English Premier League: Club-by-Club Review of 2007-2008

As another EPL season is consigned to the recycle bin of history (we have to be green these days), here is my review of those who have done well, those who could do better, and those who will spend the summer in detention:

1. Manchester United. Most people's favourites at the start of the season, and despite a lacklustre start and a mediocre finish, they didn't disappoint overall.

Cristiano Ronaldo was incredible, and moved up another gear after being only amazing in 06-07; surely he has no more gears left? New signings all looked the part, and Fergie will already be pretty confident of title number 11 next season. 9.5/10

2. Chelsea. The "Special One" was replaced by the dour one, but on the pitch it was largely business as usual.

New signings were a mixed bag, and some uncharacteristic home draws cost them the title. Champions League glory could yet beckon, but the summer changes have already begun.

Next season will be the one in which to judge Avram Grant when it will really be his team, assuming he makes it that far. 8/10

3. Arsenal. How much longer can Arsene's guns be called "young?" They thrilled us all before Christmas, and Gooners must have been dreaming of a season to remember.

The second half of the season unravelled though, and Mathieu Flamini has already jumped ship.

Some tweaking will be required, but the ingredients are there to challenge again. Four points from the top is hardly the stuff of nightmares, but Wenger badly needs a trophy to go with the thrills next season, or the vultures will be circling in greater numbers. 8/10

4. Liverpool. A recurring nightmare off the pitch, on it has been a bizarre mixture of the sublime (Start, Finish, Torres), the mediocre (the middle months of the campaign), and the ridiculous (Barnsley, Havant & Waterlooville).

The CL offered some salvation, and, despite two years with no trophy, the spine of the team looks very healthy in quality and age. This season will always be remembered as the beginning of a Liverpool legend in Torres. 7.5/10

5. Everton. A very pleasing season for the blue side of Liverpool. Threatened to de-rail their neighbours in the league, in the end it never materialised, but a League Cup semi and a fair UEFA Cup run were highlights.

Oldham had their day at Goodison, but that was a rare off-day for Moyes' consistent team. The Yak and Steven Pienaar added some flair to the steel, but if regular participation in the CL is going to become a reality, then they need to spend pretty big to compete.

Can the chairman find the cash? And can Moyes find a trophy for his growing CV? 9/10

6. Aston Villa. Top six shows a good effort, but Villa was dismal in the cups, and have to cope with the Intertoto Cup in the summer which could potentially hamper next season's start.

Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor have been fearsome, and plenty of goals have brightened up the campaign.

Randy Lerner has the cash, but will O'Neill spend it wisely enough to turn Villa in to CL contenders? And can they hold onto Captain Fantastic Gareth Barry? 8/10

7. Blackburn Rovers. Mark Hughes' reputation continues to grow by the season. Last season Benni McCarthy cleaned up the "signing of the season" awards; this time round it was Roque Santa Cruz, who added goals galore and fitness to the glimpses of quality he showed at Bayern.

No cup run this time round, and where can Rovers realistically go from here? Bentley and Santa Cruz are already being talked up for summer moves, but the biggest worry for Rovers' fans must surely concern the future of their golden gaffer... Are Blackburn fans the only ones in the country (other than Manchester Utd) who don't want Sir Alex Ferguson to quit? 8.5/10

8. Portsmouth. Our 'Arry has done it again. Pompey fans are in dreamland as they flirt with Europe in the league, and even win at Old Trafford in the Cup.

A strong squad that needs to get stronger still to elongate the glory years, but if Pompey win the FA Cup on Saturday, the fans will have had a memorable season whatever the future holds. How they must be relieved that 'Arry saw the light and turned Newcastle down. 9.5/10

9. Manchester City. A typical City season you might say. Just when it looks like they are on the verge of something special, they go and self-destruct in a manner that only City can.

Is their any truth in the rumour that seats at Eastlands come with free pacemakers?

Sven's agony looks set to continue for a little longer as he takes the team for an end of season tour of Thailand, those ladyboys must look more appetising for him than the planned meeting with mad Thaksin though.

Just close your eyes and think of August to November, City fans: Elano's goals, Petrov's wing wizardry, those were the glory days of Sven's short lived reign... 7.5/10

10. West Ham United. Surely mid-table mediocrity is just what the Hammers needed after last season's mayhem? Well, Alan Curbishley is certainly the man to deliver it, but can he do better?

Maybe we will find out next season if his array of permanently injured signings turn out to be not permanently injured (did he really expect any different from Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy?).

The club spent a fortune last summer and might not get that luxury again this time round, and the West Ham fans are not the most forgiving, so it could get a bit tasty at Upton Park in 2009. Even so, this year has been pretty good considering the treatment room has been busier than Terminal Five. 7/10

11. Tottenham Hotspur. What were the odds on Spurs finishing 11th?

An awful league season for a team with pretensions of fourth place when the season kicked off, but at least they had a cup final win, over Chelsea no less, to ease the pain, as well as laughing at Arsenal's demise and hammering them in a cup semi to boot.

