The 21st Premier League campaign was arguably the most entertaining in recent memory. Throw into the mix a highly interesting Champions League season and it is hard to single out a favourite match. Nevertheless, the Sports Mole team has selected the games that caught their eyes. Find out which encounters made the grade below.

If ever a game typified Robin van Persie's instant impact at Manchester United, then this was it. The Dutchman's hat-trick demonstrated why he is so lethal in front of goal as a precise drive on the angle was followed by an opportunistic tap-in after he had embarrassingly missed a penalty. With the scores level going into injury time, the striker guided an absurd header over Kelvin Davis to earn United a dramatic victory against a Saints side that showed the kind of zeal that ultimately kept them in the top flight.

As a United fan, this was the one game that you really wanted to win. We'd seen City win 6-1 at Old Trafford and win the title so dramatically the year before, so this season was all about getting the trophy back. It was never going to be a 6-1, but the way that we won at the Etihad was the next best thing. We'd thrown away a two-goal lead and was holding on in stoppage time when Robin van Persie beat Joe Hart with a deflected free kick. If the Dutchman wasn't already a United hero, he was after that! It was a great celebration from the players as well!

Somewhat surprisingly I'm going to avoid the big boys and go for Aston Villa's 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers at Villa Park. From a neutral's perspective it had all the right ingredients for a good game - goals, drama and a lot riding on it! Villa had suffered big defeats over the course of the season (including a 4-0 hammering from Tottenham) and they had been criticised for their lack of experience in the squad, but I was impressed that they came from behind to win, and in the style that they did it. In hindsight, this result could have been a turning point for them in their season as they hunted for safety against a fellow struggling side. From QPR's perspective, they'd won two on the bounce and started well at Villa Park. Even though they failed to clinch maximum points, you felt that it could have gone either way right until the end of the game. That makes for an enjoyable clash in my book!

This Champions League semi-final tie has since gone down as a 'changing of the guard'. A reluctant passing of the torch, if you will, from Catalonia to Bavaria. However, the transference of the crown will not be fully realised unless Bayern defeat their Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund in the final and break their recent hoodoo. In 2006, Barca ended a 14-year wait for their second Champions League title. Further successes in 2009 and 2011 under Pep Guardiola - soon to be Bayern's new coach - confirmed their ascension to the throne of Europe's best team.

Some even believe that they were the greatest ever seen. Meanwhile, the Bavarians had lost in two of the last three finals in search of their fifth Champions League crown and first since 2001. They went into the game slight underdogs, although, in reality, it was pretty much a 50/50 contest. That is not how events transpired. Tito Vilanova's men simply could not cope with the German outfit. A 4-0 crushing did not flatter Jupp Heynckes's men at all, with the game being every bit as one-sided as the scoreline suggests. A 3-0 victory at Camp Nou a week later only confirmed Bayern's utter dominance. It has been a long time since Barcelona have been treated in such a ruthless way.

A clash between a newly promoted side looking for just their second win of the season and the league leaders. It should have been a comfortable day for the visitors at the Madejski Stadium, but a frantic start saw Reading take the lead. Manchester United fought their way to a 4-3 half-time lead before putting in a solid defensive display to seal the victory in the second half. I've chosen this game as my match of the season because it highlights just how little separates the teams at the top of the table and those facing relegation, while also showing how United can eliminate the threat of their opponents and "win ugly". This won't be a match that features on "how the title was won" lists, but a loss just one week before the Manchester derby could have made things much trickier for the team that went on to lift the Premier League trophy.

The game may have ended in ugly and controversial scenes, but for a neutral the finish to the contest was exhilarating. A typical Manchester derby that had silk and steel in equal measure, it proved to be a see-saw affair in the end, as Pablo Zabaleta thought that he had earned City a share of the spoils with a goal four minutes from full time. However, Robin van Persie's late deflected winner was yet another piece of evidence of how much determination and hunger this United team has.

Everybody essentially watches football to see goals, and this match had plenty of them. Arsenal and Newcastle United went toe to toe with each other until the 70th minute, with the Gunners taking the lead three times only to be pegged back on each occasion by the Magpies. Arsenal eventually moved away from their opponents, scoring four unanswered goals in the last 20 minutes to seal what turned out to be three comfortable points. For the majority of the game, however, it was far from comfortable for the Gunners. Add to the sheer excitement of the match that it provided vital points for Arsenal in the race for a Champions League place and you have an instant classic.

