Premier League 2023/24 awards: Best player, signing and moments of season
Man City and Arsenal go to the wire in the Premier League title race, while Tottenham, Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United are still competing for European places next season
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester City and Arsenal have battled to the finish line in another compelling Premier League season.
Pep Guardiola’s side can win a record fourth-successive Premier League crown at the Etihad on Sunday.
While Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton have all gone straight back down following promotion last year to somewhat reduce the final-day drama.
There are still European places to play for though, with Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea FC, Newcastle United and Manchester United eyeing up Europa League or Europa Conference League action next term - although Erik ten Hag’s side can still qualify through the FA Cup should they defeat Man City in next week’s final.
Here, Indy Sport picks through the campaign and hand out our 2023/24 awards:
Player of the season
Miguel Delaney, chief football writer: Rodri – I wavered on Declan Rice or Martin Odegaard but Rodri has become the player that makes Manchester City so consistent
Richard Jolly, senior football correspondent: Phil Foden – I debated the merits of Rodri, Declan Rice, Cole Palmer and Martin Odegaard but it has been an extraordinary year for Foden; on the bench for the pivotal games last season, scorer of 25 goals this, he has used his talent to become a talismanic figure for the probable champions.
Jack Rathborn, sports editor: Rodri - It's now 72 games unbeaten in all competitions for Rodri, whose control and composure allows Man City to operate at their best. While offering protection and structure to Pep Guardiola's puzzle, Rodri also chipped in with seven goals and nine assists, further emphasising his immense influence. A stunner that he was omitted from the PFA Player of the Year shortlist
Lawrence Ostlere: Rodri, the best holding midfielder in the world who has developed into the best box-to-box midfielder too.
Karl Matchett: I’ll have to go Rodri as well. He’s just always there, when they need to stop the opposition scoring and when they need to somehow find a way through after a struggle at the other end. Excellent consistency.
Kieran Jackson: Martin Odegaard. Stunning player to watch when in full flow. His passing range is outstanding and he makes Arsenal tick. Not a bad captain, too.
Harry Latham-Coyle: Declan Rice - Unerringly excellent in Arsenal’s midfield.
Manager of the season
MD: Andoni Iraola deserves a mention but it has to be Unai Emery for sending Aston Villa to the Champions League. That’s a huge achievement in modern football
RJ: The best managerial feat with a Premier League context belongs to Kieran McKenna, taking Ipswich into the top flight a year after they were in League One. But among those actually in the Premier League this season, it is Unai Emery for taking Aston Villa into the Champions League (unless Mikel Arteta makes Arsenal champions).
JR: Unai Emery - top four with Aston Villa is a remarkable achievement.
LO: Unai Emery has turned a mid-table squad into a Champions League team.
KM: Sean Dyche. To cope with the off-field torment Everton seem to routinely provide, to have next to no investment in the team and to have his side mentally overcome the setbacks they’ve had to endure is all good enough - but they’d be top half too without points deductions.
KJ: Unai Emery. Took a team languishing just above the relegation zone to a Champions League outfit in 18 months. Brilliant achievement.
HLC: It’s tough to look past Unai Emery, who has built a very solid all-around Aston Villa side capable of balancing consistent Premier League performances with a deep European run.
Team of the season
MD: Vicario; White, Saliba, Van Dijk, Gvardiol; Rodri, Rice, Odegaard, Mac Allister; Palmer, Foden
RJ: Vicario; White, Saliba, Van Dijk, Gvardiol; Odegaard, Rodri, Rice; Palmer, Watkins, Foden
JR: Pickford; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Gvardiol; Odegaard, Rodri; Palmer, Foden, Gordon; Watkins
LO: Martinez; White, Saliba, Van Dijk, Gvardiol; Odegaard, Rodri, Rice; Palmer, Watkins, Foden
KM: Vicario; Porro, Saliba, Van Dijk, Gvardiol; Odegaard, Rodri; Saka, Palmer, Foden; Watkins
KJ: Vicario; White, Saliba, Van Dijk, Robinson, Rodri, Rice, Odegaard, Palmer, Foden, Watkins
HLC: Pickford; Saliba, Van Dijk, Branthwaite; Palmer, Odegaard, Rodri, Rice, Foden; Watkins, Haaland.
Indy Sport team of the season: Vicario; White, Saliba, Van Dijk, Gvardiol; Rice, Rodri; Palmer, Odegaard, Foden; Watkins
Signing of the season
MD: Declan Rice has taken Arsenal up a level, which just puts him ahead of Cole Palmer for me.
RJ: Cole Palmer – Spend a billion and waste quite a bit of it and even Chelsea had to get one right and, after missing out on Michael Olise and noticing other clubs were trying to sign Palmer, they stumbled on a sensation. Some 22 league goals and 10 assists later, it looks a rare misstep by Manchester City to let him leave.
JR: Cole Palmer - incredible numbers at just 22 years of age and in his first full season as a starter, but his personality on a struggling team has impressed and can translate to an improving Chelsea and England when afforded more help. After many mocked the £42.5m fee, given his lack of experience, Man City will have some regret over allowing one of their own to depart.
LO: Cole Palmer – what a season.
