An eventful finish on Sunday brought down the curtain on the 2014-15 Premiership ­season, one which saw a lot of ­excitement at all levels of the table except for the very top.

Chelsea won their final game bringing to a close on what must have been one of the most predictable and one-­sided title campaigns in a while, while the last relegation spot came down to the final game.

There were goals galore and heartbreak, as Arsenal finished in style while poor Hull battled against Manchester United but to no avail as they went down.

However, no one could have predicted the shocking spectacle that was Stoke versus Liver­pool. In Steven Gerrard's last and 710th game with his only soccer club, Liverpool was on the wrong end of a 6-1 thrashing by Stoke. Despite scoring the consolation, Gerrard will feel this was a game to forget.

On the other hand, he might be feeling relief that he will not be playing with this team again.

Liverpool still finished the season sixth but it is tremendously disappointing compared to last season when they were close runners-up.

A dismal ­final two months saw the Reds lose four out of their last eight Premiership games while enduring drama with star winger Raheem Sterling. Sterling, just 20 and one of Liverpool's few bright spots this season, has signaled he wants to leave the club and ­refused to sign a new contract.

While this does not reflect well on Stirling, it shows Liverpool are clearly not a big team anymore when it cannot even convince its star players to stay.

While Gerrard had a finale to forget, Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Manchester City's Frank Lampard had fine farewells. Lampard, a longtime Chelsea stalwart, will be moving to the US' MLS in the summer like Gerrard, which is appropriate since the two have long been compared to each other.

Newcastle stayed up thanks to their first win in 11 games, a run which has been farcical at times. Hull went down despite throwing everything they had at Manchester ­United and having two goals disallowed for offside. Leicester showed why they ­deserved to stay up and QPR why they were being relegated when the former trounced the latter 5-1.

Arsenal managed to finish with a flourish as they thumped West Brom 4-1, with Theo Walcott scoring a fine hat trick. The Gunners needed this ahead of their FA Cup final next weekend, given they had been stuttering with only a solitary goal in their previous three games.

The author is an editor with the Global Times. hiltonyip@globaltimes.com.cn