20 most memorable moments from an unforgettable Premier League season

This. Damn. Season.

Where to begin, really? A campaign defined by the unprecedented offered a bevy of moments that will live long in memory, as the 2015-16 Premier League season (all but) came to a close Sunday.

Ranging from the absurd to the magical, the brilliant to the dumbfounding, here are theScore's picks for the 20 most memorable moments of the year in England's top flight.

Carneiro row begins Mourinho's downfall

The beginning of the end for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, and it came in the opening match of the campaign.

Late in the season-opening 2-2 draw against Swansea City at Stamford Bridge, team doctors Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn raced onto the pitch to attend to an injured Eden Hazard. This prompted the Portuguese tactician to launch a scathing postmatch tirade against Carneiro, calling her "impulsive and naive" for not realizing that the decision forced the Blues down to nine men - Hazard had to leave the field, and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had been sent off earlier in the contest.

The ignorant comments led to Carneiro and Fearn having their matchday duties revoked, with the former ultimately leaving the club in September before suing for constructive dismissal. She has a separate lawsuit against Mourinho for alleged victimisation and discrimination.

Mahrez ruins Azpilicueta en route to dominant season

Leicester City topped Chelsea 2-1 at the King Power on Dec. 14 to vault above both Arsenal and Manchester City into top spot. The Foxes wouldn't look back after a result that felt like a coming out of sorts for the club and eventual PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez.

The Algerian's 48th-minute solo effort made Blues full-back Cesar Azpilicueta look like a Sunday league player, as supporters and pundits began to wonder: "Can they actually do this?"

Rashford explodes onto the scene

Who the hell is Marcus Rashford? It seems odd now, but there was a time when this was a legitimate question. The lanky 18-year-old forward ensured that his name was all anybody in Manchester, and throughout English football, could talk about in late February, when he made his debut for the Red Devils with a brace in a 5-1 Europa League victory over FC Midtjylland.

His encore was even better; Rashford hit two more goals in his first Premier League match just days later, inspiring United to a 3-2 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford. He's gone from totally unknown to England's provisional squad for Euro 2016 in a matter of months. Not bad, kid.

Louis van Gaal takes a tumble

Louis van Gaal's relationship with United supporters has never been greater than it was on this day in late February when, while remonstrating with fourth official Mike Dean over what he perceived as a dive by Alexis Sanchez, the Dutch gaffer threw himself to the ground in an attempt to mimic the Chilean's antics.

It's been all downhill since then, but this certainly puts a temporary smile on the faces of those in the Stretford End.

Vardy scoring stunners, breaking records

The dipping volley against Liverpool was certainly the best of his 24 league goals this season, but Jamie Vardy - he of the rags-to-riches story that was one of the predominant storylines in all of football this year - marked his superb year by breaking a record that had stood untouched, and uncontested, for over a decade.

With his Nov. 28 tally against Manchester United, the lithe Englishman completed his journey from Stocksbridge Park Steels no-name to Premier League record holder, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's record.

The Special One sent packing

After losing nine of its opening 16 matches and limping toward the worst title defence in Premier League history, Chelsea put an end to the intense speculation by showing Jose Mourinho the door in December, seven months after he led the club to the title.

Ironically, it was the loss to Leicester, and Ranieri, that was the final nail in the coffin.

Puncheon gets emotional after scoring

Yet to win a Premier League match in 2016, Crystal Palace hosted Norwich City on April 9 with its season slipping perilously close to becoming a fight for survival. It was only fitting, then, that a local lad scored the goal to help alleviate the rapidly growing relegation concerns. Croydon-born Jason Puncheon hadn't found the net all season before his stunning 68th-minute tally, and the versatile attacker burst into tears as he wheeled away in celebration of a goal that ultimately gave the Eagles an enormous 1-0 win.

Arsenal's last-second winner stuns Leicester

The height of Arsenal's title challenge coincided with a long-awaited return, as striker Danny Welbeck made his comeback from a 10-month, knee-injury induced absence to score a 95th-minute winner at the Emirates.

The goal, a flicked header from a Mesut Ozil free-kick, gave Arsenal a dramatic 2-1 victory and pushed the Gunners to within two points of the Foxes at the top of the Premier League table.

