2022–23 Premier League

The 2022–23 Premier League was the 31st season of the Premier League and the 124th season of top-flight English football overall. Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest were the three promoted clubs from the 2021–22 EFL Championship, replacing Burnley, Watford and Norwich City.

Following Arsenal's defeat to Nottingham Forest on 20 May, Manchester City officially secured a third consecutive Premier League title with three games to spare, becoming the second club after local rivals Manchester United to achieve the feat in the Premier League era. It was their ninth English title overall and their seventh since 1992. The league title was the first leg in a treble-winning season for City, as they would later go on to win the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, a feat which United had also achieved. Meanwhile, Arsenal broke the record of spending the greatest number of days, with 248, on top of the league in a top flight season without winning the title in English top flight history.

This season was also the first since 2017–18, and only the fourth Premier League season overall, where all three promoted teams at the start of the season avoided relegation. This was also the first time since 2014–15 that the team 20th at Christmas (Wolverhampton Wanderers), managed to avoid relegation.

The 2022–23 season was the highest-scoring 38-game season in Premier League history, with 1,084 goals scored and a 2.85 goals per match ratio. Erling Haaland broke the Premier League record for most goals scored by a player in one season with 36 goals.

It was also the second Premier League season in a row where over 15 millions fans attended matches and with total of 15,289,340 spectators a new competition record was set.

Summary

The season began with Arsenal going on a five-game unbeaten streak before they played Manchester United at Old Trafford where they lost 3–1. Manchester City got off to a strong start, having signed striker Erling Haaland; they went on a nine-game unbeaten run before losing at Liverpool in October. Arsenal were top of the table for much of the season, at one point holding an eight point lead over Manchester City. However, a run of three consecutive draws allowed City to cut their lead, ultimately taking control after beating them 4–1 at the Etihad Stadium. Two consecutive losses against Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest left Arsenal four points behind Manchester City with three more games to play, with the latter result confirming City as champions. They were presented with the Premier League trophy on 21 May 2023.

Manchester United returned to the Champions League in Erik ten Hag's debut season as the club's manager, in addition to winning the Carabao Cup – their first trophy since 2017 – and reaching the final of the FA Cup. Newcastle United qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years, their highest finish since Sir Bobby Robson was the club's manager. Liverpool endured a difficult season and finished 5th, missing out on Champions League football for the first time since 2015–16. Notably, they thrashed Bournemouth 9–0 and rivals Manchester United 7–0.

Despite spending over £600m on new transfers under new ownership led by Todd Boehly, Chelsea had one of their worst Premier League seasons to date, with the Blues finishing in the bottom half of the table after first sacking Thomas Tuchel in September, and then sacking his successor Graham Potter the following April, after only seven months in charge. Frank Lampard returned to the club as interim manager, having previously been sacked himself in January 2021, but the team fared no better under his stewardship either. They ended up finishing 12th, their lowest league finish since 1993–94, and had accumulated just 44 points – their lowest ever in a Premier League season.

Brighton & Hove Albion lost manager Potter to Chelsea in September, but his successor Roberto De Zerbi led the team to a club record finish of 6th, and qualified for the Europa League, the first European qualification in the history of the club.

Aston Villa secured qualification for European football for the first time since 2009–10; an indifferent start to the season saw the departure of manager Steven Gerrard, but his successor Unai Emery, along with in-form striker Ollie Watkins, saw Villa climb the table in the second half of the season to finish 7th and qualify for the Europa Conference League. Tottenham Hotspur had an erratic season, with manager Antonio Conte departing by mutual consent in March, days after publicly criticising the team in a post-match press conference. He was initially replaced by his assistant Cristian Stellini until the end of the season, but a poor run, culminating in a 6–1 defeat away to Newcastle, where the team were 5–0 down after just 20 minutes, saw him sacked and replaced by Ryan Mason as caretaker manager. Tottenham ended up finishing 8th, failing to qualify for European football for the first time since 2008–09, and finishing below rivals Arsenal in the league for the first time since 2015–16.

