Best player
Has Erling Haaland been the best player or the most blisteringly, devastatingly effective? Is there a difference? Either way, Kevin De Bruyne cast aside a mixed opening half of the season by his sky-high standards to turn on the style for Manchester City’s title charge and shades his colleague for all-round brilliance. Until Arsenal’s tail-off Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard were running him mightily close: it has been a joy to see the latter, in particular, fulfilling the expectations that have followed him around for a decade. Nick Ames
Didn’t get to see Haaland in the flesh, so I will go for his fellow Norwegian in Ødegaard, a tall, elegant glider who seems to skate through matches when everyone else is slip-sliding away. And a mention for the truly electrifying Kaoru Mitoma, who has given defenders a right chasing ever since he came back from Qatar. John Brewin
Haaland. The City striker is absolutely inevitable. Not since Cristiano Ronaldo left in 2009 has the Premier League been able to legitimately claim to have the best player in the world. Nearly 40 league goals in his first season in England is scary. Michael Butler
De Bruyne or Bernardo Silva. Both champions are extremely watchable. Ben Fisher
The subject of premature ridicule in some quarters after his underwhelming debut for Manchester City in the Community Shield, Haaland has since demonstrated he has a keen eye for goal and can play a bit. Barry Glendenning
Haaland is unlike anything ever to have existed and is the only Premier League player definitely the world’s best in his position. Daniel Harris
Haaland. It cannot be anyone else. Phenomenal. Andy Hunter
Haaland. There have been times this season when I’ve actually felt afraid for the defenders up against him. David Hytner
Haaland. Thirty-six Premier League goals in 35 matches is a ridiculous return from a debut season. Guess what? It is close to a certainty that he will be even better next season. Jamie Jackson
Haaland. Jonathan Liew
“I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.” Haaland. Sachin Nakrani
Rodri. Plays every game. Never has a bad one. Yes, this is easier when you’re surrounded by ball-hogging skill-hobbits. But as Pep likes to say: so, so, so good. Barney Ronay
Haaland. Do you need an explanation? Jacob Steinberg
Haaland. False 9s are all very well but, as even Pep Guardiola must by now agree, they are no substitute for the real thing. That said there are times when it is almost impossible to credit that Haaland is a human being. At his elemental, force-of-nature best it can seem he has descended from another planet. Happily, the pyjamas suggest he has arrived with a sense of humour to go with the goals. Louise Taylor
I still laugh at those who questioned Haaland after he missed chances and failed to score against Liverpool in the Community Shield. Since then he has been an all-action brute of a striker, who has enjoyed breaking records on his way to a Premier League title and who knows what else. Will Unwin
Best manager
Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Eddie Howe are in the conversation for obvious reasons; Marco Silva, Thomas Frank, Steve Cooper, Gary O’Neil and in recent months Unai Emery have been excellent too. Roberto De Zerbi takes the prize, though. He inherited excellent foundations from Graham Potter so it raised an eyebrow when he walked in and highlighted that, all the same, certain things needed to improve; the speed with which he turned a decent, watchable side into a Europa League qualifier whose games now verge on appointment viewing has been breathtaking. NA
Guardiola is the best coach of our time, in that, once he’s decided to try to make a player better, the results are usually successful. Beyond that, De Zerbi is box office, just the right hint of danger about him. And though hard to warm to Howe for several reasons, he is a very good manager. Saudi Arabia chose well there. JB
Guardiola is still on for the treble, so it feels remiss not to give him another gong here. Imagine not giving Sir Alex Ferguson the manager of the year award in 1998-99. But if the best tactical manager in the world being backed by state-level wealth isn’t your thing, De Zerbi, Arteta, Emery and O’Neil are worthy replacements. MB
