There have been a number of legitimate claims for Premier League surprise of the season – and of course, we still have just under a third of the campaign remaining.
It all began with the opening game of the 2021/22 season which saw newly promoted and magnificent Brentford see off Arsenal in their first top-flight match for 74 years.
The Bees could not have made a better start to life in the Premier League, showing the pedigree that has made them such an entertaining side on their journey to this stage.
On a thunderous night at the Brentford Community Stadium, the arena was alive with noise and excitement well before kick-off – and what happened when the action started only raised those levels.
That kickstarted this season’s adventure and they continued apace.
From Cristiano Ronaldo’s return, which was the hottest ticket in town, to an exciting four-goal contest between the top two sides in the league, to when Watford put four past 10-man Manchester United, which proved to be the end for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, there have been Premier League 2022 highlights galore.
Other notable mentions of contests involve Spurs, including a pre-Christmas draw between Antonio Conte’s men and Liverpool, a last-gasp Harry Kane winner for the north Londoners at champions Manchester City and two injury-time goals from Steven Bergwijn as Tottenham fought back from 2-1 down to snatch an incredible victory at Leicester which defied the Premier League 2022 betting odds.
But one game that stands out for this SBOTOP writer may surprise you and certainly surprised me.
It happened during the festive period, the result of which was not only a shock but could prove crucial in the outcome of this season’s title race.
One team had played just 48 hours earlier and shipped six goals, the other had enjoyed a week off from league duties and was fresh.
Yet, with a phenomenal work ethic and heroics from all their number, the former prevailed in adversity.
Indeed, Leicester City went from the ridiculous to the sublime, from losing 6-3 to Manchester City to defeating Liverpool with former Anfield boss Brendan Rodgers the managerial alchemist.
He sent Ademola Lookman on and two minutes later the former Everton winger condemned Liverpool to defeat.
If those factors didn’t provide one of the stories of the season, there was more as Kasper Schmeichel saved a penalty from the usually clinical Mohamed Salah who then headed the rebound off the bar.
As for Lookman, with only his fourth touch after coming on, he took Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s pass in his stride, beat Joel Matip and rifled a shot past Alisson for what was Leicester’s only shot on target.
The Foxes were missing several first-team players, had little time to prepare and were without all their specialist centre-backs, yet produced a colossal collective effort as they nullified Liverpool with a mass of bodies in the box and a remarkable goalkeeping performance.
This wasn’t just physical mind.
Mentally they were also tired and psychologically knew they had blown a 3-1 lead to lose on penalties against the same opposition in the League Cup quarter-finals just six days earlier.
This was revenge of the highest order against all the odds.
As the euphoric scenes at the final whistle showed, in the year when Leicester City Football Club clinched the FA Cup for the first time, this was the perfect end to 2021 as we witnessed yet another extraordinary triumph.
How fitting that in the year FA Cup glory came courtesy of Schmeichel’s saves, so did Leicester’s finest result of this season – to date anyway.
The biggest surprise of the season for me and an occasion Leicester – and possibly Manchester City – will savour for some time.
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