the traditional order. In particular, Wolves have been a breath of fresh air to the division, offering pace and power in attack (step forward Adama Traore), but also genuine class in Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez. If they can add a couple more players in the same bracket and hold on to Nino Esposito Santo in the manager’s dugout, they could be a real force next season and maybe even finish sixth.

The fact that finishing in the top half-dozen is now effectively the promised land for many clubs is what makes this season’s completion somewhat disappointing. At different times throughout the campaign, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham were all viewed through a prism of crisis, whether that be relying on the kids, harking back to the past or paying the price for a lack of investment. Yet they all still finished in the top six, begging the question – what does it take for the English Premier League to actually get shaken up?

Credit to Leicester, it was only the final day that they slipped from the top four to finish fifth, but that coveted Champions League berth was well within their grasp before the lockdown, so to see it pass through their fingers must have been heartbreaking for the team led by Brendon Rogers.

Away from the top table, it was hard not to feel sorry for Bournemouth, although they paid the price in their relegation for a series of transfers that failed to work out, leaving manager Eddie Howe relying on many of the same players who brought the south coast club up through the leagues. In their five years in the Premier League, they have been entertaining to watch, scoring many and conceding just slightly less – this year, that high-risk strategy proved to be their undoing as the goals dried up. After a couple of days of reflection it was hardly surprising to learn that Howe and Bournemouth have parted ways, and huge question marks now reside over whether or not the Cherries have the resources to compete in the Championship.

There must surely be less sympathy, however, for fellow trapdoor tumblers Watford, who started the season in the steady hands of Java Gracia, replaced him earlier than they could have with former boss Quique Sanchez Flores (who was decent first time around), then showed him the same door after just 12 games before eventually settling on the imposing, alleged wolf-wrestler Nigel Pearson. Admittedly the Hornets improved under Pearson and looked like they would actually beat the drop, only to shoot themselves in the foot by firing the former Leicester boss with just two games ago. Whether or not the rumours of a post-game bust up involving Pearson and his own players are true or not, this proved to be a spin too far for the Vicarage Road revolving door and relegation was no less than the club’s owners deserve.

While Watford and Bournemouth failed to beat the drop, seeing a clubs the size of Aston Villa secure a second season in the top flight is a definite positive. It’s hard to dislike talisman Jack Grealish, with his pristine hairstyle contrasting perfectly against his minimal, almost casual socks and therefore tiny shinpads. Grealish is something of a throwback footballer, willing to take risks in the final third – or the first third, for that matter – and play with his heart. While others would have long flown the nest of their boyhood club in search of a chunkier pay packet, Grealish remains, shining bright in a fairly unbalanced team – Tyrone Mings and John McGinn are both excellent, while many others at Villa Park are not – and ultimately playing a key role in keeping the Birmingham club up on the final day.

Grealish’s excellent strike in front of West Ham’s most lively crowd of the season (lol) confirmed his undoubted quality when it counts, even if his enthusiasm for doing his bit defensively might also have contributed to the Hammers’ equaliser moments later, deflecting the ball into the net beyond the hapless Pepe Reina.

Even allowing for his lockdown discrepancy and his previous penchant for nitrous oxide, the Premier League is far better for characters like Grealish, who we are often told do not exist in the modern game – mainly by the same agencies who love to question their commitment when seeing lads on their holidays in Ibiza. Drinking a beer. Whatever next.

Villa’s survival came down to goal difference on the final day thanks to the point secured at the London Stadium, not, entirely, as some have suggested, the draw claimed on the first day of Project Restart against Sheffield United. On that day at Villa Park, football’s goal-line decision system, Hawk-Eye, ended up looking more like dork eye, somehow failing to signal a clear goal for the Blades when the ball crossed the line in the arms of the Villains’ keeper Orjan Nyland. Yes, that proved to be a crucial point for Dean Smith’s Villa side, but it’s not the reason Bournemouth went down, so no legal proceedings please.

This is probably a good point to mention VAR and it’s arrival upon the Premier League this season. Scrap that – there’s never a good point to mention VAR.

So it was Villa up, Cherries and Hornets down and everyone else pretty much where you expected they would be, highlighting the predictability within the chaos and uncertainty created by months in lockdown at the hands of the coronavirus: Liverpool champions, City win one cup final and Arsenal the other.

As you were.