A Build-Up of Pressure : 2015-16 Quiz

Answer: Aston Villa

Tim Sherwood's career as Aston Villa manager lasted eight months. He was sacked following Villa's 2-1 defeat to Swansea, their sixth defeat in a row, which left them at the bottom of the table. He was replaced by the ill-fated Remi Garde. Unfortunately for Villa, Garde could not save them; under him, they only won two games in twenty, and he left in March 2016. Two months later, along with Norwich City and Newcastle United, they were relegated to the Championship.

Answer: Chelsea

After having enjoyed previous successful seasons with them, Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea as manager in 2013. Chelsea won the title in 2014-2015 under his leadership, but the season afterwards proved to be more of a challenge. Although he celebrated his 100th game with them against Crystal Palace, Chelsea had a bad run at the beginning of the 2015-2016 season, with nine losses in 16 games. With Chelsea 16th in the table by December 2015, Mourinho was sacked and replaced by Guus Hiddink as interim manager for the rest of the season.

Answer: Everton

Everton suffered one of their worst home records of all time in Roberto Martinez's third season, with just six wins at Goodison Park. Despite reaching the semi-finals of both the League Cup and the FA Cup, discontentment grew around the club, with banners at Goodison Park calling for Martinez to be sacked.

The club eventually did sack him in May after successive defeats to Leicester and Sunderland, as well as a disastrous 4-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield, and U23 manager David Unsworth took over as caretaker for the rest of the season.

Answer: Leicester City

In the summer of 2015, despite a mid-table finish for Leicester City, the club sacked Nigel Pearson, stating, "Fundamental differences in perspective exist between us." Pearson's son James was one of the three players sacked the previous month after appearing in a controversial video recording. Later in the season, Leicester's fortunes were subsequently reversed. Under Claudio Ranieri, they won their first ever league title, in no small part thanks to the many goals scored by Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.

The three new summer signings, Shinji Okazaki, Robert Huth and Christian Fuchs, also played a major part in Leicester's success.

Answer: Liverpool

Under Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool had an incredible season in 2013-2014, being narrowly beaten to the title by Manchester City. After the departure of top scorer Luis Suarez to Barcelona in 2014, the club dropped from the Champions' League to the Europa League after drawing with Basel, lost the FA Cup semi-final to Aston Villa, and finished their season with 3-1 and 6-1 defeats to Crystal Palace and Stoke City respectively. Rodgers still had the backing of the club, but was sacked following a 1-1 draw with Everton, and replaced by former Borussia Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp.

Answer: Manchester City

Unlike some of the other managers in this quiz, Manuel Pellegrini was NOT sacked from Manchester City; instead, his contract expired, and it was announced in February 2016 that Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola would be succeeding him. Pellegrini was, however, able to leave on a high, with Manchester City beating Liverpool on penalties to win the League Cup and finishing fourth.

Answer: Newcastle United

Former England manager Steve McClaren was brought in to replace caretaker manager John Carver in June 2015. The 2015-2016 season saw Newcastle drop out of the Premiership (though they would be promoted the following season), and after just six wins in twenty-eight games, Newcastle found themselves in 19th place.

The squad were booed off the pitch following a 3-1 loss to newly promoted Bournemouth. McClaren was sacked in March 2016, and was later replaced by Rafa Benitez.

Answer: Sunderland

Dick Advocaat was not sacked by Sunderland; instead, he resigned. He was brought in to replace Gustavo Poyet in March 2015, in the hope that he would be able to keep Sunderland in the Premier League. Sunderland's safety was guaranteed when they finished 16th in 2014-2015. Eight games into the 2015-2016 season, none of which Sunderland had won, Advocaat decided to step down in the hope that Sunderland would be able to turn things around.

He was replaced by Sam Allardyce.

Answer: Swansea City

Like Roberto Martinez before him, Garry Monk had started out at Swansea as a player before graduating to managing them in 2014. Though the club enjoyed a fairly successful season in 2014-2015, beating Manchester United and Arsenal both home and away, their fortunes changed the following season. By December, they had gone almost eleven matches without a win. Following a 3-0 defeat to Leicester City, Monk was sacked, after twelve years at the club. Coach Alan Curtis took over as caretaker manager.

Answer: Watford

Quique Sanchez Flores was yet another manager on the receiving end of Watford's trigger-happy owner Gino Pozzo. He had been brought in at the beginning of the season following the departure of Slavisa Jokanovic, who had been in charge when Watford had been promoted the previous season.

Although Watford got off to a good start, they performed poorly against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final, and Flores was criticised for over-relying on players such as Odion Ighalo and Jose Manuel Jurado. An announcement was made that Flores would be leaving at the end of the season, a decision criticised by both Watford captain Troy Deeney and then West Ham manager Slaven Bilic. Watford finished 13th, and Flores was replaced by Walter Mazzarri.