That's not even mentioning Liverpool defender Andy Robertson claiming he was elbowed by an assistant referee and Reds boss Jurgen Klopp injuring his hamstring after shouting at a fourth official.
By the end of the season, PGMOL chief Howard Webb gave his time to Sky Sports and BBC Radio 5 Live to explain some of the mistakes.
A mid-season break?!
Clubs had about six weeks without Premier League games from mid-November to 26 December because the World Cup in Qatar took place in Europe's winter.
Some teams gave players who were not going to the World Cup anywhere between a few days to a couple of weeks off, while other teams flew to the other side of the world.
The United Arab Emirates, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Portugal were some of the destinations - with about half of the Premier League teams playing friendlies during that time.
Liverpool and Arsenal played games in the Dubai Super Cup, Everton were in the Sydney Cup, Crystal Palace hosted Brazilian side Botafogo, a few teams faced La Liga clubs and Fulham even hosted West Ham in a London derby the week before Christmas.
The table looked quite different then, with Arsenal top at Christmas, Chelsea only off the European places on goal difference and Wolves bottom.
And Cristiano Ronaldo was a Manchester United player.
The amount of World Cup players did not seem to have a detrimental effect on the second half of the season. A league-high 16 of Manchester City's squad went to Qatar and they won the title, while only two Southampton players, a joint low, did and they sank to the bottom.
A proper title race (until near the end)
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland won the Premier League Golden Boot with a record 36 goals - and helped City win the title
For much of the season, it looked as though Arsenal were going to win their first title since the 'Invincibles' of 2003-04.
Arsenal were eight points above City - albeit having played a game more - coming into April. They topped the table for 29 games in total.
But they suffered the same fate Liverpool have in recent years and were unable to keep up City's relentless winning form in the second half of the campaign.
Mikel Arteta's side spent 248 days top - the most without finishing first in English top-flight history - yet City wrapped up the title with three games to go.
Since Guardiola took over in 2016, City have taken between 21 and 30 points in their final 10 games of a Premier League season - an average of 2.43 points per game.
City have been favourites to win the league every year since 2015-16, with Arsenal starting the campaign at 50-1 sixth favourites.
Premier League champions City now turn their sights to the Treble. They face Manchester United in the FA Cup final and Inter Milan in the Champions League final in the next two Saturdays. Win both and they become the second team to win all three after United in 1998-99.
Source: BBC News - Home https://ift.tt/yIplNuC
Source: BBC News - Home https://ift.tt/yIplNuC
