15 Things We’ve Learned from the 2023/24 Premier League Season

The 2023/24 Premier League season is in the books, with Manchester City running out as champions again. Now it’s time for us to take stock and look back over the year that was, so here are 15 things we learned from the 23/24 season.

We knew Man City were going to be good when they added Pep Guardiola to the infinite money they have at their disposal. I don’t think any of us were quite expecting how dominant they would be. He has now one six of the last seven Premier Leagues, with only Liverpool stopping a whitewash.

As Nick Mendola writes for NBC Sports, “there will be plenty more, now, who will be hoping for someone to dethrone Man City as 100-plus charges loom over the club.” Everyone who follows football will know about the 115 charges the Premier League has brought against City, which does taint their victories in the eyes of opposing fans, rightly or wrongly.

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For years, Arsenal were the butt of jokes from every corner of the footballing world, now, they have been able to turn things around under Mikel Arteta and become a true powerhouse in the league. A lack of trophies does hang heavily around their neck, but as Joe Prince-Wright puts it for NBC Sports, “Arsenal are here to stay.”

Per the BBC, since the Winter Break, Arsenal have played 18 games in the Premier League, winning 16, drawing once (at the Eithad), and losing once (at home to Villa). That level of dominance is almost unprecedented at the Emirates, but it still wasn’t enough, as City went toe-to-toe and emerged victorious.

Few managers have connected with their fans more than Jurgen Klopp has during his time at Liverpool, with the expressive German fitting into a city, and fan base filled with unbridled passion. He went out by serenading the Anfield crowd with a song to welcome in his successor, Arne Slot, per Sky Sports.

The 2024 summer is the most important in recent history for Liverpool, with the core of Alisson, Virgil Van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah all on the wrong side of 30, does Slot look to start afresh? As a keeper, Alisson should have plenty of years left in him, and he is arguably the best in the world at what he does, but for VVD and Salah, could their time at Anfield be coming to an end?

Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham side started the 23/24 season in remarkable fashion, with Goal, and 90mins comparing their start to the 03/04 Arsenal Invincibles. After that, things went downhill, with Ange publicly shaming the Spurs fans for wanting their team to lose to avoid handing Arsenal the title, “The last 48 hours have revealed that the foundations are fairly fragile,” per The Daily Mail.

Per Andy Edwards of NBC Sports, Chelsea lost just once over their final 15 games, having lost 10 of their first 23. Mauricio Pochettino and his staff look to have found something with their young squad that could see them push on next season. A serious title challenge looks too much for them, but Champions League qualification will be a must.

Per the Premier League, Aston Villa’s run-in form wasn’t impressive, winning only two of their last eight, drawing and losing three. This demonstrates how good they were during the earlier stages of the season, as they still qualified for the Champions League for the first time in its current guise — an exceptional coaching john for the Spaniard.

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Erik ten Hag has looked out of his depth at points this season as injuries mounted in his Manchester United squad. As the Daily Mirror points out, the Red Devils’ eighth-placed finish is their lowest in the Premier League era. ETH has struggled to get to grips with the Premier League, whilst his squad is a disjointed mix of youth and experience. More is needed.

What an incredible end to Crystal Palace’s season, winning 5-0 at home against Aston Villa. AS Joe Prince-Wright for NBC Sports points out, “Oliver Glasner has found a system which works… [it] gets Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze on the ball in dangerous positions with lots of space.” If Palace can keep ahold of those two, they could be challenging for Europe next year.

The Premier League is in danger of becoming a poisoned chalice for some teams looking for promotion, such is the financial difference between the first and second divisions. Per Sportstar, there have been only four instances of all three promoted teams surviving in the Premier League. This year, all three promoted teams are going straight back down.

Nottingham Forest comfortably survived in the end, despite some rocky moments throughout the season. Now though, with the trio of Anthony Elanga, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Callum Hudson-Odoi, “the future,” per Joe Prince-Wright, there should be some optimism at the City Ground. That is an exciting, young trio who should help secure long-term Premier League football.

Is it fair to say Newcastle has disappointed this season? Following an impressive 22/23 campaign where they finished fourth with 71 points, they slipped to seventh this season, finishing with just 60 points, per the BBC. There were injuries aplenty, but that shouldn’t excuse their shoddy defence (62 conceded compared to 33 last year), Eddie Howe needs to improve.

Whilst we understand the vast difference in scale between the alleged offences, it rankles to see Everton and Forest’s point deductions while City completes the four-peat. The Cityzens could ultimately be found not guilty, but the playing field doesn’t feel level, the goalposts are being moved, and a sense of unfairness shrouds the Premier League in its current form.

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