The Premier League season preview 2023/24 is an intriguing one, especially when considering last season brought a smashing of the Big Six, with the status quo scattered up and down the table as the unusual suspects put a stake in the ground.
Will the league revert to type, with heavyweights all rising to the top this season? Or is this the start of something new, with smaller sides continuing to compete?
While several of their rivals floundered, however, Manchester City were reliably extraordinary. It’s time to do it all again: Erling Haaland is waking up from hibernation, Jack Grealish has just about caught up on his sleep and Pep Guardiola is about to emerge from his tactical bunker once more, armed with another masterplan.
Following their Treble triumph, City are chasing more history: in 130 years, not even your great-grandad has seen a team storm to four English top-flight titles on the trot. Who’s ready to stop this super side from being the first?
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Rarely before have so many had the nerve. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal came the closest last time around, his young guns firing as apprentice almost unseated mentor in the dugout. Dropping £170m on Declan Rice and Kai Havertz shows an ambition to go again.
The other goliaths are bouncing back. Jurgen Klopp has reshaped Liverpool. Erik ten Hag has Manchester United’s squad all pulling in the same direction. And Chelsea and Tottenham each have new managers, and new playing styles, as they seek to reverse their negative momentum.
In 14 full campaigns of the so-called Big Six, created by the Abu Dhabi Group’s takeover of Manchester City, the 2022/23 season was only the second time that two of those half-dozen teams have failed to qualify for Europe.
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Newcastle, meanwhile, had no flux to speak of. The moneyed Magpies were relentless and riveting in equal part, and represent the best of the outsiders who have rattled the establishment.
Champions League football returns to St. James' Park, but will they be as good in the Premier League? (Image credit: Getty Images)
Brighton and Aston Villa, too, were shrewd and smart, ultimately qualifying for Europe with phenomenal campaigns. They’ll each believe they can push even further now. London clubs are also resurgent, and not just the Europa Conference League-winning West Ham.
Crystal Palace finished their campaign with a flourish under Roy Hodgson, while Fulham and Brentford had stellar seasons featuring pace, power and prolific forwards who fired their sides into the top half. Could more European football be heading to the capital?
Then there are those hoping to pack a heftier punch in 2023/24. Wolves and Bournemouth both have high-intensity coaches from the Basque Country who will have full pre-seasons and surprises in store for the big boys, while Nottingham Forest have certainly shown the financial ambition to establish themselves as a mainstay at this level.
Let’s not forget Everton, either, who could be a wholly different prospect after a transfer window with Sean Dyche at the helm. Things are about as competitive as they ever have been.
Will Everton be in better shape under Sean Dyche? (Image credit: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
Each of the three promoted teams are battling and brilliant in their own ways, too. Burnley waltzed to the title playing beautiful football and could shock many, while Sheffield United must find a way to take their no-frills consistency up a level.
Luton Town, meanwhile, become the 51st team to play in the Premier League – and will host home games at the division’s smallest ever stadium, the 10,300-capacity Kenilworth Road. Can they make it a cauldron, as they did in the play-off semi-final second leg?
Luton will take comfort from this being a league in which anyone can beat anyone else. Brentford did the double over Treble-winning City last term, West Ham finished the lowest of all seven London clubs yet won a trophy, and Chelsea spent £600m to barely scrape together 40 points.
Who knows where we’ll be in another year’s time? The future is unwritten – and it has never been quite so unpredictable.
After pushing Manchester City all the way in the Premier League title race, spending 248 days atop the table, Arsenal will hope to go one better in the new campaign. They'll have Champions League considerations as well, though, with challenges in the FA Cup and League Cup also expected.
Once Emery took over at Villa Park in October 2022, he transformed the side into one of the most in-form teams in the Premier League. They ended up finishing seventh and qualifying for the Europa Conference League, where fans are hoping to go the distance.
Despite keeping them up against all odds, Bournemouth sacked Gary O'Neil in the summer and replaced him with the highly-rated Andoni Iraola - formerly of Rayo Vallecano. The club are looking to improve on their 15th-place finish last term.
