Alex Keble gives his reasons as to why the 2024/25 Premier League season could be the most exciting one ever.
We are in a golden age of Premier League football.
It isn’t just that so many of the world’s best players flock to England or that the Premier League attracts elite coaches even to the bottom half of the table (although that certainly helps).
It’s the undeniable sense that we are in a sweet spot: we have a tactical fashion that leans into entertainment, a perfect balance of teams, and an abundance of stories.
Last season was an all-timer.
The title was a three-way battle that almost went to the final day. Crisis and rebirth happened up and down the table.
In early May, five clubs could have gone down and the European places were undecided. The Premier League goals record was obliterated.
And there is no reason to think it was a one-off. In fact, 2024/25 could be the most exciting yet.
Fight for Champions League spots highlights league’s strength
Never before in Premier League history has it been so unpredictable who will qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the 2025/26 season.
Indeed there is no greater evidence of the Premier League’s tactical, technical, and narrative strength than the fact that there are five clubs vying for one (or possibly two) UEFA Champions League spots - and that each feels it is their right to qualify.
It has created tension, instability, and even chaos, particularly at clubs whose historic entitlement to a seat at the top table is under threat.
It wasn’t long ago that the same few teams repeatedly secured the top four. Not any more.
Newcastle United could roar back after a successful summer window, the end of their injury crisis, and the lack of European football this season, all of which give Eddie Howe’s team the chance to return to their 2022/23 form.
Aston Villa, who finished fourth last season, have continued to strengthen over the summer and with one of Europe’s best coaches in charge, show no sign of falling away. Whether or not they can retain their status and push on is one of the most interesting stories around.
Not that we are short of them. Tottenham Hotspur are at a decisive moment in year two of the Ange Postecoglou era.
We are about to find out whether his football is the real deal, or if that lack of a Plan B, and steadily worsening results, was a sign his tactics have hit a ceiling. The capture of Dominic Solanke gives hope to the former.
Manchester United and Chelsea are equally fascinating, and both face moments of reckoning.
United have signed three new defenders, which gives Erik ten Hag the chance of a tactical reset but also means he has no excuse should his team fail to improve significantly on last season.
Chelsea, after once again spending big, start over with Enzo Maresca in charge, a man whose slow, possession football could test the patience – or could provide the cultural foundations the Blues have been crying out for.
One way or another, all five teams appear to be on the precipice of something. All are in do or die moments. Has that ever before been the case?
Premier League's mid-tier has never been such a thorn in the side
Those in the category just below, with outside hopes of European qualification, have also never been this good.
West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Crystal Palace, AFC Bournemouth, Fulham, and Wolverhampton Wanderers are all exceptionally well managed by historic standards and each have players easily good enough to play Champions League football.
This, again, adds to the excitement, not only because it makes mid-table matches engaging even when there is little riding on them, but because it helps destabilise the top end.
People have always said there are no easy matches in the Premier League. That hasn’t always been true, but it is now.
All of the top eight can be beaten by the talented and well-drilled mid-tier, which should ensure the title battle and race for European places is exciting right to the end.
It also means we could get a surprise contender to further break up the "Big Six".
West Ham have plumped for more progressive football under Julen Lopetegui and possess an outstanding array of attacking talent after a superb window.
The arrivals of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo, Niclas Fullkrug, Crysencio Summerville and Max Kilman are so good, it’s increasingly hard to see a quality difference between West Ham’s squad and that of Newcastle’s or Villa’s.
Brighton are exciting because of the big risk they have taken in appointing 31-year-old Fabian Hurzeler, but without the distraction of European football they could rise again.
Palace (Michael Olise), Bournemouth (Solanke), Fulham (Joao Palhinha), and Wolves (Pedro Neto) have each lost a star player, but the Premier League has never had so many elite coaches working in its mid-table, so none can be written off.
Can Palace build on Oliver Glasner’s early success? Will Andoni Iraola’s football be even better now the club’s 2022/23 signings are finally available to play?
Is Marco Silva going to take Fulham to the next level with Emile Smith Rowe leading midfield? Do Kilman and Neto exits leave Gary O’Neil fighting an uphill battle to keep Wolves out of relegation talk?
Every single club is interesting. Every single one has an urgent question that needs answering.
Strong promoted clubs can give us a final-day showdown at the bottom
Even if Wolves do avoid getting sucked into the relegation fight, there are more than enough teams and stories to keep us interested.
Last year’s battle was shaping up nicely for a while, but admittedly the excitement waned as it became apparent the three promoted clubs just didn’t have what it takes.
The bottom three accrued a combined 66 points, the lowest in Premier League history by a clear 10, which allowed Nottingham Forest to stay up with a record-low 32 points.
That sets us up nicely. Southampton and Leicester City have strong teams – partly because they ought not to have gone down in the first place – while Ipswich Town have the flexibility, momentum, and self-belief to surprise people under Kieran McKenna.
They should get a lot more than 66 points between them, plunging Forest, Brentford and Everton into trouble.
Forest have had another busy summer but not one that inspires confidence they will break the 40-point mark; an injury to Brentford’s marquee signing, Igor Thiago, threatens their comeback; and an air of uncertainty still hangs over Everton.
For neutrals, all of this adds to the excitement. It looks as though we have six Premier League clubs relatively evenly matched, capable of alternatively dragging each other down and hauling themselves out.
The title race feels less predictable than it has for years
So, there’s an awful lot going on, and reason enough to get excited about 2024/25, before we even get to the main event: another three-horse title race.
For this to be the best season in Premier League history, we need the jeopardy of another title battle that goes to the wire, and thankfully for neutrals there is a good chance of that.
Manchester City look closer to the end of a cycle than the beginning. Pep Guardiola is yet to decide on his future, which could hang heavy on the shoulders this summer, while the sense of "mission accomplished" after the record-breaking four titles in a row may soften City’s edges.
Certainly it wouldn’t be a surprise if Arsenal were the hungrier team. They have improved their points total four seasons in a row, and to make it five would mean breaking the 90-point barrier.
Mikel Arteta will firmly believe that is possible. The signing of left-back Riccardo Calafiori strengthens Arsenal’s only vulnerable area, and after Arsenal lasted the distance in 2023/24 – falling just short, but winning matches right to the death – there is confidence in the camp they can go one step further.
Finally, there’s Liverpool: the most unknowable and intriguing team in this most unknowable and intriguing of Premier League seasons.
Arne Slot has never managed outside of the Netherlands, making his appointment a risk, while previous issues at Arsenal and Man Utd after Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson tells us Liverpool could be due a difficult transition year.
But not necessarily.
In early April, Liverpool, two points clear at the top of the table with eight matches remaining, looked primed to win the title only for the unruly nature of a messy, emotional final year under Jurgen Klopp to finally get the better of them.
Slot inherits a squad good enough to challenge, then, and better yet he continues the hard-pressing style of Klopp while tempering some of its wilder aspects with slower possession football.
He could be just what Liverpool need to dial down the emotionality and sustain a title challenge.
Should that happen, who knows, maybe the Premier League will finally get its holy grail: three teams vying for the title on the final day of the season.
That would obviously seal it, making 2024/25 the best ever.
Even without it, everything is in place for this to be the most exciting season in Premier League history.