2023/24 Premier League end of season REVIEW

Ben Bloom recaps the biggest and best moments of a thrilling 2023/24 Premier League season.

At the end of one of the most enthralling title races in recent seasons, the Premier League Trophy again returned to its customary home in the blue side of Manchester.

One of the most dominant teams in English top flight football history, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side claimed their sixth domestic crown of the past seven seasons, in addition to multiple cup successes.

But this was no troublesome-free victory march. Arsenal pushed City to the final day of the season, while Liverpool threatened until the last few weeks in a compelling three-way battle.

Elsewhere, the reign of Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur began with a bang, Unai Emery continued to work his magic in guiding Aston Villa to fourth, Chelsea and Manchester United underwhelmed once more while both still managing to qualify for European competitions next season, and Oliver Glasner enjoyed a truly remarkable start to his Crystal Palace tenure.

At the bottom, Luton Town gave their fans - and all Premier League supporters - some memories to savour, but were helpless to prevent all three promoted clubs from making an immediate return to the Championship for only the second time in history.

And, there were goals galore, more than have ever been scored in a Premier League season before.

Yet all that was unknown when the season began in familiar fashion with an Erling Haaland double helping reigning champions Man City to sink promoted Burnley 3-0 in the opening match.

Guardiola’s team would go on to be the only side to win all three of their August fixtures, setting a predictable early pace for all others to chase.

But the Premier League table had begun to take on a new look by the time of the second international break in early October.

Successive defeats at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal saw City lose their place at the summit, where they were replaced by Postecoglou’s Spurs.

Postecoglou had arrived in north London during the summer to much intrigue after becoming the first Australian to manage in the Premier League.

Fresh from guiding Celtic to a Scottish domestic Treble in 2022/23, his impact at Spurs was instant, instilling a thrilling sense of attacking confidence in his players that sometimes bordered on foolishly daring.

The result was three successive Barclays Manager of the Month awards in his first three months at the helm, as Spurs enjoyed an unbeaten start to the season which did not end until that extraordinary 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea in early November.

The match was one of the Premier League's most eventful, featuring two red cards, eight yellows, five goals either disallowed or overturned by VAR, and 23 minutes of added time.

Later that week, Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea were then involved in another Premier League classic, when Cole Palmer scored a stoppage-time penalty against his former club Man City to earn a share of the spoils in a breathless 4-4 draw.

City had taken the lead three times in the match, only for Chelsea to mount a comeback each time.

The fixture was the final one in the league before the last international break of 2023, by which point much of the table bore a remarkable resemblance to how it would look when the season ended.

Man City were top, chased by Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Villa.

At the other end, the relegation zone was occupied by the three teams that would ultimately go down - Luton, Sheffield United and Burnley.

However, when the Premier League resumed two weeks later, there was a new team threatened with relegation after Everton were deducted 10 points for a breach of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

That points deduction reduced Sean Dyche’s side to only four points and put them in 19th place, although their punishment was later reduced to six points on appeal.

In a season that featured only three permanent managerial changes, Paul Heckingbottom became the first man to lose his job at the start of December, following a 5-0 defeat to fellow promoted side Burnley, a result that left Sheff Utd rooted to the foot of the table.

It was a position they would remain in as the season wore on, with Heckingbottom’s replacement Chris Wilder - returning to the club after a previous stint at the helm from 2016 to 2021 - overseeing only two wins.

Luton would also eventually follow them in returning to the Championship, but not without their endeavours catching the eye in a number of gripping encounters.

None were more entertaining than a 4-3 defeat to title-chasing Arsenal at Kenilworth Road in early December - and Ian Wright's wild celebrations - when Declan Rice headed Arsenal to victory in the seventh minute of stoppage-time.

That win sent Arsenal two points clear at the top of the table, but Rob Edwards’ team earned plenty of well-deserved plaudits in defeat.

Luton fell to another narrow 2-1 loss against Man City days later having earned a lead, before a shocking incident 65 minutes into their match at AFC Bournemouth when club captain Tom Lockyer suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch.

Play was initially suspended and then abandoned while Lockyer was taken to hospital, where he was stabilised.

Although he did not play again during the season, his return to acknowledge the Kenilworth Road crowd before Luton’s 4-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion at the end of January was one of the more emotional moments of the campaign.

Less than a week before Christmas, Nottingham Forest became the second club to change their manager, dismissing Steve Cooper, who had won just one of the previous 13 matches.

He was replaced by Nuno Espirito Santo, whose first match was a 3-2 home defeat by Bournemouth before overseeing successive wins over Newcastle United and Man Utd.

In a stuttering season that often saw much talk around Erik ten Hag’s job, December was one of Man Utd’s worst months as they won only two of their seven fixtures, losing to Newcastle, Bournemouth and West Ham United in addition to that Forest defeat.

A 3-2 triumph over Villa on Boxing Day, having gone 2-0 down at Old Trafford, was deemed vital by many to the Dutchman’s future.

Their neighbours Man City were also experiencing something of a mini wobble at around the same time and found themselves six points behind leaders Arsenal on Christmas Day, albeit with a game in hand.

At that stage, the top three of Arsenal, Liverpool and Villa were separated by just one point.

