The Manchester City Machine Takes the Prize
For so much of 2022-23, Arsenal were on course to become Premier League champions against the odds, but were eventually overhauled by an all-powerful Manchester City in a compelling title race. Stephen Donovan looks back on the events of a dramatic season.
The events of recent years have shown that it takes something quite exceptional to even threaten the prospect of Manchester City being dethroned as Premier League champions, but for so much of 2022-23, a thrilling challenge from Arsenal was on course to provide it. Showing a level of quality and consistency few would have predicted at the start of the season, the Gunners surprised everyone by leading for most of the way only to be overpowered in the run-in by City, who finished the season like an all-conquering juggernaut to claim their fifth title in six years.
With the 2022 World Cup slap-bang in the middle of it, this was a season unlike any other, and even with the phenomenal Erling Haaland stamping his mark upon the Premier League by breaking just about every goalscoring record in sight, it actually took Man City a long time to truly hit their stride in 2022-23. Some indifferent results in the first half of the campaign allowed Arsenal to build a handsome lead, but just as some were starting to doubt their hopes of lifting the trophy for a third year in a row, Pep Guardiola managed to unlock his team’s full potential.
As City eventually rose to become even more imperious than ever in their pursuit of a historic treble, Guardiola’s former protégé Mikel Arteta saw his much-admired Arsenal side fail to last the distance as their advantage was wiped out with only weeks to spare. For a club rejuvenated with its supporters dreaming of a first title since 2004, momentum had turned to genuine belief until they fell away and allowed the reigning champions to pounce in ruthless fashion.
In 2021-22, Man City had produced a stunning final day comeback to narrowly hold off Liverpool after another epic title race, and although the arrival of Haaland made City even stronger favourites, at the outset here it seemed likely that those two clubs would again battle it out for the crown. However, the Reds – with a new striker of their own in Darwin Nunez – floundered right from the start. In one of many surprises across the Premier League during 2022-23, a succession of performances lacking in their characteristic energy and intensity saw them effectively ruled out of the title race within weeks of the season getting underway. Instead it was Arsenal, fresh from missing out on a top-four finish for the sixth consecutive year, who got off to the perfect start.
With former Man City duo Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko now in their ranks, the North London side showed they meant business right from the start, and a record of 12 wins and only one defeat from the first 14 games meant they went into the World Cup a full five points clear of Man City, who signed off by unexpectedly losing at home to Brentford.
By this stage, it already was shaping up to be a two-horse race for the title as along with Liverpool, many of the other fancied sides were seriously underperforming. Tottenham and Chelsea were struggling for form and would only get worse, while the top four was a more realistic aim for rapidly improving Manchester United. It was therefore left to Newcastle United, amid a stunning transformation overseen by Eddie Howe, to be the best of the rest. When everything resumed on Boxing Day, the question was whether Arsenal could continue from where they left off, and they again came up with all the right answers. Inspired by the playmaking brilliance of skipper Martin Odegaard, and the electrifying talent of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli on either side of their attack, the Gunners maintained their advantage as the weeks went by as Man City suffered defeats at Man Utd and Tottenham.
However, the two title rivals still had to play each other twice. The first hotly anticipated meeting was in North London on February 15 and it was a fiercely contested affair, but City came on strong in the second half to win 3-1 and move to the top for the first time.
This may have been a decisive blow, only for Arsenal to respond well and reclaim top spot just days later as the new leaders were held to a draw at Nottingham Forest. This, however, would remarkably be the last time the team in blue would drop points until the Premier League trophy was back in their hands, as they became a free-scoring winning machine and stormed to amazing 12 straight victories. By now, Guardiola had switched to a novel 3-2-4-1 formation, and it made them truly unstoppable.
In the face of this relentless pursuit, Arsenal held it together well until they travelled to Anfield to take on Liverpool on April 9. In a game that was always going to be a major test of their resolve, the Gunners made a dream start by taking a 2-0 lead and they looked set to maintain an eight-point cushion over City, but they lost their grip and ended up having to settle for a 2-2 draw. That would be a turning point, but an even bigger one was to come a week later as Arteta would see his side somehow suffer the same fate after being 2-0 up and cruising at West Ham United, before needing a comeback of their own to draw 3-3 with bottom club Southampton. It meant the destiny of the title was now in the hands of both Arsenal and Man City as the two rivals met at the Etihad Stadium on April 26 in a match billed as the decider. The biggest game of the season turned out to be no contest, as a Man City masterclass led by Kevin de Bruyne blew Arteta’s pretenders away with a 4-1 win. It was a ruthless destruction, and while in theory Arsenal were still in with a chance, there was little doubt that the title would belong to City. And so it proved, as four more wins helped them over the line, with their success confirmed by Arsenal’s defeat at Nottingham Forest on the penultimate weekend.
