Premier League table: The final standings as Man City make history

Carlo Garganese

• 19 May 2024 21:43 BST
• 9 min read

The 2023/24 season is here and once more it is Manchester City who are the team to beat in England.

After winning a historic treble last time around, Pep Guardiola’s team are bidding to claim what would be a sixth EPL title in seven seasons, and fourth in a row.

Arsenal finished in second place last season and are aiming to go one better after the significant transfers that saw them sign Declan Rice and Kai Havertz this summer.

Manchester United and Newcastle are looking to build on their top-four finishes last time around, while the pressure is on Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham after disappointing campaigns.

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Aston Villa will hope to disrupt the party under Unai Emery, while West Ham go into the season on a high after Europa Conference League success, as do Brighton after a stunning 2022/23 campaign.

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At the other end of the table, the relegation battle is likely to include promoted clubs Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town, along with the likes of Everton, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, all of whom narrowly avoided the drop last year.

The Premier League table was displayed here during the season.

Premier League table 2023/24

Manchester City have beaten Arsenal to finish top of the Premier League table after emerging triumphant from a crucial final day of the season on Sunday.

Liverpool and Aston Villa are the other members of the top four in the EPL standings after Matchday 38, with Tottenham now confirmed to finish fifth.

It was an incredibly close league top-five battle in the table well into the second half of the season, but Man City and Arsenal ultimately pulled clear to make it a two-horse race for title glory, with Pep Guardiola's side winning a historic fourth straight title.

Chelsea, Newcastle United and Manchester United are among the bigger sides who endured difficult campaigns that fell short of expectations. Those teams rounded out the top eight, with 8th being Man Utd's worst-ever Premier League finish.

Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United were relegated.

All three promoted teams went straight back down, although good run from Luton in the middle of the campaign did put some pressure on Nottingham Forest and Everton.

In November, Everton were controversially deducted 10 points for breaking financial rules, however the penalty was later reduced to six points on appeal in February. But they then were handed a further two-point punishment for a further breach. Were it not for that total eight-point punishment, they would have finished 12th instead of their current spot of 15th.

Nottingham Forest received a four-point penalty. They would have been 17th even without that punishment.

Sheff Utd were the first team to sack their manager this season, with Paul Heckingbottom replaced by Chris Wilder on December 5. Nottingham Forest were the second team to make a change later that month, with Steve Cooper sacked and replaced by Nuno Espirito Santo. The only other managerial change came in February, as Oliver Glasner replaced Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace.

There were no unbeaten teams in the 2023-24 season, which ended up being closer at the top of the table than the bottom.

With six wins from their first six matches, defending champions Man City had raced up to first place in the EPL table over the opening weeks of the 2023/24 season, with top scorer Erling Haaland coming racing out of the blocks.

But consecutive away defeats against Wolves and Arsenal meant Pep Guardiola's team had lost that position going into the October international break, offering the other top sides in the division hope.

Man City went into their derby clash away to Man Utd on October 29 sitting third in the table, but Guardiola's men were comfortable in recording a 3-0 win over rivals Man Utd and then followed that up with a crushing 6-1 victory over Bournemouth, as they moved back into first place by early November.

However, a four-match winless run – which included a loss to Aston Villa in early December – meant they surrendered first place once more prior to going away to play in, and win, the FIFA Club World Cup. However, they were back to their best in the run-in, boosted by Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne returning from injury, winning nine straight games and being unbeaten in 23.

That run meant Arsenal narrowly missed out on title glory for the second straight season, despite huge progress under Mikel Arteta.

Liverpool were among the leading sides this season. Their defeat at Spurs with nine men on September 30 was the first loss of the season and that remained their only setback until being beaten by title rivals Arsenal on February 4. They still finished with just four defeats.

Mohamed Salah was on great form leading a new-look group that kept the Reds competitive near the top of the standings throughout the campaign. Their title bid took on extra significance after Jurgen Klopp announced in January that he was to leave his role as manager at the end of the season, but ultimately fell short.

Unai Emery's Aston Villa had a brilliant season. Aside from some occasional heavy defeats, they were in formidable form, with one of the highlights being a 6-1 home win over Brighton in a stunning performance, powered by Ollie Watkins' hat-trick. Two consecutive 1-0 wins over Man City and Arsenal were big statements that briefly gave their fans hope of a shock title bid. Ultimately, finishing fourth became their priority, and that position was secured with a game to spare.

With the likes of James Maddison and Son Heung-min impressing after the departure of talisman Harry Kane, Tottenham were top of the league at the end of October.

But losing three straight games to Chelsea, Wolves and Villa as injuries began to bite meant they suddenly slipped down the standings. However, they remained in the hunt for a top-four finish, a bid which exceeded pre-season expectations, falling narrowly short after a poor finish to the campaign.

