Sheffield United 0β8 Newcastle United (24 September 2023) Chelsea 4β4 Manchester City (12 November 2023) Newcastle United 4β4
Luton Town (3 February 2024)
The 2023β24 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.[8] 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.[9]
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
1992β93 season (which had 462 games). The average goals per game was the highest in the top flight since
1964β65.[10] All three of the newly promoted teams were relegated (
Luton Town,
Burnley, and
Sheffield United), the first time this happened since the
1997β98 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
1996β97 and
Portsmouth in
2009β10), 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.[11] On 26 February 2024, following their appeal, it was announced that the deduction had been reduced to six points.[12] On 8 April, the club were deducted two additional points for further PSR breaches, which the club initially appealed, but later withdrew.[13][14][15] 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 DΓaz's legitimate goal. Liverpool lost the game 2β1 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 although the Emirates owns the Premier League club, Manchester City.[16]
On 5 December 2023,
Sheffield United became the first club to sack their manager, dismissing
Paul Heckingbottom after their 5β0 defeat to fellow newly-promoted side
Burnley. He was replaced by
Chris Wilder, marking his return to the club since the
2020β21 season.[17] At that time, Sheffield United were bottom of the league, having amassed only five points in 14 games.[18]
On 16 December 2023, the match between
Bournemouth and
Luton Town was abandoned after 65 minutes with the score level at 1β1 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.[19] The game was replayed on 13 March 2024, with Luton taking a 3β0 lead at half-time, before Bournemouth fought back in the second half to win 4β3, in what was praised as one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the league.[20]
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.[21] His last game in charge was a 2β0 home defeat to
Tottenham Hotspur.[22] He was replaced by former
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Spurs coach
Nuno EspΓrito Santo, whose first game in charge was a 3β2 home loss to
Bournemouth, extending the clubβs winless run to seven games.[23] In his second game, Nuno ended Nottingham Forest's winless run with a 3β1 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
2022β23 season.[24]
On 26 January 2024,
Liverpool manager
JΓΌrgen Klopp announced his intention to step down as manager at the end of the season after more than eight years in charge.[25]
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.[26]
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.[27] The club submitted an appeal on 26 March, but on 7 May their appeal was rejected.[28][29]
On 27 April 2024,
Sheffield United became the first team relegated to the Championship after a 5β1 away defeat at Newcastle United. The defeat left the Blades 10 points adrift of safety with three matches left to play. [30] 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
1993β94 season, consisting of 42 games.[31] On 11 May, they broke the Premier League record, conceding a 101st goal in a 1β0 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
1963β64 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.[32]
On 11 May 2024,
Burnley became the second team to be relegated, following a 2β1 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.[33][34]
Also on 11 May 2024,
Luton Town lost to 3β1 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 place
Nottingham Forest.[35] Their relegation was confirmed on 19 May after Nottingham Forest's 2β1 win at Burnley.[36]
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.[37]
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
2013β14 under
David Moyes), the most losses in a single Premier League season ever (14), a β1 goal difference, and a total of 58 goals conceded (82 in all competitions), the most since the
1976β77 season.[citation needed] In spite of all the setbacks, United won the
FA Cup final against
Manchester City 2β1, confirming 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 a place in the Conference League playoff round for the
next season on the final matchday.
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.[38] 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.[39][40][41]
Teams
Twenty teams competed in the league β 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.[42]
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 β 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[43] (C) Champions; (R) Relegated Notes:
^Since the winners of the
2023β24 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
2023β24 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.[11][12][13]
^Nottingham Forest were deducted four points for breaching profitability and sustainability rules. The club appealed the decision but were unsuccessful.[27][28][29]
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.