Aguero's quintet of goals

The best individual performance of the season came courtesy of Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, who found the net five times in 20 spellbinding minutes against Newcastle at the Etihad.

The goals, interrupted by the half-time interval, gave the Citizens a 6-1 victory, and saw the stocky Argentine equal a feat that only four others - Alan Shearer, Dimitar Berbatov, Andy Cole, and Jermain Defoe - had ever accomplished in a single Premier League match.

Joleon Lescott is not a smart man

This quite perfectly summed up Aston Villa's abysmal campaign. The Villans, relegated to the Championship after collecting a humiliating 17 points, were coming off a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Liverpool when Lescott, arguably the league's worst player of the year, decided to fire off the following tweet:

pic.twitter.com/F1TynC1kTb
— Joleon Lescott (@JoleonLescott) February 14, 2016

Seriously. The languid, and apparently daft, defender would later claim that the image of the £121,000 Mercedes was the result of a pocket tweet. You can't make this stuff up.

Wenger protest drowned out by supporters

A collection of Arsenal fans organized a protest in late April with the goal of pressuring ownership into ousting embattled boss Arsene Wenger. Instead, the weak display seemed only to embolden the staunch supporters of the Frenchman in attendance at the Emirates.

Dilly Ding, Dilly Dong

Among all of the charming comments, engaging press conferences and memorable remarks from Leicester's charge to glory, Claudio Ranieri's overjoyed jingle in describing his team's ability to qualify for the Champions League has no equal.

"We are in Champions League, man. Dilly ding, dilly dong. Come on," the well-traveled 64-year-old manager remonstrated with a reporter.

Ranieri forever.

Pitch invader nearly decapitated by Mitrovic

Magpies forward Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a late equaliser in the 156th installment of the Tyne-Wear Derby in March, and his shirtless celebration was capped off by a pitch invader whose attempt to hug the ebullient Serb nearly resulted in disaster.

The many faces of Jurgen Klopp

Google "Jurgen Klopp face." You're welcome.

Battle at the Bridge

Knowing that only a victory could keep its fledgling title hopes alive, Tottenham traveled to Chelsea on May 2 ready to fight for three vital points. Quite literally, as it turned out. In a bitter contest that featured eye-gouging - for which Mousa Dembele was banned six matches - a handful of atrocious tackles and a bust-up on the touchline that resulted in Guus Hiddink being bumped to the ground, Tottenham set a new Premier League record by recording nine yellow cards.

And the match only got worse for Spurs from there ...

Hazard's stunner ends Tottenham's title chase

Absent for virtually the entire season, Eden Hazard reminded everyone why he captured the PFA Player of the Year award a season ago. And what a time to do so.

The diminutive Belgian's top-corner curler in the waning minutes of the fierce contest at Stamford Bridge gave the Blues a 2-2 draw, and officially set off a party at Jamie Vardy's house by clinching the league crown for Leicester City.

Boleyn Ground sendoff turns ugly

An emotional, joyous evening turned sour ahead of West Ham's last-ever Premier League match at the Boleyn Ground, with supporters pelting Manchester United's team bus with bottles and other projectiles as the Red Devils arrived (late) for the contest.

The United players, Jesse Lingard in particular, didn't seem too bothered by the incident - nor did they seem overly concerned with defending late in the match, as the Hammers closed out their 112-year stay at the stadium with a 3-2 comeback victory.

Andrea Bocelli reduces Ranieri to tears

Tears were shed and spines were tingling ahead of Leicester's title coronation at the King Power Stadium.

Iconic Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, keeping a promise to compatriot Claudio Ranieri made earlier in the season, performed both "Nessun Dorma" and "Time to Say Goodbye" while the wide-eyed manager stood at his side. It was a truly touching moment ahead of the Foxes' final home match of their historic campaign.

St Totteringham's Day comes late this year

Make that 21 years. Enough said.

Leicester hoists the hardware

A more appropriate way to cap off this list simply doesn't exist.

No story captivated the football world like that of Leicester City, and the club's raucous celebration in front of some 32,000 supporters stands alone as the greatest moment from a season bursting at the seams with them.