To say that the 2009/10 English Premier League season was entertaining would be to understate to a huge degree. Chelsea’s victorious campaign under newly-appointed Carlo Ancelotti was to be one of the watershed seasons in the Premier League as the West London side denied Manchester united a fourth Premier League title in a row with a record-breaking display of attacking football.

The season began with a nice run of fixtures for Ancelotti’s side, who beat Hull City, Sunderland, Fulham, Burnley and Stoke City in their first five fixtures, as they eased in new signings such as Yuri Zhirkov, Nemanja Matic and Daniel Sturridge, who as it would transpire, would hardly feature at all other than in substitute appearances.

After that opening run of comfortable wins against lower-half opposition, Chelsea showed in their next four fixtures displays that would come to define their league season. After beating Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea then lost away to Wigan. Right back at it in the next game, The Blues beat Liverpool at home, before again losing on their travels at Aston Villa. A frailty on the road to teams who were prepared to try to open Chelsea up was emerging, but Ancelotti persevered with an outrageously attacking formation. Flair players such as Florent Malouda and Joe Cole had a field day, wing-backs like Ashley Cole flew forward in cavalier fashion.

During a season in which they scored a record 103 Premier League goals, Chelsea didn’t just beat teams, they beat them up. The Blues smashed seven goals past Sunderland, Aston Villa and Stoke City during the second half of the season. They would win their final game at home to Wigan, a game that they had to win to seal the title, 8-0.