English Premier League 2018/19 season review
With the Premier League winding down and the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) and Footballer Writers' (FWA) awards being handed out, it's time to sit back and review the season that's unfolded.
We look at this season's over-achievers, under-performers and the transfer signing that has shone the brightest.
Heading into the new season back in August, the England national team had embarked on a successful World Cup campaign, having been knocked out of the semi-final by a Luka Modric-inspired Croatia.
The previous season had seen Manchester City accumulate the highest points tally (100 points) in Premier League history and Liverpool had reached the final of the Champions League (narrowly losing out to Real Madrid).
There was optimism heading into the 27th English Premier League season, with Manchester United and Leicester kicking things off on a Friday night at Old Trafford.
As of writing, there are two games left for each team to play and the title race looks to be going down to the final day. That being said, teams and players alike have stood out as we begin the review process, starting with the team that has under-performed the most this season.
Biggest under-achievers: Fulham
Having come up through a 1-0 win over Aston Villa in the playoff final, momentum was with Fulham for the season ahead. They had achieved the biggest home win of the season (5-0 against Burton Albion, 20/01/2018) as well as maintaining the longest unbeaten run in the division at 23 matches.
Everything was set up for a successful Premier League campaign. The club had secured the signing of on-loan forward Aleksandar Mitrovic (£18.18 million) as well as big name players such as Jean Michael Seri (£27 million), Andre Anguissa (£22.37 million) and Alfie Mawson (£15.17 million).
The loan signings also made sense and included Andre Schurrle, Calum Chambers and Luciano Vietto.
The season didn't start well though, with back-to-back defeats against Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur, but a 4-2 win against Burnley in their third game restored some hope.
However, this new-found optimism did not last long with their next Premier League win not arriving for another 10 games. It was beginning to show that the extravagant spending was not working out for the Cottagers.
In total, the club has spent £100.8 million and gone through three managers this season. Since relegation was confirmed, Fulham have managed three wins in a row but it is too little too late. This was the type of form that the club needed earlier on in the season and was expected due to the huge transfer fees and wages being spent by the owners.