KM: Not much to add there, Cole Palmer to Chelsea. If you shoot with a scatter gun, one bullet has to find it’s mark, right?!
KJ: Declan Rice. People scoffed at the £105m price-tag, but his influence on Arsenal was clear from the start. Gives the Gunners some much-needed bite in the middle of the park and his leadership qualities are indisputable.
HLC: Rice has been brilliant, but that was a must at his price tag. Cole Palmer’s emergence as a player capable of carrying Chelsea to a European place has come as rather more of a surprise.
Game of the season
MD: There were a number of farcically entertaining games, from Chelsea 4-3 Manchester and Tottenham Hotspur 1-4 Chelsea but I’d probably go Chelsea 4-4 Manchester City for the levels it reached
RJ: Of those I attended, Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City was a match of very quality and the last epic duel between Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. Yet this has been a season of hugely entertaining, high-scoring chaotic affairs. So – albeit an FA Cup game – Manchester United 4-3 Liverpool it is.
JR: Tottenham 1-4 Chelsea - Absolute chaos; goals, red cards, VAR controversy and perhaps the worst hat-trick scored ever.
LO: Chelsea 4-4 Manchester City was wildly entertaining and had a bit of everything.
KM: For attacking incision, ruthlessness and a new star on show, Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea - the Conor Bradley game. For overall chaos and remarkable turnaround, it’s the Cole Palmer game - Chelsea 4-3 Manchester United.
KJ: Newcastle 4-3 West Ham. I turned off with 15 minutes to go with West Ham 3-1 up; two Harvey Barnes goals and a stoppage-time Anthony Gordon winner completed the most remarkable turnaround – and made me look a fool.
HLC: Chelsea 4-4 Manchester City. A bonkers and brilliant game at a time when the champions elect looked strangely mortal, with Palmer keeping calm to slot in a stoppage time equaliser against his former club.
Moment of the season
MD: On the pitch, Son Heung-min’s miss against Manchester City, which was a genuinely jaw-dropping moment. Off it, for the significance and sense of history, Jurgen Klopp announcing he’s leaving.
RJ: Jurgen Klopp announcing his resignation. The end of an era as well as of a wonderful reign from a manager who saw the potential in Liverpool and unleashed it to devastating, glorious effect. A genuine shock, too – anyone who says they knew Klopp was quitting is lying.
JR: Son Heung-min's one-on-one miss against Man City with the title race tantalisingly hanging in the balance.
LO: Cole Palmer’s first goal against Everton, bending it first time past Jordan Pickford after a slick build-up, took my breath away for a moment, and he completed a perfect hat-trick soon afterwards.
KM: For importance factor, either Sandro Tonali’s suspension soon after signing for Newcastle, or Everton’s points deduction which underlined that broken rules had consequences. Further ones have and will again follow, you feel. Similarly terrible in a very different way was...
KJ: Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal at Tottenham, despite being onside. A new low for VAR. And Gary Neville’s “Oh no” repetition when that PGMOL statement was released.
HLC: Nottingham Forest accusing Stuart Attwell of being a Luton fan, which said a lot about the horrible culture football has cultivated around officiating.
Disappointment of the season
MD: The number of off-pitch controversies about refereeing or cost-control rules. The latter in particular points to a future where lawyers are going to be as influential as the players.
RJ: Manchester United are all of them. The FA Cup may offer some salvation but injuries are less of a mitigation than Erik ten Hag pretends for an awful campaign in the Premier League (and the Carabao Cup and Champions League).
JR: Manchester United. Always.
LO: Ange Postecoglou, after such a promising start at Tottenham, failing to adapt or find solutions to Spurs’ late-season struggles.
KM: Most dismal signing, most desperate performance, biggest season-long underperformance and value extracted versus quality signed are all the same answer, Manchester United.
KJ: Burnley. Genuinely thought Vincent Kompany would keep them up. How wrong I was.
HLC: That even in a season where Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham have lurched towards crises, the “Big Six” and Newcastle look set to occupy seven of the top eight spots. It’s getting tougher and tougher for the rest to compete with the financial might of the top clubs.
Surprise package
MD: it’s not like Andoni Iraola wasn’t respected, but he has exceeded all expectations in a superb job at Bournemouth, given all the controversy around it
RJ: Ross Barkley, Luton hero. Not a sentence that felt too likely for much of his career. A word, too, for Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo: double figures for Premier League goals for two who have climbed the footballing pyramid.
JR: The absolute delight at watching Crystal Palace's deadly trio of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta thrive in the run-in under Oliver Glasner. Silky football with a ruthless streak, sadly this trio will almost certainly be broken up this summer.
KM: Wolves. A chaotic start with Julen Lopetegui leaving on the eve of the season and no real summer work, but Gary O’Neil’s appointment has been a great one. They’ve faded the final two months but up to mid-March they were top half and still in the FA Cup, a really strong response when it looked very worrisome back in August.
KJ: Bournemouth. Much criticised for sacking Gary O’Neil, their manager Andoni Iraola deserves huge credit for taking the Cherries to the cusp of a top-half finish.
HLC: English strikers. A remarkable resurgence for the old-school centre forward: Dominic Solanke, Ollie Watkins and Carlton Morris have all been vital to their clubs, while Callum Wilson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ivan Toney are key figures, too.
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