Premeir League 2023: A Year's Recap of England's Top Flight

In a year when Messi finally got his hands on the World Cup, players started discovering the allure Ronaldo was talking about in the Saudi Pro League, spending records were once again broken in the transfer window, let's look back at the Premier League over the past 365 days, starting with Manchester City.

This year in the Premier League: Manchester City and Erling Haaland won the lot, where Chelsea spent even more money (and still managed to lack genuine improvement), and Spurs lost their star striker and yet still look a proper side under an Australian manager. So, let's start with recognizing the treble-winning side under Pep Guardiola.

Treble Winners

It only feels right to start with the treble winners. For many of the past 5 or 6 seasons in the Premier League, Manchester City were favorites to win the Champions League, and still carried those same expectactions with every trophy avaialble to them. While they swept the lot back in 2018/19 winning the Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and the Community Shield, the Champions League evaded them time and time again.

Not this year. City triumphed over Inter Milan in the Champions League final and finally managed to add the one trophy that was missing from their incredible collection since Pep Guardiola took over in 2016. The Premier League Champions replicating a feat that their rivals said would never be done again by a Premier League side was certainly a big moment for Manchester City, and they made sure to build off that, going on to win the European Super Cup against Sevilla and winning the Club World Cup more recently.

Safe to say, it was a year to remember for Manchester City.

United in the mud

The same cannot be said for Manchester United, who have yet to really show any form of indentity under Erik Ten Hag, and this season has not gotten a whole lot better, It may have taken a turn for the worse, actually.

However, if you are a Liverpool fan, a City fan, or just a fan of any team apart from Manchester United, the 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool at Anfield surely can't go unmentioned in this year's review. It was the stuff of nightmares for any United fan, but it became a reality in just 90 minutes of football.

Just a week after United claimed their first trophy under Ten Hag, they were absolutely demolished back in the Premier League. Gakpo, Salah and Darwin Nunez all bagged two goals each as they cut through United's defense like a hot knife through butter.

Harry Kane moves on

Yes, it finally happened. At least, that's what Harry Kane must have been thinking when his move to Bayern Munich was sanctioned and his time in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur was brought to a close.

It was a move long in the making for the prolific Premier League striker, having been at Tottenham for 19 years, and marking 279 goals in all compeitions for the North London club. He had been linked with a move to City before they eventually "settled" for Erling Haaland in 2022 but has got off to a flying start in the Bundesliga with his new club.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa, that's it. That's the storyline. I mean, really, who could have predicted this level of play from Unai Emery's side in the Premier League? They are currently sitting second in the league ahead of Liverpool's New Year's Day clash with Newcastle, have wins over Arsenal, and Manchester City, and finished atop their Conference League group this season.

Aston Villa have been nothing short of spectacular in the Premier League and might have some people wondering what happened at Arsenal and why things didn't quite work out in London the same way they have for Villa. Regardless, this is definitely not a storyline that most people would have had on their bingo cards at the beginning of the year, yet it is one you just can't quite ignore given the status quo of teams that have been in and around the title race over the last few years.

BIG Spending

It's no secret that the Premier League spends the most out of any of Europe's top leagues, but this year in particular the defensive midfielders were going for remarkably high prices.

As a whole, the Premier League spent roughly 2.9 billion pounds. When you take a closer look at some of the fees, it's no wonder why.

Moises Caicedo moved from Brighton to Chelsea for 115 million pounds, Declan Rice moved to Arsenal for 105 million pounds, Josko Gvardiol moved to Manchester City for 77.6 million pounds, the list goes on. In a summer where the Premier League spent over double that of their next biggest competitors in the transfer market, England's top flight made a splash to say the least.

What's next?

With all of this being just a glimpse at what went down in 2023 in the Premier League, what do you think is in store for the next year?