Premier League 2022-23 Season Recap: Over and Underachievers

For much of the campaign, it looked like Arsenal would win its first title since 2003-04. Arsenal was eight points above City, albeit having played a game more coming into April. The club topped the table for 29 games, and if you were betting online, you should be happy with the profit you’ve made with the Gunners.

But Arsenal suffered the same fate Liverpool had in recent years, unable to keep up with City’s relentless winning form in the campaign’s second half. Still, it was a great season for the Gunners, who return to the Champions League after so many years.

Newcastle finished fourth and earned its spot in next season’s Champions League for the first time in 20 years, a sensational rise for a team on course to be relegated from the English Premier League 18 months ago. Even manager Eddie Howe, who joined Newcastle in November 2021, has been surprised by the progress.

Despite losing manager Graham Potter early in the season, Brighton enjoyed a superb Premier League campaign, securing a spot in the Top 6 and qualifying for Europe. With Italian manager Roberto De Zerbi at the helm, the Seagulls have been flying high in the upper reaches of the table for most of the season, upsetting more fancied teams along the way.

It’s an incredible rise for Brighton, which was in the third tier of English football as recently as 2011, but now it will be playing in Europe for the first time in club history.

Aston Villa will play European football next season for the first time since 2010 after qualifying for the third edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League. Villa beat Brighton 2-1 on the final day of the EPL season to finish seventh in the table, one point above Tottenham. Villa’s last game in a European competition came back in 2010 when a side managed by Kevin MacDonald lost 3-2 at home to Rapid Vienna to exit the UEFA Cup in the play-off round.

A thread of The Arsenal’s best Premier League goals in the 2022/23 season 🧵🔴 pic.twitter.com/sX8F5CZ8AC

— Gunners (@Gunnersc0m) May 30, 2023

EPL 2022-23 Underachievers

This was a season of unprecedented managerial overhauls, with 14 changes in total. Chelsea, Leeds, and Southampton sacked two managers each. Only nine of the 20 Premier League teams ended the season with the same manager who started it.

Chelsea’s campaign will long live in fans’ memory, but not for the right reasons. We did well not to include the team in our Premier League picks and parlays. Since Todd Boehly took over as owner at the end of last season, the club has spent over $600m on players and had four managers. The Blues finished 12th in the standings for the first time since 1995-96.

Liverpool opened the season with a Community Shield success over Manchester City, which felt like a marker being thrown at the feet of Pep Guardiola. Another titanic battle for the title was on until it very quickly wasn’t, crashing out of every competition and finishing fifth.

Leicester City will play in the EFL Championship in 2023-24 after its relegation was confirmed on a dramatic final day. Let’s not forget that the Foxes were crowned champions in the 2015-16 season, becoming the second team in history to be relegated to the second-tier Championship after winning the EPL.

Frustration has mounted throughout the final weeks of a troubled season for Tottenham, and fans hung banners outside the stadium pointing the finger of blame at owners. Chairman Daniel Levy has taken the brunt of supporters’ criticism, reflecting on an immensely difficult season in his program notes for the final home match of the campaign. Spurs finished one point below the European spots and are about to lose their top scorer this summer, with Harry Kane determined to leave the team.