2023/24 Premier League end of season REVIEW

 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.