Sheffield United 0–8 Newcastle United (24 September 2023) Chelsea 4–4 Manchester City (12 November 2023) Newcastle United 4–4 Luton Town (3 February 2024)
The 2023–24 Premier League was the 32nd season of the Premier League and the 125th season of top-flight English football overall. The season began on 11 August 2023, and concluded on 19 May 2024.[2][3][4][5]
This season was the third to feature a winter break, with each team having a two-week break from all competitions some time between 2 January and 30 January 2024.[9] The summer transfer window was from 14 June to 1 September 2023, while the winter transfer window was between 1 January and 1 February 2024.[10]
A record 1,246 goals (380 games, an average of 3.28 per match) were scored during the season, breaking the previous record of 1,222 in the 1992–93 season (which had 462 games, an average of 2.65 per match). The average goals per game was the highest in the top flight since 1964–65.[11] All three of the newly promoted teams were relegated (Luton Town, Burnley, and Sheffield United), the first time this happened since the 1997–98 season; those three teams had a combined total of 66 points. Nottingham Forest avoided relegation with 32 points (including a 4-point deduction), a record low for a team to do so.
Summary
For only the third time in Premier League history (after Middlesbrough in 1996–97 and Portsmouth in 2009–10), a Premier League team was deducted points; on 17 November 2023, Everton had 10 points deducted from their total for a breach of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules (PSR). The deduction was the biggest to be handed out in Premier League history and was subject to appeal.[12] On 26 February 2024, following their appeal, it was announced that the deduction had been reduced to six points.[13] On 8 April, the club were deducted two additional points for further PSR breaches, which the club initially appealed, but later withdrew.[14][15][16] In total, the club were deducted eight points this season.
On 30 September 2023, in the game between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, Premier League's video assistant referee (VAR), Darren England, failed to intervene on a decision that disallowed Luis Díaz's legitimate goal. Liverpool lost the game 2–1 and PGMOL admitted the offside ruling as a "significant human error". It was revealed that England and the assistant VAR, Dan Cook, took an eight-hour long flight back from the UAE a day before. A group of PGMOL officials were in UAE to take charge of a match between Sharjah and Al-Ain. It led to questions over PGMOL's decision of allowing the leading match officials to take lucrative assignments in the UAE Pro League.[17]
On 5 December 2023, Sheffield United became the first club to sack their manager, dismissing Paul Heckingbottom after their 5–0 defeat to fellow newly-promoted side Burnley. He was replaced by Chris Wilder, marking his return to the club since the 2020–21 season.[18] At that time, Sheffield United were bottom of the league, having amassed only five points in 14 games.[19]
On 16 December 2023, the match between Bournemouth and Luton Town was abandoned after 65 minutes with the score level at 1–1 as Luton captain Tom Lockyer suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch. Play was initially suspended, with the referee taking both sets of players off, midway through the second half, whilst medical personnel tended to Lockyer. He was eventually stretchered off, and taken to hospital, where it was later announced that he was responsive, and in a stable condition.[20] The game was replayed on 13 March 2024, with Luton taking a 3–0 lead at half-time, before Bournemouth fought back in the second half to win 4–3, in what was praised as one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the league.[21]
On 19 December 2023, Nottingham Forest became the second club to sack their manager, dismissing Steve Cooper after Forest had won one game from 13 league games played.[22] His last game in charge was a 2–0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.[23] He was replaced by former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Spurs coach Nuno Espírito Santo, whose first game in charge was a 3–2 home loss to Bournemouth, extending the club’s winless run to seven games.[24] In his second game, Nuno ended Nottingham Forest's winless run with a 3–1 away win at Newcastle United, with Chris Wood scoring a hat-trick against his old club, having left in the January transfer window of the 2022–23 season.[25]
On 26 January 2024, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp announced his intention to step down as manager at the end of the season after more than eight years in charge.[26]
On 19 February 2024, Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson resigned from his role. Palace had lost ten of their previous 16 games and were 16th in the table, five points above the relegation zone. Hodgson, who had been taken ill at a team training session on 15 February, was replaced by former Eintracht Frankfurt manager Oliver Glasner.[27]
On 18 March 2024, Nottingham Forest became the fourth-ever Premier League club to receive a points deduction, as they were deducted four points for a breach of the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules.[28] The club submitted an appeal on 26 March, but on 7 May their appeal was rejected.[29][30]
On 27 April 2024, Sheffield United became the first team relegated to the Championship after a 5–1 away defeat at Newcastle United. The defeat left the Blades 10 points adrift of safety with three matches left to play. [31] On 4 May, they also became the first Premier League side to concede 100 goals in a 38 game season, equalling the record of Swindon Town overall, who also conceded 100 goals in the 1993–94 season, consisting of 42 games.[32] On 11 May, they broke the Premier League record, conceding a 101st goal in a 1–0 defeat to Everton, and by the end of the season had conceded a total of 104 goals, the most by a top flight team since Ipswich Town conceded 121 in the 1963–64 First Division.[citation needed]