Just when it seemed Mikel Arteta’s side were poised to hammer home their advantage, successive defeats to West Ham and Fulham between Christmas and New Year saw them lose their grip at the summit, where they were replaced by Liverpool.

Three became two in title race

Liverpool gained top spot on Boxing Day and would go on to hold it for the best part of three months, before a disappointing run-in meant they faded over the final weeks of the season, as a three-way title race was whittled down to two.

It meant no triumphant farewell for Jurgen Klopp, who, in late January, stunned the world of football when he announced his intention to stand down as Liverpool manager after more than eight years in charge.

The new year also saw talk of an unlikely Villa title challenge dwindle.

Second only to Liverpool at the start of the Premier League’s winter break, they dropped eight points from their first four matches of the calendar year to lose touch with the dominant top three.

The season after guiding Villa from 16th, when he took charge, to seventh, Emery still managed to exceed all expectations by finishing fourth to bring UEFA Champions League football to Villa Park for the first time.

Pressure had been mounting on Roy Hodgson for some time when the Palace manager resigned from his role days after he was taken ill at training in mid-February.

He was replaced by former Eintracht Frankfurt boss Glasner, who was largely unknown in England, but would make a name for himself by the time the season was done.

Title race hots up

At the final international break in mid-March, there was still precious little to separate the title contenders, with only one point between Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City as the battle to be crowned champions continued to be one of the most absorbing for years.

At the other end of the table, Burnley and Sheff Utd were looking increasingly doomed, but a four-point deduction for a breach of Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) saw Nott'm Forest drop below Luton and added intrigue to the relegation battle.

Days before that punishment was announced, Luton had been involved in a remarkable Premier League match in their fixture at Bournemouth that had been rearranged after Lockyer’s cardiac arrest.

Trailing by three goals at half-time, Andoni Iraola’s side became the first Premier League team in 21 years to overturn such a deficit when they won 4-3.

The first match back after the international break at the end of March resulted in another seven-goal thriller, this time when two late goals from substitute Harvey Barnes helped Newcastle come back from 3-2 down to beat West Ham 4-3 at St James’ Park.

Eddie Howe’s side had slipped to 10th in the table prior to that result, but an upturn in results as the campaign reached its conclusion ensured they finished seventh.

The quest to avoid the drop was also hotting up.

A further two-point deduction for a separate PSR breach, combined with three defeats in March, threatened to leave Everton in the relegation mix, but Dyche’s side pulled clear, timing a five-match unbeaten run to perfection.

Thomas Frank’s Brentford did likewise, beating Sheff Utd and Luton to secure their Premier League status after a campaign ravaged by injury and suspension.

Glasner's flying start

Yet the most remarkable late-season surge away from the drop zone came from Palace, who had been hovering five points above 18th spot when Glasner took charge in late February.

The Austrian instantly brought out the best in his attacking trio of Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta - the latter scoring 13 goals in his last 13 matches - registering a host of wide-margin victories that including a 5-2 win over West Ham, 4-0 success against Man Utd and 5-0 victory over Villa.

Those high-scoring encounters helped ensure the record for Premier League goals in a 20-team league was broken before the end of April, and the final tally of 1,246 was higher even than the previous overall record of 1,222 goals from 1992/93 when there were 22 teams and 940 matches.

After bottom club Sheff Utd had been relegated with three matches to play, Burnley and Luton later joined them, meaning that all three promoted sides made an immediate return to the Championship for the first time since 1997/98.

Forest’s 32 points was the lowest-ever tally for a Premier League team to avoid relegation.

In the quest for European football, Chelsea lost only one of their last 15 league matches to finish sixth, notably defeating Man Utd in the most dramatic manner when Palmer scored twice after 99 minutes in a 4-3 win in early April.

Man Utd's eighth-place finish was their worst in the Premier League, as was their number of defeats (14), goals conceded (58) and goal difference (-1).

Managerial departures

The final few weeks of the campaign also saw two mid-table teams announce they would be guided by new managers next season.

David Moyes was first to confirm that he would leave West Ham after close to five years in charge of his second spell there, before Roberto De Zerbi said he would be stepping away from Brighton.

Having led their title rivals by two points in early April, Liverpool’s hopes were all but over a month later after dropping points at Man Utd, Palace, Everton and West Ham.

That left only Arteta’s Arsenal as live opposition in the bid to prevent Man City from adding a fourth consecutive Premier League trophy to their collection.

Arsenal did little wrong - dropping only five points after the turn of the year - but City’s match in hand meant they were finally able to leapfrog the Gunners and go top with a 2-0 win at Spurs in their penultimate league fixture of the season.

The match had provided many Spurs fans with the conundrum of wanting to cheer on their own team but also not aid their north London rival’s title hopes.

Substitute goalkeeper’s Stefan Ortega’s late save when one-on-one with Son Heung-min with the score at 1-0 was the moment of the match. Guardiola tumbled to the turf as the usually clinical Son homed in on goal, but saw Ortega pull off a crucial stop to keep City in charge. 

Ortega’s save and Guardiola's reaction

Knowing they needed to better Arsenal’s result on the final day to wrap up the Premier League crown, Guardiola’s side easily saw off West Ham 3-1 to claim a sixth title in seven years.