During a season in which Villa were on the receiving end of some heavy beatings, they gave out a thrashing of their own in a crucial bottom-of-the-table clash against Sunderland in the West Midlands. Inspired by the hat-trick heroics of Christian Benteke, Paul Lambert's young side attacked with great conviction and pace, tearing apart a Sunderland outfit supposedly rejuvenated, and defensively reinforced, by Paolo Di Canio's recent arrival. It was the night that Villa all but ensured their Premier League safety, and in some style too, while Benteke put in an individual display worthy of a far greater stage than a top-flight basement battle.

A Monday night London derby wins it for me this year and it was one of the performances that helped Gareth Bale scoop plenty of awards towards the end of the season. Spurs went ahead inside the first quarter of an hour through Bale's precise finish but their lead didn't last long as Andy Carroll won and converted a penalty to send the sides in level at the break. West Ham completed the turnaround as Joe Cole punished a miss-of-the-season contender from Emmanuel Adebayor just before the hour mark.

Throughout the evening Hammers goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen was sublime between the sticks, making countless saves to deny visiting Spurs. On three occasions he denied Steven Caulker a headed goal from Bale's set pieces but couldn't keep out Gylfi Sigurdsson's scrappy equaliser. The game seemed destined for a draw until Bale put himself on the back pages again. The Welshman seemed uninterested when he collected the ball 30 yards out in the 90th minute, but stunned Upton Park by quickly shifting the ball onto his valuable left foot and pinging the ball into Jaaskelainen's top corner . Cue wild celebrations with manager Andre Villas-Boas.

This wasn't the most competitive match that you will ever see, but this was a match that was significant in the Stamford Bridge crowd gradually warming to Rafael Benitez, while it was also the game that highlighted Aston Villa's struggles in defence. After Fernando Torres headed the first after three minutes, it was only a matter of time before the floodgates opened. It says a lot about Chelsea's performance in this game that they would have been disappointed not to have entered double figures in what was their first Premier League encounter since returning from the Club World Cup in Japan. It was the seven weeks before Villa tasted Premier League success again but it was arguably this drubbing that gave Paul Lambert a nudge that he needed to do something fast to try to improve the Birmingham-based outfit.

It was the result that went a long way in deciding where the destination of the Premier League title was headed as a last-gasp winner from Robin van Persie left City well and truly deflated. Wayne Rooney grabbed a brace to give United a two-goal lead before Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta clawed it back for the home side. The points seemed destined to be shared until Van Persie's 92nd-minute free kick found the far corner after a deflection from Samir Nasri's woeful attempt at a block took it beyond Joe Hart.

In terms of entertainment, this was sheer brilliance. There is nothing better than a Premier League goalfest, and that is what was on display at the Emirates back in December. With the teams going into the break with the score at 1-1, the two sides played out an explosive second half that saw eight goals hit the back of the net. The match came right in the middle of a Theo Walcott purple patch and he put in a dazzling display on the night, netting a superb hat-trick with the third strike one of absolute class.

Barcelona have undoubtedly been the Kings of Europe for the past few years, but the Catalan club were well and truly humbled by a magnificent Bayern Munich team in a memorable 4-0 win. With Lionel Messi carrying an injury, Bayern tore into Barcelona with some breathtaking counter-attacking football which made the whole of Europe sit up and take notice. The fact that Bayern won 3-0 at Camp Nou just a week later was the very big cherry on the sweetest on cakes.

Manchester United's late win over rivals Manchester City was a memorable encounter, the match was action-packed from start to finish. Going into the game, United were three points ahead of reigning champions City at the top of the table and they knew that victory would give them a significant boost in their quest to reclaim the title.

The visitors took control in the first half with two strikes from Wayne Rooney, but City rallied after the break. Goals from Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta looked to have rescued a point for the hosts, but United had other ideas. Robin van Persie's injury-time free kick secured a dramatic victory and sparked wild celebrations among the travelling fans. The Dutchman scored many crucial goals this season but his winner at the Etihad Stadium was arguably the most important of them all.