Newcastle started the campaign in England’s top flight with an emphatic win over Villa, but then suffered defeats to Man City, Liverpool and Brighton amid a tough run of fixtures. Their huge 8-0 victory over Sheffield United indicated they had turned the corner and they then had an impressive 4-1 home win over Chelsea before embarking on another tough run of form, as the squad struggled to cope with injuries after their efforts in the UEFA Champions League.

Man Utd lost nine of their opening 20 matches and later reached 14 defeats, with Erik ten Hag under huge pressure for much of the season.

Brighton's rapid start – they recorded big wins over Luton, Wolves, Newcastle, Man Utd and Bournemouth – suggested last season's impressive sixth-place finish was not a flash in the pan, but the humbling result at Villa, as well as a heavy loss against Luton in the reverse fixture, highlighted some major concerns and they went on to drop out of the leading positions, finishing in mid-table as Roberto De Zerbi announced his departure.

West Ham enjoyed brief spells at the top of the table in the early weeks of the season. They recorded statement wins over Chelsea and Brighton. Although they fell away, the Hammers remained in contention for a European place for much of 2023-24. But they could not finish strongly enough, with David Moyes' departure confirmed.

It was a slow start for Chelsea, who lost at home to Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Brentford as well as suffering a London derby defeat at West Ham. They only had one win from their first six matches.

After a tough first half of the season, they appeared to be steadying the ship and reached the EFL Cup final where they suffered a heart-breaking loss to Liverpool. League defeats to the Reds and Wolves put the pressure on Mauricio Pochettino but the Blues finished very well, initially moving back into the top half and then reaching the top six to book a European spot for a 2024/25 campaign that they hope will be more positive.

Premier League key fixtures

All 380 matches have now been played for the 2023/24 season.

England's top flight returns on August 17/18 of 2024 for the new season.

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Who qualifies for the Champions League

The top four teams in the Premier League are guaranteed to automatically qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League competition, going straight through to the group stage.

Up until this season, the chance of a fifth EPL team reaching the Champions League was slim – a team would have had to win the UCL while also missing out on a top-four finish for that to happen.

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However, due to changes in the Champions League format, which involves the introduction of a Swiss Model and a 36-team competition, there was a strong chance five EPL sides will be in the 2024/25 UCL.

That is because an extra Champions League place will be awarded to each of the two nations with the highest UEFA co-efficient ranking, which is based on the performance of each country’s clubs in continental competitions.

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England had finished top for the last three seasons. Had the system been in place last year, England and Spain would have received the two extra places. That would have meant qualification Liverpool, who finished fifth. Instead, the Reds will play in the 2023/24 Europa League.

Unexpectedly for many EPL advocates, England missed out to Germany and Italy, so fifth-place in the Premier League this season will only mean a Europa League spot.

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Last year it was the teams who finished fifth and sixth – Liverpool and Brighton – who qualified for the Europa League, while seventh-placed Aston Villa reached the Conference League.

West Ham also made the Europa League despite finishing 14th, courtesy of winning the Conference League.

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However, those EPL positions are not fixed to certain UEFA competitions, as the allocation of places depends on which team ends up winning the two English domestic knockout tournaments – the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

Last season, Manchester City won the FA Cup, but because they were already in the top four, their Europa League spot went to Brighton in sixth.

And seventh place only meant Conference League qualification for Aston Villa because Carabao Cup winners Man Utd were also top-four finishers, meaning they would be in the Champions League instead.

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This year was complicated by the potential extra Champions League place. But teams went into the season safe in the knowledge that a top-six finish in the EPL typically all but guarantees some kind of European football, with seventh often good enough too.

Tie breakers

If teams finish level on points in the 2023/24 Premier League table, there are various tie breakers that are applied.

First is goal difference – whichever team has the highest goal difference will finish above any other sides with the same points total.

If they have the same goal difference, it will go down to goals scored. For example, if Team A had 70 goals scored and 60 conceded, while Team B had 60 goals scored and 50 conceded, it would be Team A who finished ahead in the table, even though both sides had a +10 goal difference.

It would take a highly unlikely scenario for any other tie breakers to be required, although there is a system in place just in case.

If teams competing for the title, relegation or a league position that would mean qualification for UEFA competition were level on points, goal difference, and goals scored, the following additional tie breakers would come into force:

1) Points gained in head-to-head record between the teams involved. 2) Away goals scored in head-to-head record between the teams involved. 3) A play-off match or matches between the teams involved

Manchester City have been the dominant Premier League team over recent seasons.

They have won the title for five out of the previous six campaigns, with Liverpool winning the other in that span in 2019/20.

Manchester United still hold the record for the most English titles with 20, but their last Premier League success came back in 2013.

Chelsea have won it twice since then, while Leicester City – who are now in the Championship – were shock winners in 2015/16.

Arsenal have not come out on top since their Invincibles season in 2003/04.