2013/14 Premier League season review
Manchester City won the 2013/14 Premier League on the final day with 86 points, two ahead of Liverpool, in Manuel Pellegrini's first season. It was a title race built on goals: City scored 102 and Liverpool 101, the first time two clubs had passed 100 in the same Premier League season. Liverpool were top with three games left, until Steven Gerrard slipped against Chelsea.
Luis Suárez scored 31 league goals and swept the individual awards. In Fantasy Premier League he was the top scorer with 295 points, and Tom Fenley won the overall game with 2,634.
You can replay the season here with a £100m squad picked from 337 players across all 20 clubs, or read on for how it unfolded.
The summer Ferguson left
Sir Alex Ferguson retired as Manchester United manager, and David Moyes moved from Everton to replace him on 1 July 2013. Three of the other leading clubs also changed manager. José Mourinho returned to Chelsea after six years in Italy and Spain, Manuel Pellegrini took over at Manchester City, and Roberto Martínez replaced Moyes at Everton.
The biggest transfer story ended on 1 September, when Gareth Bale left Tottenham for Real Madrid for a reported £85.3m, then a world-record fee. Arsenal answered on deadline day by signing Mesut Özil from Real Madrid for a club-record £43m, and Moyes brought Marouane Fellaini from Everton for £27.5m.
Liverpool started without Luis Suárez, who was still serving a ten-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanović the season before. Cardiff City, Hull City and Crystal Palace were promoted, Cardiff for the first time, and goal-line technology was used in the Premier League for the first time.
How City won the race of the 100-goal sides
Manchester City led the table for only 14 days all season, but they were top on the day that mattered. The race was decided in the final three weeks.
Liverpool's run began with a 5-1 home win over Arsenal on 8 February 2014. They won 11 league games in a row, scoring freely through Suárez and Daniel Sturridge, and beat City 3-2 at Anfield on 13 April. With three games left the title was theirs to lose.
Then came three results in a fortnight:
- 27 April, Liverpool 0-2 Chelsea. In first-half stoppage time Steven Gerrard slipped as he received a pass, and Demba Ba ran through to score. Willian added a second in the final minute. Liverpool stayed top by two points, but City had a game in hand.
- 5 May, Crystal Palace 3-3 Liverpool. Liverpool led 3-0 at Selhurst Park, and Palace scored three times to draw.
- 11 May, Manchester City 2-0 West Ham. City won their last five league games and clinched the title on the final day.
City finished with 102 goals, one short of the league record, and Yaya Touré scored 20 of them from midfield. Pellegrini also won the League Cup, beating Sunderland in the final, to give City their first domestic double.
Suárez finished with 31 league goals and Sturridge 21, and Liverpool's 101 goals were the club's highest total in a top-flight season. Suárez won the PFA, Football Writers' and Premier League player of the season awards, plus Goal of the Season for a 40-yard volley against Norwich on 4 December.
Moyes, Mourinho and the rest of the table
Chelsea finished third on 82 points in Mourinho's first season back. They won at Anfield, but a 2-1 home defeat by Sunderland on 19 April ended his run of 77 home league games unbeaten across his two spells. Behind them:
- Arsenal were fourth on 79 points and beat Hull in the FA Cup final, ending a nine-year wait for a trophy.
- Everton finished fifth with 72 points, a club record for a Premier League season, in Martínez's first year.
- Tottenham were sixth. André Villas-Boas left on 16 December, the day after a 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool, and Tim Sherwood took over.
- Manchester United finished seventh, their first finish outside the top four in the Premier League era. Moyes was sacked on 22 April, Ryan Giggs took over as interim player-manager, and Louis van Gaal was confirmed as manager on 19 May.
- Southampton were eighth, another club record.
The relegation fight
Cardiff and Fulham went down together on 7 May. Cardiff's first Premier League season unravelled after Malky Mackay was sacked in December following a dispute with owner Vincent Tan, and Ole Gunnar Solskjær couldn't keep them up. Fulham used three managers, Martin Jol, René Meulensteen and Felix Magath, and conceded 85 goals. Their forward Dimitar Berbatov, left for Monaco on transfer deadline day in January as the club slid towards the bottom.
Norwich were relegated on the final day after losing to Arsenal, having replaced Chris Hughton with Neil Adams in April.
Sunderland had been bottom on Christmas Day, then took 13 points from their last six games under Gus Poyet. They drew 2-2 at Manchester City, won 2-1 at Chelsea and 1-0 at Old Trafford, and confirmed their survival by beating West Brom 2-0 on 7 May.
Crystal Palace, who had lost Ian Holloway in October, finished 11th after Tony Pulis arrived in November. Pulis was named Manager of the Season.
2013/14 Premier League final table
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 38 | 27 | 5 | 6 | 102 | 37 | +65 | 86 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 38 | 26 | 6 | 6 | 101 | 50 | +51 | 84 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 71 | 27 | +44 | 82 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 38 | 24 | 7 | 7 | 68 | 41 | +27 | 79 |
| 5 | Everton | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 61 | 39 | +22 | 72 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 21 | 6 | 11 | 55 | 51 | +4 | 69 |
| 7 | Manchester United | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 64 | 43 | +21 | 64 |
| 8 | Southampton | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 54 | 46 | +8 | 56 |
| 9 | Stoke | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 45 | 52 | -7 | 50 |
| 10 | Newcastle | 38 | 15 | 4 | 19 | 43 | 59 | -16 | 49 |
| 11 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 33 | 48 | -15 | 45 |
| 12 | Swansea | 38 | 11 | 9 | 18 | 54 | 54 | 0 | 42 |
| 13 | West Ham | 38 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 40 | 51 | -11 | 40 |
| 14 | Sunderland | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 41 | 60 | -19 | 38 |
| 15 | Aston Villa | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 39 | 61 | -22 | 38 |
| 16 | Hull | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | 38 | 53 | -15 | 37 |
| 17 | West Brom | 38 | 7 | 15 | 16 | 43 | 59 | -16 | 36 |
| 18 | Norwich | 38 | 8 | 9 | 21 | 28 | 62 | -34 | 33 |
| 19 | Fulham | 38 | 9 | 5 | 24 | 40 | 85 | -45 | 32 |
| 20 | Cardiff | 38 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 32 | 74 | -42 | 30 |
The bottom three were relegated. In the game, every result behind this table plays out as it really happened.