Howe. Has revitalised a club not so long ago classed as relegation fodder into a Champions League outfit. Has pushed players to heights most thought were beyond them – Joelinton, this week called up to the Brazil squad, a case in point – and exceeded all expectations in his first full season. The same can be said for O’Neil, who took charge at Bournemouth when they looked doomed after a 9-0 shellacking at Anfield. BF
There are cases to be made for several but I was among those who thought giving O’Neil the manager’s job at Bournemouth on a permanent basis would prove a serious error of judgment by their new American owner. BG
Others have achievements of comparable merit but if we’re talking best, which we are, then that can only be Guardiola – asterisks, caveats and all. DHa
O’Neil. “We are ill-equipped for this level,” Scott Parker lamented after Bournemouth’s Premier League record-equalling 9-0 defeat at Liverpool in August. Parker was sacked three days later and his then untested, interim replacement immediately set about demolishing that theory with a six-game unbeaten run. To guide Bournemouth to safety with four games to spare, given last summer’s spend and internal disruption, represents a stunning managerial debut. AH
With apologies to De Zerbi and a few others, it has to be Pep. DH
De Zerbi. The Italian’s team lost 3-1 at Manchester City on 22 October yet Brighton’s pass-and-move, control-of-the-ball play dominated the champions more than any side witnessed by this observer. JJ
De Zerbi. JL
De Zerbi. A new manager in a new country taking over a group of players still pining for the old guy; it probably shouldn’t have worked but well and truly did. De Zerbi turned a good Brighton side into a brilliant one, on and off the ball, racking up victories over Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal and securing European qualification for the first time in the club’s history. He also got them within a penalty shootout win of a first FA Cup final appearance in 40 years. An excellent impact by an excellent manager. SN
O’Neil. Took a squad Parker literally talked himself into the sack over and ended the season as the relegation king-maker for bigger teams below. Hard to know where to go with it. But one self-contained phenomenal season. BR
O’Neil deserves an honourable mention for keeping Bournemouth up. Guardiola did all right. But De Zerbi stands out: fun, innovative and the man behind Brighton qualifying for Europe for the first time. JS
Howe. When Howe arrived at Newcastle 19 months ago they were 19th in the Premier League and still to win their first game of the season. Now they are looking forward to a first Champions League campaign in 20 years. That represents a phenomenal achievement; not least because Howe has transformed the team’s style from a deep-sitting, counterattacking ensemble to a thrillingly high-pressing outfit. Hats off too to the former Bournemouth manager for building such a mean defence. LT
Those who have turned around the fortunes of their clubs deserve the greatest praise. Julen Lopetegui, O’Neil and Roy Hodgson have been great appointments but what Emery has done at Aston Villa deserves special mention, taking them from a relegation battle to a top-half finish without a squad overhaul. WU
Best goal
No recency bias or indeed Brighton bias here: Julio Enciso’s equaliser against Manchester City on Wednesday was special. The entire front-to-back move was a model of patience, timing and precision; the eventual finish from one of the league’s most scintillating young players utterly breathtaking. NA
John McGinn, Aston Villa v Chelsea. It was McGinn’s first Villa goal for 16 months, it was the last goal of Graham Potter’s doomed regime, one he described as “not that big a chance” in “xG terms”. After a corner, the ball was laid up from a second ball by the excellent, talented Jacob Ramsey, and clattered in by McGinn. Poetry. And the sharpening of knives. JB
Jacob Murphy v Everton. A screamer from two yards. No, not really; this Newcastle goal is all about the assist, as Alexander Isak completes perhaps the finest Premier League dribble since Hatem Ben Arfa’s solo goal for the Magpies in 2012. Isak starts at the halfway line, shimmying past Ben Godfrey to reach the byline, before bamboozling the trio of Michael Keane (twice), Idrissa Gueye and Godfrey (again) and dinking his cross to Murphy at the back post. How can somebody 6ft 4in be so agile? MB
Ilkay Gündogan v Everton. Just majestic. BF