On 6 May 2024, West Ham United announced that manager David Moyes would leave the club at the end of the season when his contract expired.[33]
On 11 May 2024, Burnley became the second team to be relegated, following a 2–1 away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. The defeat left them five points adrift of safety with one match left to play, having failed to move out of the relegation zone since the opening day of the season.[34][35]
Also on 11 May 2024, Luton Town lost 3–1 away to West Ham United, which left them three points adrift of safety with one match left to play, a result which whilst not mathematically confirming relegation, would have required a 13 goal swing on the last day of the season to beat 17th placed Nottingham Forest.[36] Their relegation was confirmed on the final day as they lost 4–2 to Fulham, and Nottingham Forest beat Burnley 2–1.[37][38]
On 18 May 2024, Brighton & Hove Albion announced that they had reached a mutual agreement with manager Roberto De Zerbi to terminate his contract following the conclusion of the season the following day.[39]
On 19 May 2024, the final day of the season, Manchester City beat West Ham United 3–1 at home to secure the title with 91 points – two points ahead of their title rivals Arsenal, who defeated Everton 2–1 at home. Arsenal finished runners-up with 89 points, becoming the third-best second-placed team in the history of the Premier League.[40]
This season saw the continued rise of Aston Villa under Unai Emery, with them securing a Champions League spot under the new 'league phase' format, and for the first time since 1983. Meanwhile, Manchester United suffered their worst season in Premier League history. After finishing third and winning the EFL Cup in Erik ten Hag's debut season, United recorded new lows in his second season, including their lowest finish in a season (eighth, previously seventh in 2013–14 under David Moyes), the most losses in a single Premier League season ever (14), a −1 goal difference, and a total of 58 goals conceded (82 in all competitions), the most since the 1976–77 season.[citation needed] In spite of this, United salvaged their season by defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, denying them a league and cup double in successive seasons and securing a place in the Europa League league phase for the next season.
Chelsea, who finished 12th in the previous season, saw themselves back into European football after a year's absence under former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino, by placing sixth after a season full of inconsistent results, confirming qualification for the Conference League playoff round for the next season on the final matchday. Meanwhile, Newcastle United finished seventh, above Manchester United for the first time since the 1976–77 season. However, due to Manchester United's FA Cup win, they missed out on European football. Had Manchester City won the FA Cup, Chelsea would have taken United's spot in the Europa League league phase, Newcastle would have qualified for the Conference League playoff round, and Manchester United would have missed out on European football altogether.[41]
Developments
The new stoppage time rule was used in the league for the first time this season. In an effort to improve clamping down on time-wasting and to improve the accuracy of time added on, stoppage times were longer across matches. The new rule accounted for stoppages due to injuries, goal celebrations, yellow and red cards, and VAR reviews. Additionally, there were yellow/red card offences for dissent and time wasting, which contributed to a large increase in yellow and red cards this season.[42] It was reported that the new rule also made the matches more chaotic and unpredictable, and increased the drama and spectacle of the competition with many goals scored in added time (many occurring after the 95th minute). In addition, increasing the stoppage time was considered a good move by some who argued that time wasting was no longer tolerable, while others (including some insiders) would have preferred a switch to actual time and more clarity and transparency about how long a match should last.[43][44][45]
Teams
Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Championship. The promoted teams were Burnley, Sheffield United, and Luton Town, who returned to the top flight after respective absences of one, two and thirty-one years. This was also Luton Town's first season in the Premier League.[46]
With their promotion, Luton Town were the first team to have been promoted from non-League (5th tier or lower within the English football league pyramid) to the top flight during the Premier League era. They replaced Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton, who were relegated to the Championship after respective spells of nine, three and eleven years in the top flight.
Source: Premier League Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) If the champions, relegated teams or qualified teams for UEFA competitions cannot be determined by rules 1 to 3, rules 4.1 to 4.3 are applied – 4.1) Points gained in head-to-head record between such teams; 4.2) Away goals scored in head-to-head record between such teams; 4.3) Play-offs[47] (C) Champions; (R) Relegated Notes:
^Since the winners of the 2023–24 EFL Cup, Liverpool, qualified for the Champions League, the spot given to the League Cup winners (Conference League play-off round) was passed to the sixth-placed team.
^Manchester United qualified for the Europa League league phase as the 2023–24 FA Cup winners.
^Everton were deducted eight points for breaching profitability and sustainability rules. They were originally deducted 10 points but this was reduced to six after an appeal. The club were then deducted an additional two points for further PSR breaches.[12][13][14]
^Nottingham Forest were deducted four points for breaching profitability and sustainability rules. The club appealed the decision but were unsuccessful.[28][29][30]
Source: Premier League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
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