So then, another season of the Premier League is done and dusted and it's time for the 20 teams to start reviewing their campaigns and putting plans in place for the 2019/2020 term.

Little has changed at the top of the league with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City marching to back-to-back English top-flight titles after the title race went right down to the wire.

However, the battle for the top four was just as absorbing with Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United tussling fiercely in the final few matchdays to clinch those elusive final two UEFA Champions League spots. The Blues eventually prevailing by finishing third, a point ahead of Spurs.

But it wasn't just in the league where Maurizio Sarri's men showed great progress in 2018/2019, reaching the finals of both the Carabao Cup and UEFA Europa League despite being knocked out in the fifth round of the Emirates FA Cup. They face the Gunners in Baku in the latter final at the end of May.

In light of all this, today we review the season so far of the West Londoners, from their big turning point, to what should be done to improve in the summer and whether their new manager is safe after his first domestic term in English football...

Turning point 

There were many turning points over the course of the season for Chelsea, negative and positive. However, the biggest was of the former variety and occurred in the early part of the campaign.

Heading into their Premier League matchday 13 trip to face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium, the Stamford Bridge club were unbeaten with eight wins and four draws in the league, looking like serious title contenders alongside Man City and Liverpool.

But that all changed when they were downed 3-1 by Mauricio Pochettino's men as Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Heung-min Son strikes rendered a late Olivier Giroud goal nothing more than a consolation. From here, the Blues would lose two of their next five and were suddenly battling to keep a grip on a top-four place rather than to lift the English top-flight trophy for the seventh time.

Success or failure? - Success

Despite not challenging for the title in the latter part of the campaign like they would have wanted to, the West Londoners' overall term still has to go down as a resounding success and not a failure.

In Sarri's first season at the Bridge, the team managed to improve on their league position by two places and collect two more points, being the best of the rest behind the Citizens and the Reds and getting to two domestic finals in the process - only losing the first on penalties.

If they can defeat their London rivals to lift the Europa League, it will be the cherry, or trophy, on the cake. Everyone in west London would have undoubtedly taken a third-place finish and two shots at silverware before the start of the term. Therefore, the season can only be seen as a success and should be the foundations for a groundbreaking Sarri reign.

Who should be signed? - Transfer ban

It's usually at this point that sides are looking ahead to who they might be able to sign in the summer transfer window, but not Chelsea as they are banned from signing players for the next two windows after a breach of FIFA regulations.

They do have Borussia Dortmund's Christian Pulisic arriving in a deal that was agreed before the ban was issued, although that's it and the club must look to its own resources.

Loan players such as Michy Batshuayi, Lucas Piazon, Victor Moses, Tammy Abraham, Teimoue Bakayoko, Kurt Zouma, Kenedy and Mason Mount will all feel like new arrivals when they return to SW6 after this season's formalities are complete and they must be treated as such if the Blues are to have any hope of being as competitive in 2019/2020.

Who should be sold?

In spite of not being able to replace them with any new players, the west London outfit can still sell stars in the summer and with the vast amount of talent already in their ranks, can afford to part with at least three.

These should be outcast right-back Davide Zappacosta, left-back Marcos Alonso and injury-prone ex-England midfielder Danny Drinkwater.

The first of those names is a waste of a squad place at Stamford Bridge having only really featured in the Europa League this season and his departure could lead to a youngster deservedly getting his chance. For all his attacking prowess, Alonso is simply not a good enough defender to be first-choice and should step aside for Emerson and be sold. And finally, Drinkwater's ambitious move to the Blues hasn't worked out and it's now time for the club to pull the plug on the man with zero Premier League appearances to his name in 2018/2019.

Controversial moment 

As successful as the Blues' campaign may have been, it has been laden with controversial moments, though none more notable than that which occurred late on in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

With Chelsea and Man City locked at 0-0 late in extra-time and the match poised to go to a penalty shootout, the club's new number one Kepa Arrizabalaga went down with cramp and minutes later, his gaffer Sarri decided to make the call to replace him with second-choice Willy Caballero ahead of penalties.

But this didn't go down well with the Spaniard, who was determined to stay on the field and point-blank refused to be substituted, remaining on his line and wildly gesturing to the bench that he was fine to continue. A stand-off that lasted several minutes erupted between player and manager - player eventually won and his team lost the shootout by a single goal after a penalty that Kepa could have done better with. As a result of his antics, the shot-stopper was dropped for the next match and fined. Although he eventually got his spot back.

Goal of the Season - 

Playmaker Eden Hazard has weaved his magic on more occasions than one for the Blues throughout 2018/2019, so it's no surprise to see that it was he who struck the goal of the season for the club.

Similar to another contender for the accolade in a cup win over Liverpool at Anfield, it came in the Premier League victory over West Ham United at Stamford Bridge and was a magnificent solo effort.

Hazard collected a short pass from Ruben Loftus-Cheek in midfield and then drove at the West Ham midfield and defence, dribbling around Mark Noble and Declan Rice before ghosting past Fabian Balbuena, Angelo Ogbonna and Ryan Fredericks to slot perfectly into the bottom right-hand corner with his weaker foot. Simply stunning and a Premier League Goal of the Season contender.

Unsung Hero - Ruben Loftus-Cheek

The unsung hero of Chelsea's superb season has, without doubt, been homegrown talent and England international Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

The 23-year-old has been crucial in all competitions under Sarri after breaking into the first team following his performances on loan for Crystal Palace and at the FIFA World Cup 2018 for England. However, while not getting the credit of someone like fellow starlet Callum Hudson-Odoi.