Brentford will miss the goals of Toney in the upcoming campaign, with the Englishman banned until January. He helped them achieve a very impressive 9th-place finish in the Premier League, but if there's one thing about Thomas Frank and Brentford, it's that their talisman's absence shouldn't be too much of a hinderance.
Brighton will be competing in Europe for the first time in their history in the new season, after finishing sixth to qualify for the Europa League. Roberto De Zerbi has expertly managed the squad since arriving less than 12 months ago, and has just completed his first pre-season at the club.
Many were left unconvinced by Kompany's appointment at Burnley at the beginning of last season - by the end of it, he had well and truly won them around. The club looks a lot different to what it did under Sean Dyche, with their Belgian boss winning the Championship at the first attempt with a young and hungry squad playing attractive football.
Mauricio Pochettino takes over at Stamford Bridge with wholesale changes already being made, as the Argentine looks to recover the club to former glory. Finishing 12th with a measly 44 points, and scoring just 38 goals, will surely be easy to better this time around.
Roy Hodgson stays on at Selhurst Park for another season after taking over midway through last term. He comfortably guided them to 11th in the Premier League, and now the Eagles are looking to break into the top half - even without Wilfried Zaha, who has joined Galatasaray.
Everton have seem destined for relegation to the Championship for the last few seasons now, but have just managed to accumulate enough points to avoid the drop. With Sean Dyche in charge, it seems guaranteed the Toffees will stay up - but their time in the Premier League could finally come to an end.
Finishing 10th, in their first season back in the Premier League, certainly exceeded expectations among Fulham fans and within the wider footballing community, too. With Aleksandar Mitrovic seemingly destined to leave, though, the Cottagers might have to settle for a mid-table finish.
Last season was the first Jurgen Klopp failed to qualify for the Champions League with Liverpool (when he had been in charge for a full term), with the squad miles off the pace for certain parts of the campaign. However, they showed glimpses of quality, and with the midfield being overhauled, Liverpool are aiming to challenge at the sharp end once again.
In one of the greatest stories in football, Luton Town will be competing in the Premier League just 10 years after they were a National League outfit. Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu has been with them every step of the journey, and while the odds are stacked against the Hatters, they could just surprise a few people after their promotion from the Championship.
How do you top winning the treble? Pep Guardiola's side come into the season, naturally, as the team to beat, and they could become the first English side in history to win four league titles in a row. Erling Haaland could score even more goals, too. Scary.
Manchester United look reborn under Erik ten Hag, the Dutchman finally filling fans with hope that he can return the good times at Old Trafford. Finishing 3rd in the Premier League, winning the League Cup and reaching the FA Cup final is a promising debut campaign for their gaffer - whether he can continue their upwards trajectory remains to be seen.
Champions League football returns to St. James' Park for the first time in 20 years in the upcoming season, following their incredible 4th-place finish. Fans want silverware as well, though, after coming oh so close at Wembley in the League Cup final against Manchester United.
Steve Cooper somehow kept Forest in the top tier last season with games to spare, despite having to find his best starting line-up from more than 20 signings and being put under intense pressure by the owner throughout the course of the campaign. Things should be better now, however, with fewer changes expected at the City Ground.
Gaining automatic promotion to the Premier League is always impressive, and Sheffield United had to deal with financial issues to do so. Star man Iliman Ndiaye has left for Marseille now, though, putting the club in a perilous position on the eve of the new season.
After starting with such high hopes, last season ended in bitterness. Dismal results and abject performances were excruciating for Spurs fans, as they finished 8th in the league. Australian gaffer Ange Postecoglou has now joined from Celtic, though, and things are looking more positive under his stewardship - regardless of the Harry Kane situation.
Bringing in £105m for the sale of Declan Rice is brilliant business, but he leaves a large hole in the centre of West Ham's team. They've got a European trophy to shout about now, however, and will head into the Europa League after winning the Conference League last season.
Wolves have been uninspiring in recent seasons, with their 13th-place finish underwhelming to say the least. Julen Lopetegui has had a full pre-season to get the players he wants in now, but Ruben Neves has departed Molineux.
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