For Guardiola and his side, it represented another outstanding triumph as their current stranglehold over the Premier League goes on. In the final reckoning, they still couldn’t be matched as Haaland brought a unique kind of firepower to win the Golden Boot with a record 36 goals. Ilkay Gundogan was masterful alongside the equally brilliant Rodri and de Bruyne in midfield, while John Stones was a revelation after being pushed further up the field as a result of the mid-season formation switch. As for Arsenal, there will be immense disappointment and regret at missing out after being ahead in the race for so long, but they deserve credit for a magnificent season in which they exceeded all expectations.
Talking of exceeding expectations, Newcastle produced an amazing season to finish fourth and return to the Champions League after an absence of 20 years. That may have been the long-term aim for the club’s Saudi owners, but with an excellent combination of entertaining attacking football and the best defensive record in the top-flight, they were one of the great success stories of 2022-23.
Joining the Magpies in Europe’s elite competition are Manchester United, as Erik ten Hag overcame a difficult start to his reign and the acrimonious exit of Cristiano Ronaldo to impressively steer the club to third place and end their six-year trophy drought by winning the Carabao Cup.
A late-season resurgence by Liverpool was not enough to claim a Champions League place as they had to settle for fifth. However, at least the Reds fared better than Tottenham and Chelsea, whose inept performances on the field were reflected by increasing states of crisis and instability off it, with both clubs firing two managers along the way.
Harry Kane’s immeasurable class was clear for all to see in a Spurs side that were wholly unconvincing throughout as they failed to qualify for Europe for the first time since 2009, whereas Chelsea became a laughing stock. New owner Todd Boehly splashed the cash in a manner not seen before, but the decision to dismiss Champions League winning manager Thomas Tuchel and replace him with Brighton’s Graham Potter backfired as the club descended into relegation form and ended 12th with their worst Premier League points total, leaving Mauricio Pochettino with much to do as he takes over the reigns for 2023-24.
As these heavyweights faltered, other teams stepped forward and delivered outstanding campaigns against the odds. Far from falling away after Potter’s departure, Brighton have been even more impressive under successor Roberto De Zerbi and with their neatly assembled squad, were a joy to watch as they deservedly finished sixth to qualify for Europe for the first time.
Aston Villa struggled desperately early on, but the decision to replace manager Steven Gerrard with Unai Emery was a masterstroke as he galvanised the entire club on their way to seventh place and a Europa Conference League berth. Elsewhere, Brentford only lost nine times on the way to the highest finish in their history, and Fulham defied their status as one of the favourites to go down by claiming 10th spot.
Indeed, the Premier League in 2022-23 saw a big gap between the top half and the bottom half, leading to the tightest and most epic relegation battle for 12 years. At one stage no fewer than nine clubs were involved, and fear of the drop was rife with countless managers losing their jobs. The changes paid off for Crystal Palace and Wolves, while West Ham United and Nottingham Forest were both rewarded for keeping faith with David Moyes and Steve Cooper respectively. Bournemouth were written off by many, especially after a 9-0 defeat by Liverpool in August, but rookie manager Gary O’Neil heroically kept them up. Southampton always looked up against it and a lack of quality and stability saw their 11-year stay in the Premier League come to an end with two games to spare, but the fate of the other two relegation places went all the way to the final day of the season. And for the second year in a row, Everton narrowly managed to stay up with Abdoulaye Doucoure’s memorable winner against Bournemouth. This condemned Leeds United to the Championship after a dismal season which saw them concede 78 goals, and also Leicester City, who suffered a remarkable fall from grace just seven years after lifting the Premier League title.
The Foxes have been used to competing closer to the top in recent years and on paper were much too strong to go down, with the likes of Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho and Harvey Barnes in their ranks. However, too many poor performances and just one clean sheet in the final 23 games meant the unthinkable happened.