The club and the rest of the footballing world will realise just how important the central midfielder is when they are without him for the next year or so after he ruptured his Achilles in a post-season friendly in the USA. Loftus-Cheek will agonisingly miss the Europa League final, the UEFA Nations League finals and most likely, all of next campaign.

What needs to be done in the summer to improve? 

Without the ability to sign more players, you may think that there aren't many ways that the Blues can improve in the summer. Think again.

Of the club's 50+ stars sent out on loan at various stages during 2018/2019, a large portion are youngsters and all of them will be back with the West Londoners at the end of this or next month.

Sarri's men must invest in these youth players and try to bring as many as possible into the senior set-up between now and the end of their transfer ban in a year's time. This is how they can account for not being able to bring in any new additions and improve their squad.

Interesting stat

By far the most interesting statistic from the Pensioners' campaign concerns their qualification to the Europa League final where they will face Unai Emery's North Londoners.

Chelsea were the last team to book a place in the two major European finals after Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal, completing an all-English Champions League and Europa League final in the same year for the first time ever.

It's also going to be the first all-English Europa League final since the first year of the competition in 1972 when Spurs defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers. The West Londoners will be playing in the final for the second time, getting the better of Benfica on the only other occasion in 2013.

Player of the Season - Eden Hazard

Such is the quality of Belgian international Hazard that there were few other genuine contenders for player of the year in the capital in a good Chelsea season.

In 2018/2019, the 28-year-old has been on a whole new level off the back of winning a third-place medal at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, so much so that he appears set to move onto bigger and better things in the form of Real Madrid in the summer transfer window.

Hazard has recorded a staggering 19 goals and 16 assists over the course of the term in 54 appearances in all competitions. If it wasn't for the deadly winger, his side would have been nowhere near any of their achievements and if he does end up leaving in the next couple of months, that season was his parting gift.

Biggest shock

Blues owner Roman Abramovich has been so trigger-happy with his managers during his time in west London that the biggest shock of the season for the Pensioners was surely not seeing Sarri sacked.

From when things started to go a bit pear-shaped for a period for the Italian in his maiden season - early winter, there was a constant stream of rumours suggesting that the 60-year-old former banker was close to receiving the sack.

This speculation reached fever-pitch after a horrendous run of results in January and February which saw Sarri's outfit lose three in four in the league. But it was more the manner of these defeats that was damning, notably 4-0 at AFC Bournemouth and 6-0 at Man City. However, the pressure was eased by a strong run of form from post-cup-final to the end of the domestic campaign.

Best result - Manchester City (H) - 2-0

A lot of the biggest events in the West Londoners' term involved Guardiola's Man City in some way, shape or form and the best result of the season was no different.

The Blues became the first team to beat City in the league back in December and one of only four in the Premier League throughout 2018/2019 to do so.

The character that Sarri's men showed to achieve the victory made it all the more impressive as they recovered from two losses in three to slay the soon-to-be back-to-back champions of England. N'Golo Kante's strike saw the hosts hit the front before half-time at Stamford Bridge and a David Luiz header sealed the deal 12 minutes from time, capping off an evening to remember for generations in west London.

Flop of the Season 

In contrary to the way new signings like Kepa were able to perform as they tasted English football for the first time, other arrivals like Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and Gonzalo Higuain have really struggled.

But the latter name a whole deal more than the other two having arrived on loan from AC Milan in Serie A on loan until the end of the campaign in January - he's the Chelsea flop of the season.

The Argentine international was supposed to be the striker to get tonnes of goals to help the Blues secure a top-four finish and whilst the club was able to do the latter, it has been no thanks to the centre-forward. Higuain has scored just five times in the league and offered very little in the way of assists. It's safe to say that Chelsea wouldn't be rushing to make his loan permanent, even if they could.

Worst Result - AFC Bournemouth (A) - 4-0

As aforementioned, Chelsea were thrashed 4-0 by lowly Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium earlier in the year and it was by far their worst result of the term, in spite of being trounced 6-0 at the Etihad a couple of weeks later.

It can be counted as the Blues' worst team performance of the season as well with the side failing to bounce back from a costly defeat at the Emirates Stadium the week before, and then some.

Josh King opened the scoring for Eddie Howe's Cherries in the 47th minute before the advantage was doubled by David Brooks a short time later and King struck once more to make it 3-0 16 minutes from time. Defender Charlie Daniels rounded off the scoring in added-time to rub salt into the visitors' wounds.

Signing of the Season 

When number one Thibaut Courtois left for Real Madrid late in last summer's transfer window, Chelsea didn't have long to find a new first-choice goalkeeper, but they chose very well indeed.

Kepa of Athletic Bilbao was singled out and the world-record fee for a shot-stopper was paid by Abramovich for a player that has, without a shadow of doubt, been the Blues' signing of the season - forgetting the Wembley debacle.

The 24-year-old has played 53 times in all competitions, keeping an impressive 23 clean sheets and conceding just 50 goals in total in the process. The 6 ft 1 Kepa still has the best yet to come in his career and one would feel will keep improving year-after-year at the Bridge.

Is the manager safe? 

Is Sarri safe? Yes, you have to feel after everything that's happened in his first season in English football that if Abramovich was going to pull the trigger, he would have done it by now.

Of course, Europa League glory on Wednesday 29 May would help the former Napoli manager's chances of surviving the summer at the Bridge, but all in all, he's done and is doing a very good job.

Sarri would have bitten your hand off if you offered him two cup finals and third in the table in 2018/2019 when he took the Chelsea job. And whilst improvement will need to be seen next term, the 60-year-old can be proud of what he's achieved - even if he is sacked out of the blue anytime soon.