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The
Premier League lived up to its billing as the best competition on the planet following another thrilling season, which saw Manchester City crowned champions for the third year running. It shouldn't have come as a surprise given their consistency under Pep Guardiola, who has won the league title five times now in his seven seasons at the Etihad Stadium. However, there were other teams that certainly upset the applecart by performing beyond expectations in 2022-23.
Arsenal
So close yet so far. Arsenal looked on course to claim a first Premier League title in 19 years after they opened up an eight-point lead over the Citizens going into the final two months of the campaign. Mikel Arteta's side had led the charge from the get-go as they lost just one of their opening 19 games, spearheaded by the goals from Gabriel Jesus, who made the move from City during the summer transfer window. The Gunners embarked on a 13-match unbeaten run between September and February and sat at the summit for an astonishing 248 days. However, the wheels came off spectacularly in April as the North Londoners were held to three consecutive draws against Liverpool (2-2), West Ham (2-2) and Southampton (3-3) before suffering a damaging 4-1 defeat to City. The defending champions eventually pulled clear on matchday 34 and went on to finish five points ahead of their title rivals. Jesus would miss 12 games midway through the season with a knee injury, although he still ended up scoring 11 goals, having seen Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka step up in his absence after the trio contributed 15, 15 and 14 goals respectively. Arteta admitted getting the club back into the UEFA Champions had been the main goal, but belief of something more grew once they started putting a string of positive results together.
"We wanted to bring the club back to the Champions League, that was the main target," the Spaniard said. "That was already a big demand, especially in the summer before we did certain things and before we managed to keep some of our players, and then the journey started by day we started to have a feeling the team is moving in the right direction, the spirit, the energy is good.
"You start to win a game two, three, and you start to generate some belief, obviously we didn't expect to finish where we are, the third best-ever record in the history of the club in terms of points, most wins ever.
"It's a lot but it's still not enough to win it, we understand where the level is, and we really want to be the real deal, we don't have to be happy with what we have and we have to be next season, much, much better."
Newcastle
Few not connected with Newcastle could have anticipated them finishing in the top four ahead of Liverpool and Tottenham, given the lack of big-name players in the squad. Nick Pope and Alexander Isak were the only notable acquisitions made by the Magpies during the summer transfer window, while Anthony Gordon arrived from Everton in the new year. Eddie Howe's side got off to a slow start, winning just three of their opening 10 matches, which included six draws. However, the Tynesiders broke into the top four prior to the World Cup break and went on a 17-game unbeaten run between September and February, when they briefly dropped out of contention for the UEFA Champions League. Consistency was key to their achievement as the Toon tasted defeat just five times all season to finish four points above the Reds in fourth place. They shared the spoils on 14 occasions, the joint-most in the league alongside Brentford, which saw them miss out on a third-placed finish. Callum Wilson made a telling contribution to the team despite having to play second fiddle to Isak and Joelinton for much of the second half of the season, with the striker bagging 18 goals to finish as the club's top scorer. Howe is relishing Champions League nights at St James' Park and insists they'll have to manage expectations by keep overachieving in 2023-24.
"It's an amazing thing. We're looking forward to it, to next season and to the challenge. We've started that preparation and it will be a thing, when we get the draw and see who's in our group, I think that will be when it really kicks off," he said.
"I don't know if it's something you look forward to (the expectations) - the dynamic will have changed for us. I think we've massively overachieved this year for where we were at the start of the season, and to keep overachieving - and that's what we're going to have to do, to match the expectation - is going to be our biggest challenge."
Aston Villa
Aston Villa seemed destined for a relegation scrap when Steven Gerrard was sacked on October 20 in the wake of a 3-0 defeat to Fulham, which left the team with just two wins from their opening 11 games. Unai Emery succeeded Gerrard at the helm on November 1 and immediately went about turning around the club's fortunes, winning five of his first seven matches to lift Villa up to 11th place, where they stayed until March before breaking into the top half of the table for the first time since matchday 2. The Villans didn't stop there, however, as they capitalised on the poor form of those around them by winning six of their 10 encounters in the run-in to qualify for Europe, beating Brighton 2-1 on the final day to finish seventh in the final standings. It was an outstanding achievement by Emery, who lost just six of his 25 matches in charge and collected 49 points out of a possible 75 - the fifth best return behind Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool since his appointment. The Spaniard expressed his pride at taking VIlla to the UEFA Conference League and stated his desire to bring the trophy back to Villa Park next term.
"I'm very proud of our work, our supporters, the club, everybody that works here," he said. "It's important because we're going to be one step ahead in our objective to be in Europe. To play in the Conference League is very important.
"We're adding the possibility of another trophy because it's very difficult in the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup. Our objective and ambitions will be to try and always be a candidate to get a trophy.
"To play in Europe for the club and the coaches, because I was playing 15 years in a row in Europe, so to get that again next year is fantastic for me individually and I'm very happy playing in Europe.
"We are going to add more matches and more difficult moments, but I want a competitive team. I'm going to be really, really demanding to play as well as possible and taking more challenges. Playing in Europe is it."
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