Jol managed to last longer than the board's appalling treatment of him suggested, but they now have their man in Juande Ramos. Expect major surgery in the summer, with Dimitar Berbatov among the likely departures. 4/10 for the league, 6/10 if you factor in the Cup win

12. Newcastle United. Most people would never have put feisty but dull "Big" Sam Allardyce together with Newcastle, and predictably the partnership didn't last long.

The Geordies are much more at home with energetic dreamer King Kev (Keegan), who flirted with relegation before remembering he was the messiah and not a very naughty boy.

He then went and spoiled it all by reminding them that they had no chance of finishing in the top four any time soon, but they will let him off with just a slapped wrist for that one. By next Christmas he will be surely be waxing lyrical about his brilliant side, and threatening the top four stranglehold... ok maybe not. 5/10

13. Middlesbrough. Didn't score more than three in a game all season until the final day, but hardly surprising after losing the Yak and fat but talented Mark Viduka.

Boro lost Jonathan Woodgate in January as well, so with their three best players gone in one campaign, Gareth Southgate must be pretty content with a 13th place finish.

Dismal cup defeat to Cardiff when it looked like the competition had opened up for them was a low, but they have improved as the season has gone on, and have reason to feel confident of better next time round, when goal machine Afonso Alves should be fully operational. 7/10

14. Wigan. Post-Jewell was always going to be tricky, but Wigan found themselves a mid-season diamond in Steve Bruce.

Until then, it looked like relegation all the way under Hutchings, but Bruce got the best out of key players Paul Scharner, Antonio Valencia, and Emile Heskey, and they even took some points off of the Big Four on their way to securing safety with a game or two to spare.

Wigan will need more reinforcements if they are to avoid a third relegation scrap in succession next season, though. 7.5/10

15. Sunderland. How do you stay up by three points after promotion to the Premier League? Well, spending £45m will help.

In truth, it wasn't always spent wisely, with Roy Keane getting more strikers than Arthur Scargill ever managed, but Craig Gordon and Kenwyne Jones were the biggest outlays and the biggest successes.

Expect more Irishmen next season, as Stephen Hunt and Kevin Doyle will surely join from Reading. Any chance of them "doing a Wimbledon" and re-locating to Dublin?

Stranger things have happened; Roy Keane even seems like a nice bloke these days... 7.5/10

16. Bolton Wanderers. Out of all the people I regularly talk to about football, I was the only one who predicted a huge struggle for Bolton at the start of the season, and while it is nice to be proved right every now and again, conversely, I have previously waxed critical on Gary Megson being a terrible manager.

So when Megson pitched up at Bolton, I couldn't believe my eyes. Then it turned he wasn't so terrible after all! Curiouser and curiouser.

Megson somehow managed to keep them up in the final few weeks, as well as overseeing a credible UEFA Cup run that included knocking out Atletico Madrid. No really, read it again, I swear it's true. 6/10

17. Fulham. Recent EPL years have seen more Great Escapes than a dozen Christmas tv schedules put together.

For Portsmouth, then West Ham, now read Fulham.

Lawrie Sanchez was as terrible as most right minded people thought he would be, but not to worry, Fulham had a trick up their sleeve, and an English one at that!

Possibly the only manager in history to have managed Inter Milan, Finland, and Fulham (even accounting for computer games), Roy Hodgson proved to be quite the miracle worker, helped by the merlin-like skills of Jimmy Bullard. You couldn't make it up. 7/10 (1 for August to March, 6 for April and May)

18. Reading. Steve Coppell is a funny sort of bloke, and a funny sort of manager. He seems to move from genius to disaster from one season to the next, with this the fourth relegation of his management career.

Last season he trusted his squad and got his rewards, this time, maybe he trusted them a little too much.

Doyle, Nicky Shorey et al all failed to reproduce previous heroics, and began to look like the average players most of them probably are.

Expect an exodus as EPL teams look twice at this season in the summer, and knowing Coppell, if he hangs around, they will probably come straight back up. 4/10

19. Birmingham City. Birmingham are one of those clubs who find themselves in a strange position in the modern football landscape.

Too big and rich for the football league, but not rich enough for the EPL. They go down, spend a few quid that most don't have, come back up, then realise that everyone else has bigger pots of cash and find themselves going back down again.

Alex McCleish's reputation doesn't appear to have been majorly damaged, and in truth they made a small improvement under him in terms of points per game, but the fans must surely be fed up with being a permanent yo-yo. One last flick back up next season lads, honest... 5/10

20. Derby County. What more is there to say?

Nothing I guess, beware Stoke and the rest, as the big lottery hand used to say, "It Could Be Yooooouuuuuuu." 1/10 (1 for the fans, who had to endure it, and did so in good humour and voice)