London Red had the trophy weeks ago. What Gameweek 38 settled was everything underneath them — and it settled it with a ruthlessness that left Crystal Palace clutching for the silver they had carried into the final night, and Derby tumbling through the trapdoor by the width of a single point.

So with all 38 played, here is the Season 3 reckoning in England's top flight — and a glance back at how it was won and lost.

Champions by a country mile — and a back four to match

Sjow's London Red finished on 76 points, a full seven clear, and the headline number is not the wins but what they refused to concede: just 13 goals in 38 games. No one else came within five of that — Brentford were next-best on 18. With David Raya behind a defence marshalled by the imperious William Saliba (a 92-rated centre-half with a 92 tackling mark), London Red turned the division into a series of clean sheets punctuated by Leandro Trossard's poaching and Declan Rice's engine in midfield. They signed off in keeping with the season: a 4-0 home demolition of Crystal Palace that doubled as an execution.

The silver-medal heist

That hammering was Palace's undoing in the sub-plot of the night. Strategos's side went into Gameweek 38 sitting second, two points clear of Manchester Blue, needing only to match their rivals' result. Instead they lost their last two — and on the final evening capitulated at London Red while Manchester Blue won 1-2 at a near-full Tottenham, in front of 62,814.

The arithmetic was brutal: Palace stood still on 68, Blue climbed to 69, and the runner-up spot changed hands on the closing night. Phesiola's team thoroughly earned it — they lost just five matches all season, fewest in the division — even if 15 draws are the reason they were never genuine title contenders. Erling Haaland's 12 goals (level at the top of the scoring charts) led the line, with Rodri and Manuel Akanji feeding it from deep.

Spare a thought for Palace, mind. They scored 48, matched only by the champions, and in Dean Henderson owned the busiest match-winner in the league — eight Man-of-the-Match awards, more than any other player. Ismaïla Sarr's eight assists topped that chart too. A third-place finish for a side that briefly led the title race feels like a chance let slip.

Brentford: the quiet overachievers

If you want the story nobody saw coming, it is at Griffin Park. GreenFuryx's Brentford finished fifth on 61 points with the second-meanest defence in the division (18 conceded) and only 32 scored — proof that a watertight rearguard and a knack for not losing (16 draws, seven defeats) will carry a smaller club a long way. With one of the more modest fanbases in the league, they finished above Newcastle, Nottingham, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester Red. Fittingly, it was Brentford's 0-1 win at Derby on the final day that did as much as anything to decide the bottom of the table.

Liverpool's draw problem

Biarritz's Liverpool boasted the highest average squad rating in the division (90) and lost only six times — yet finished fourth. The culprit is plain: 16 draws, joint-most in the league. Harvey Elliott was the pick of an expensive squad with 10 goals and five assists, and Alisson collected seven MOMs, but too many afternoons ended level. Everton were the other great accumulators of stalemates — a division-high 18 draws for Invincible's side, who at least closed unbeaten in their last five to climb to ninth.

Survival, and the one-point drop

At the bottom, the three-into-two shootout I flagged a fortnight ago played out to the final whistle. Leicester (16th, 39pts) were safe in the end, Vangelis Pavlidis's 11 goals keeping them clear. The real heartbreak was below them.

West Ham went to already-relegated Burnley needing a point and ground out a 0-0, finishing 17th on 35. Derby, knowing only a win might do, lost 0-1 at home to Brentford in front of a sparse crowd and stayed on 34. One point. That was the entire difference between SupernovaOrbit's escape and the drop for a club whose goalkeeper, remarkably, posted the single highest performance total of any player in the division — a season of relentless overwork in a losing cause.

Down with Derby go Burnley — 25 points, four wins, 55 conceded — and a Luton side who endured a genuinely grim campaign: 14 points, three wins, 72 goals against, a goal difference of minus 56. The gap between the champions and the wooden-spoon holders was 62 points and an entire footballing universe.

Team of the season, in numbers

Up top it was congested — Haaland and Brighton's Evan Ferguson shared the Golden Boot on 12, with a cluster on 11 behind them: West Ham's Jarrod Bowen, Nottingham's Kaio Pinto Ramos and Pavlidis among them. Elliott was the division's standout all-rounder; Bryan Mbeumo dragged a leaky Manchester Red side to 10 goals of his own. But the season's defining statistic remains London Red's 13-goals-against. Win the title with a defence like that, and the rest of the league is left arguing over the scraps. This time, they were settled on the very last night.