Seven talking points from an unforgettable final day of the Premier League season, featuring Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal, Southampton and the magnificent Leicester City.

A dark day, amid the drama

It was quite the most dramatic final day in the history of the Premier League – for all the right reasons and all the wrong reasons. We will deal with the former shortly, but any assessment of the conclusion of the Premier League season cannot be complete without discussing the incredibly serious events at Old Trafford, which saw Manchester United’s match against Bournemouth abandoned and a controlled explosion being carried out on a suspect package. Police have said the phone which was attached to a gas pipe was “not viable” but an “incredibly lifelike explosive device”. We do not know how serious this device was, we do not know who planted it, we do not know why they planted it. At this stage, we cannot know if it was an elaborate joke or something rather more sinister. But what we do know is that there will be repercussions. There will be repercussions in terms of security processes – which at Old Trafford had already been stepped up this season – and there will be repercussions in terms of the perceived threat to supporters in all high-profile football matches. Starting at the FA Cup final and progressing into the Euros. A dark day for football, even if we can be relieved no immediate harm was done.

So Spursy it hurts

And now onto the good stuff. The tussle for local supremacy, and second place, between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur came to a quite spectacular conclusion in what was the clear highlight of the final day. Against all expectation, Tottenham collapsed to a defeat at already relegated Newcastle – 5-1 no less – as Arsenal beat Aston Villa 4-0 to take second by one solitary point. Finishing the season with two points from four matches was a spectacular meltdown on the part of Spurs.

Mauricio Pochettino was supposed to have eradicated the ‘Spursy’ element of Tottenham, the deep and pervasive insecurity which has become embedded over decades by repeated defeats and disappointments. Instead he and his team managed to confirm it with arguably the most distilled and potent example of ‘Spursiness’ you could ever envisage. Collapsing to take their usual place behind Arsenal was its very essence.

The lasagne disaster of 2006, when food poisoning struck Tottenham players low on the final day, allowing Arsenal to sneak in front of them, was quite something, but ultimately out of their control. On Sunday, their dismal collapse was entirely their own responsibility. Clearly, from the minute Leicester won the league title and Spurs lost their heads at Stamford Bridge, lashing out atChelsea players all over the pitch, they have been unable to reclaim equilibrium and it has cost them in devastating fashion.

Arsenal can't afford to make same mistake as last year

Arsenal held up their side of the bargain with a 4-0 win over Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium which witnessed a hat-trick for Olivier Giroud. It was an exuberant party atmosphere in north London, especially when Mikel Arteta forced an own goal in the final seconds of his final match and the players then re emerged to pay tribute to Tomas Rosicky in their lap of honour. Even Arsene Wenger had a smile on his face after the most difficult season of his Arsenal career. But after the celebrations are done, and all the selfies snapped, Wenger would do well to reflect that the fact Arsenal have enjoyed their best finish in 11 years is not an accurate representation of what has unfolded this season. Equally, a hat-trick from Giroud should not disguise that Arsenal need an upgrade in attack this summer. The two issues are linked: a genuinely world-class striker would be the best way for Arsenal to mount a title challenge next season. Last year, Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick on the final day of the Premier League season against West Brom. He scored in the FA Cup final and then earned a new contract. Arsenal didn’t sign a single outfield player and the seed was laid for this season’s disappointment. The same mistake must not be made: despite his hat-trick, Giroud will not deliver a title for Arsenal. Upgrades are needed.

The scale of Guardiola's task revealed

One of the storylines lost amid the headline news was that Manchester City's 1-1 draw away to Swansea all but confirmed they will take the fourth Champions League spot, unless Manchester United can manage to defeat Bournemouth by 19 goals whenever their rearranged match takes place. The fact that City got the bare minimum was instructive: it is what they have been getting by on all season in what has been a pretty awful Premier League campaign.

Pep Guardiola will have been cheered to discover that he has Champions League football to plan for next season but the scale of the task awaiting him cannot have escaped the Catalan. The 2015-16 season has demonstrated that a huge rebuilding process needs to take place at the Etihad. City need an injection of talent and character and far from being an easy job, as it was described when Guardiola first agreed to take charge, this is the biggest challenge of his career.

The Newcastle comeback starts now

Sunday’s showdown with Spurs was anything but a meaningless game for Newcastle United – even if they had already been relegated by Sunderland in midweek. To absolutely pummel Spurs finally gave the home fans something to cheer in a miserable season; more importantly, it gives them some hope for next season too. Rafa Benitez has not ruled out staying at the club for a crack at the Championship and if he does, Newcastle could quickly return to the top flight. Benitez has tightened up the Newcastle defence, improved performances (if too late in the season) and importantly has connected with a set of supporters who are among the most disaffected in the country thanks to the rule of Mike Ashley. Benitez has drastically improved morale and Newcastle must do everything they can to convince him to stay on based on how he has lifted the mood in his short time on Tyneside.

Southampton are a force to be reckoned with

It seems strange to say so after what was supposed to be the final round of matches, but Ronald Koeman’s side are fifth as things stand – and will stay there if United lose to Bournemouth. Winning 12 of their final 18 games has been a wonderful way to finish the Premier League season and 63 points is their highest total in the Premier League. Saints secured a Europa League place with their 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace and their upward trajectory continues unabated. If Leicester have shown that anything is possible this season, you could forgive Southampton fan for wondering if their storming end to the season could catapult them onto even greater feats next season.

Leicester’s season continues to look more amazing

\

Has it sunk in that Leicester City won the title yet? What about the fact that after coming from behind to draw 1-1 with Chelsea, Leicester City actually ended up winning the league by 10 clear points. TEN POINTS. Somehow, they managed to go through the season losing just three matches, with Tottenham the next best with six defeats suffered. There have been many bizarre and brilliant aspects to this most ridiculous of seasons, but Leicester’s dominance is the most inexplicable.

--