Who has let their fans down the most this season?

Villa? Chelsea? Arsenal? Newcastle? They’re all in contention…

While most fans are busy egging on Leicester to go and win the Premier League this season, others are sat ruing the missed opportunities of a disappointing season.

It’s obvious that the fans and club board have individual targets they expect their team to achieve at the end of the season. For some, it’s a Champions League qualification, for others it’s to avoid relegation, and for some it’s simply to win the Premier League title.

However, only 4 can make it into Europe’s elite competition, and of course, only one team can be crowned champions of England. Meanwhile, 3 teams have the unfortunate blessing of being relegated every season. Failure to hit these targets leaves a lot of frustrated and unhappy fans, with the optimism they had in August long gone.

Which begs the question, with 5 games to go, who has been the most disappointing side this season? Is it Aston Villa, who sit rock bottom and need a miracle to escape relegation this season? Is it Arsenal, who are set to finish above Man City, Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea, but are now out of contention to win the league? Or is it Chelsea, who fell so far after reaching the heights they did last season? We look at 6 contenders who could take the name for ‘the biggest let-down’ of the 2015/16 season.

Aston Villa

No Fight. No Pride. No Effort. No Hope.

That’s the banner constantly on show at Villa Park at the moment, and the fans are incredibly unsettled. It’s been a torrid season for Villa, who are rock bottom and 15 points from safety. They have a shocking goal difference of -41, and they’re on their 3rd manager of the season (which is equal to the amount of wins they have). In terms of going down and coming straight back up, even that doesn’t look possible right now. The players have no heart and no passion and no signs of having a season of any kind of improvement next year.

 Arsenal

In December, Arsenal were sat top of the Premier League, level on points with Leicester but with an extra game won and a superior goal difference. With Chelsea having a dreadful season, Manchester United not really challenging and Man City 3 points behind, it was looking good for the Gunners. However, losses against Manchester United, Swansea and Chelsea and draws with Liverpool meant Leicester have now managed to gain quite a lead on them, denying them a Premier League title once again. It’s a consistent pattern of Arsenal’s past seasons, and one that fans are growing impatient with.

Manchester City

On 1st February, Manchester City were 2nd in the league, and 3 points off leaders Leicester. Since then, the decline of the team has been spectacular. Their title challenge has turned into a challenge to stay in the top 4 after home defeats to Leicester, Spurs and Manchester United, along with poor results against Liverpool and Norwich. A 5-1 hammering at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup was also a low point.

They did win the Capital One Cup vs Liverpool at the end of February, but had to do it on penalties.

The only hope Manchester City fans have this season is their team are still in the Champions League, however, with captain Vincent Kompany ruled out of their Quarter Final 2nd leg vs PSG tomorrow, they may struggle to make the semis, which would round off a miserable final season for Manuel Pelligrini.

Newcastle United

Their luck might finally be out.

After narrowly avoiding relegation last season on the final day, it appears that Newcastle’s time may have come this season, as they sit 19th with 6 games left to play. They sacked Steve McLaren in March, and have brought in ex-Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, who still hasn’t won a game yet. The fans are sick of it, as they don’t even feel their team are trying anymore. The Magpies lost 3-1 away at Southampton on Saturday, with Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas describing their defence as ‘the worst he’s ever seen in the Premier League’.

Will Newcastle manage to come up next season if they get relegated? The club is a mess, the owner is displeasing the fans by buying unproven, Benitez is off if the club go down, the players don’t even seem to want to be there. So what next for Newcastle?

Chelsea

After an incredibly strong season last year, most expected Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea to dominate English (and maybe European) football once again this year, and for many years to come.

They were badly wrong. The champions got off to a slow start in the 2015/16 campaign and never really recovered. Defeats to Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Everton before the end of September meant they had already lost as many games as they did the season before in just 5 games, and so began a dramatic decline from the heights the team his in the 2014/15 season, a decline that resulted in the sacking of Jose Mourinho before the turn of the year.

Guus Hiddink, who won the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge in a short stint in 2009, took over temporarily until the end of the season, but overall couldn’t salvage anything. They today sit 10th in the league, out of the Champions League, out of the FA Cup, and with a lot of fans scratching their heads and wondering what the hell happened.

Everton

It’s hard to remember the last time a squad with so much potential under-performing so much.

And Everton fans have now officially had enough with the club’s under-par season, with the first ‘Martinez Out’ banner appearing at their 1-1 away draw with Watford on Saturday.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the Toffees, who are still enjoying an FA Cup run and will play in the semi final at Wembley on April 23rd, either against West Ham or Manchester United. However, it’s the poor league form that the fans are frustrated with, as they sit 14th with just 9 wins all season, and most of those coming away from home.

Recent comments from Leighton Baines about the team chemistry have worried the fans even more, but a win in the semi should be enough to get them smiling again, whether it saves Martinez’s job however, remains to be seen.

So we have the candidates, but who do you think has let their fans down the most this season? Let us know in the comments!

By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10