2013/14 top scorers
| Player | Goals | Assists | Our price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luis Suárez Liverpool | 31 | 12 | £11.5m |
| Daniel Sturridge Liverpool | 21 | 7 | £10.5m |
| Yaya Touré Manchester City | 20 | 9 | £11.5m |
| Sergio Agüero Manchester City | 17 | 6 | £9.0m |
| Wayne Rooney Manchester United | 17 | 10 | £10.0m |
| Edin Džeko Manchester City | 16 | 1 | £8.0m |
| Wilfried Bony Swansea | 16 | 4 | £8.0m |
| Olivier Giroud Arsenal | 16 | 8 | £9.5m |
| Jay Rodriguez Southampton | 15 | 3 | £9.5m |
| Romelu Lukaku Everton | 15 | 6 | £8.5m |
2013/14 assist leaders
| Player | Assists | Goals | Our price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steven Gerrard Liverpool | 13 | 13 | £10.5m |
| Luis Suárez Liverpool | 12 | 31 | £11.5m |
| Wayne Rooney Manchester United | 10 | 17 | £10.0m |
| Rickie Lambert Southampton | 10 | 13 | £8.5m |
| Mesut Özil Arsenal | 9 | 5 | £7.5m |
| David Silva Manchester City | 9 | 7 | £9.0m |
| Yaya Touré Manchester City | 9 | 20 | £11.5m |
| Aaron Ramsey Arsenal | 8 | 10 | £9.0m |
| Christian Eriksen Tottenham Hotspur | 8 | 7 | £7.5m |
| Kevin Mirallas Everton | 8 | 8 | £8.5m |
League goals and assists only. Players who moved clubs mid-season are listed under the club they played most for.
Surprises and disappointments
Liverpool's title challenge was the season's biggest surprise, but others also beat expectations:
- Southampton finished eighth, a club record, and had two players in the PFA Team of the Year: Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw.
- Everton set a club points record in Martínez's first season, and Seamus Coleman made the PFA team.
- Crystal Palace, promoted the summer before, finished 11th under Pulis.
- Sunderland escaped from the bottom after Christmas and reached the League Cup final.
Others had seasons to forget:
- Manchester United lost their manager and their place in the top four in the first season after Ferguson.
- Tottenham sold Bale, changed manager in December and finished sixth.
- Fulham went through three managers and conceded 85 goals.
- Cardiff went straight back down after their first Premier League season, under two managers.
2013/14 in Fantasy Premier League
About 3.2 million managers played Fantasy Premier League in 2013/14. Tom Fenley won with 2,634 points, under the team name "Captain Suarez!".
The name fitted the season. Suárez was the game's top scorer with 295 points, despite missing the opening weeks through suspension. Yaya Touré was second with 241, the reward for 20 league goals from midfield, and Gerrard, Hazard, Sturridge and Rooney all reached at least 190.
The PFA Team of the Year
Liverpool had three players in the players' own Team of the Year, and Chelsea, City and Southampton two each.
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Petr Čech (Chelsea) |
| Defenders | Seamus Coleman (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Luke Shaw (Southampton) |
| Midfielders | Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Yaya Touré (Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Adam Lallana (Southampton) |
| Forwards | Luis Suárez (Liverpool), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool) |
The season's awards: Suárez was PFA Players' Player of the Year, Football Writers' Footballer of the Year and the Premier League's Player of the Season. Hazard was PFA Young Player of the Year, and Pulis was Manager of the Season.
Most expensive players by position
The premium picks a £100m budget forces you to choose between in 2013/14.
Goalkeepers
- Asmir Begović£6.0m
- Tim Howard£6.0m
- Petr Čech£6.0m
Defenders
- Martin Škrtel£7.0m
- Jesús Navas£6.5m
- Leighton Baines£6.0m
Midfielders
- Yaya Touré£11.5m
- Steven Gerrard£10.5m
- Eden Hazard£10.0m
Forwards
- Luis Suárez£11.5m
- Daniel Sturridge£10.5m
- Wayne Rooney£10.0m
2013/14 on Retro Fantasy Football
172 managers have finished a 2013/14 season on our leaderboard (as of October 2026). The best scores so far:
- 2,210 pts
- 2,189 pts
- 2,152 pts
- 2,142 pts
- 2,137 pts
Points follow our scoring rules. Think you can beat them?
2013/14 quick answers
Who won the Premier League in 2013/14? Manchester City, with 86 points, two ahead of Liverpool.
Who was relegated in 2013/14? Cardiff City, Fulham and Norwich City.
Who was the Premier League top scorer in 2013/14? Luis Suárez, with 31 league goals.
What was the Gerrard slip? In Liverpool's 2-0 home defeat by Chelsea on 27 April 2014, Steven Gerrard slipped in first-half stoppage time and Demba Ba scored. Liverpool finished two points behind City.
Who was PFA Player of the Year in 2013/14? Luis Suárez. Eden Hazard was Young Player of the Year.
Who scored the most FPL points in 2013/14? Luis Suárez, with 295.
Who won Fantasy Premier League in 2013/14? Tom Fenley, with 2,634 points.