The Showmax Pro Premier League 2021-2022 review

An elegantly ruthless Manchester City making it four titles in five seasons, a great Liverpool team falling just short of extraordinary history, a “what could have been” season for Chelsea, Tottenham coming back to return to the top table, a positive Arsenal falling just short and a catastrophe of a campaign for Manchester United.

The 2021-2022 season will be remembered for many things, all of which we witnessed on Showmax Pro.

Team of the season: Manchester City

It might seem like the straightforward choice to automatically give this to the champions that benefitted from the biggest player budget, but in thwarting an impressive Liverpool challenge, Manchester City undeniably confirmed their status as a modern dynasty in the Premier League.

Not only are they expertly guided by the brilliant Pep Guardiola, but they have become an extraordinary case study in how a club can give a manager as much backing as possible.

In terms of playing style, they can be mesmeric in possession combined with a high tempo that other teams just can’t keep up with. When it’s not quite gelling, they have players that can pull games out the fire through sheer determination (the final game against Aston Villa being a perfect example of this).

A UEFA Champions League title will be looked at as a necessity by everyone at the club, and they will never be completely satisfied until that’s been achieved.

Player of the season: Kevin de Bruyne

Mohamed Salah played sublime football in the first half of the season, but during crunch-time in the final run-in, Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne reached levels that made him the most influential player in the division.

With an amazing range of passing as well as finishing, he finds all sorts of ways to make telling contributions.

Like the club itself, his next step must be to dominate games in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League. At the moment, that’s the only thing that’s making him fall short in any “best player in the world” discussions.

Manager of the season: Graham Potter

Guardiola is a confirmed genius, Klopp has built an outstanding Liverpool team and Eddie Howe will get many deserved plaudits for his role at a resurgent Newcastle, but in terms of a manager getting more than the sum of the parts of a squad, Graham Potter leads the way.

In his Brighton squad, only Marc Cucurella is wanted by bigger clubs. It’s the team effort that has put Brighton in the top half of the table, which is where Potter has to take most of the credit.

Signing of the season: Christian Eriksen

The sheer romance of his comeback on its own is more than enough to secure this award. On top of that, Christian Eriksen also took Brentford to another level, which transformed them from a side worrying about relegation to one that was nowhere close to the battle.

Flop of the season: Romelu Lukaku

Nearly 100 million pounds spent on a striker who didn’t score many goals, struggled to get involved, didn’t look like he fitted into the tactical plans and even spoke out publicly against his manager.

Any way you look at it, Romelu Lukaku has failed.

Many people will counter with Jack Grealish for similar reasons, but there have been so many Manchester City players that have struggled in their first season under Guardiola that end up flourishing in their second season.

If Grealish doesn’t kick on to do that next season, he’s probably a shoe-in for this award in a year’s time.

If you don’t want to restrict this prize to just individuals, there’s a very strong argument that says Manchester United are the flop of the season.

Game of the season: Liverpool vs Manchester City

The top two played out two 2-2 draws. Take your pick which one you preferred.

The first one at Anfield edges the second one in that it was the game that made it clear that this season would be another two-horse race. It also contained the goal of the season – an extraordinary strike from Mohamed Salah.

The final day of the season has to go down as the best matchday of the season, which is where juggling between multiple games on Showmax Pro became key. Manchester City’s comeback against Aston Villa was improved by the context around Liverpool’s comeback win against Wolves (and vice versa).

It was the kind of day that showed the importance of having your eyes everywhere in the Premier League, and with the ability to stream multiple games on multiple platforms on Showmax Pro, we’ll have you covered to be the best fan you can be.

Why Showmax Pro?

Showmax Pro is a streaming service available for Showmax subscribers in Africa that bundles the Showmax entertainment offering with music channels, news and live sports streaming from SuperSport.

Subscribers can live stream the latest seasons of the English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, UEFA Europa and UEFA Conference leagues, as well as FIFA World Cup qualifiers and more.

The platform also offers a wide range of other live sports events including athletics, professional boxing, and the world’s biggest marathons. Visit showmax.com to learn more or to subscribe to Showmax Pro.

Join the conversation on social media by following and interacting on the below pages:

Twitter: @ShowmaxPro

Instagram: @ShowmaxPro

Facebook: @ShowmaxOnline