Brentford enjoyed one of the best seasons in their history, at one point going on a 12-match unbeaten run. They notably thrashed Manchester United 4–0 and beat Liverpool 3–1, and were the only team to beat Manchester City twice. Their 9th-place finish marked their highest finish in top-flight football since 1938.

Bournemouth, who were tipped for relegation at the start of the season (particularly after their 9–0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield, which saw manager Scott Parker sacked soon after), defied the critics by avoiding relegation, with Gary O'Neil, first as interim, then permanent manager, guiding the team to safety. Nottingham Forest broke the record for most signings in a Premier League season with 21, and a late run of home victories over Brighton, Southampton and Arsenal secured safety. The final newly promoted side, Fulham, enjoyed a successful return to the top flight with a 10th place finish.

Southampton were the first team to be relegated after eleven consecutive years in the top flight. The Saints sacked Ralph Hasenhüttl in November after just under four years in charge and Nathan Jones was appointed as his successor. He would then be dismissed in February after winning just once in his eight league matches in charge. He was replaced for the rest of the season by Rubén Sellés who was unable to turn the dire situation around, and a 2–0 home loss to Fulham on 13 May sealed their fate, as they finished at the bottom of the table.

Going into the final day of the season, two relegation places were still to be confirmed, with Everton, Leeds United and Leicester City all potentially at threat of relegation. Leeds failed to repeat their last day escape of the previous season and were also relegated after three years back in the top flight, losing 4–1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Everton escaped relegation after a 1–0 win over Bournemouth, extending their top flight stay for seventy consecutive years. The Toffees' survival confirmed Leicester's relegation after a nine year stay in the top flight, despite a 2–1 home win over West Ham. Their relegation came only seven years after being crowned champions of England, and they became only the second club after Blackburn Rovers to be relegated as previous title winners.

Developments

Starting from the 2022–23 season, clubs are able to make five substitutions rather than three. These substitutions can be made in three stoppages during game time, and additionally at half time, in line with other top European leagues – Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.

There was a mid-season break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, with the last matches before the hiatus played on the weekend of 12–13 November 2022 and the first matches after the World Cup played on 26 December 2022, after the World Cup final on 18 December 2022.

On 9 September 2022, all Premier League matches scheduled for 10–12 September were postponed as a mark of respect due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The following week, three Premier League matches scheduled for 17–18 September were postponed due to the policing issues surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on 19 September. Also, in the same week, the Arsenal game against Manchester City, scheduled for 19 October, was postponed to accommodate Arsenal's Europa League tie with PSV Eindhoven, which was itself postponed from 15 September to 20 October.

Teams

Twenty teams are competing in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Championship. The promoted teams were Fulham, Bournemouth, and Nottingham Forest, who returned to the topflight after respective absences of one, two and twenty-three years. The twenty-three years between Nottingham Forest's previous Premier League season and this season is the longest absence for a previous Premier League club in the Premier League era to date. The promoted teams replaced Burnley (relegated to the Championship after a six-year topflight spell), Watford, and Norwich City (both teams relegated after just one year back in the topflight).

Stadiums and locations

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Personnel and kits

1. ^ Nottingham Forest played without a shirt sponsor until 1 January 2023, when the club announced UNHCR as their shirt sponsor for the remainder of the season.

Managerial changes

This season saw a record number of managerial changes, including 14 sackings.

League table

Results

The fixtures were released on 16 June 2022.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 14
  • João Palhinha (Fulham)

• Most red cards: 2
  • Casemiro (Manchester United)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 84
  • Leeds United
  • Nottingham Forest
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers

• Fewest yellow cards: 44
  • Manchester City
  • West Ham United

• Most red cards: 6
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers

• Fewest red cards: 0
  • Six teams

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Notes

References