Séamus Coleman’s audacious winner for Everton against Leeds from a preposterously tight angle prompted much debate over whether the Irish full-back “meant it”. He insists he did and the TV evidence from all available angles backs him up. BG
Michael Keane, Everton v Spurs. With no context, an unbelievable hit; with context, an unbelievable hit, in the last minute of a crucial game, to earn a point, by a player who’d conceded the penalty to which his team trailed, and which helped keep them up. A finish that contained multitudes. DHa
Coleman, Everton v Leeds. Not only a brilliant piece of ingenuity from the 34-year-old right-back but one that ultimately made a crucial difference in the destiny of the two clubs. AH
Youri Tielemans versus Wolves. For the purity of the connection, the precision and even the sound when it glances in off the far upright. DH
Alejandro Garnacho v Fulham. At 1-1, in added time at Craven Cottage, the rocket-heeled Argentinian wunderkind fashioned a one-two with Christian Eriksen and scored, snatching the winner, three points, and, via this debut league goal, announced that Manchester United may have their next A-list act. JJ
Erling Haaland against Southampton. A 21-pass move involving every player in the side: perhaps the ultimate distillation of what City are trying to do these days. JL
Cody Gakpo v Manchester United. In a season of few great goals, Gakpo’s second in Liverpool’s 7-0 rout of United at Anfield in March was, arguably, the best of the lot. A scorching counterattack that the Dutchman started just outside his own area and finished, after an exchange of passes with Mohamed Salah, via a delicate and devastating right-foot strike. Breathless stuff and one of the rare times Liverpool truly looked themselves during a disappointing campaign for Jürgen Klopp’s side. SN
Kevin De Bruyne’s first-time lob at the Emirates. Sublime improvisation in a moment that really mattered. Deciding the league title is good. Deciding the league title with a cheeky dink is alpha class. BR
Enciso’s blast for Brighton during their 1-1 draw with City. JS
Salah’s goal in the 1-0 win against City at Anfield serves as a microcosm of all that is so superlative about the Egyptian’s game. When Alisson saved De Bruyne’s free-kick, the goalkeeper immediately launched the ball upfield, leaving Salah to spin clear of Joāo Cancelo before being left one on one against Ederson, manoeuvring the ball brilliantly before side-footing it into the net. The touch which swept the striker beyond a panic stricken Cancelo alone was incredible. LT
I always feel I should choose a goal in a match I attended. There was something about Gündogan’s opener at Everton. He controlled the ball with his thigh and hooked it into the net, all while having his back to goal. It seemed confirmation City would win the league. WU
Best match
It might not win prizes for quality but, of those I covered live, Arsenal 3-2 Bournemouth was unparalleled for sheer, rattling good drama. An opener inside 10 seconds, a two-goal lead for the injury-hit underdogs, a stirring comeback and the most improbable of last-gasp winners via the swinger of a barely used fringe player. Wild scenes, and at the time there was a sense Arsenal’s name was on the Premier League trophy. In hindsight the match had shown several of the reasons why that was not to be. NA
Southampton 3-3 Tottenham, March. I watched Kevin Keegan’s “I would luv it” rant with the sound down in a Sheffield bar, I’ve sat through a couple of José Mourinho drive-bys in person and I was behind the “ostrich” in question as Nigel Pearson lost his temper at Leicester in 2015 but to be present at Antiono Conte’s inferno, the volcanic reaction that ended his Spurs tenure was a special, if rather strafing privilege. As my deadline fast approached, enter Conte, his voice soon rising to a squawk as I tried to make sense of what had happened and what was happening right now. “Why, Antonio, why?” – from a Fleet Street veteran who later told me he had just witnessed the greatest managerial rant of his career – was one of just two questions answered. Did I mention the game had been brilliant, chaotic, two teams falling apart in perfect symmetry? Sometimes, the football has to take a back seat. JB
Liverpool 4-3 Tottenham. Tottenham coming back from 3-0 down to score an injury-time equaliser at Anfield was quite enough excitement for one day, but Diogo Jota’s winner in the 94th minute in front of the Kop – the Portuguese should earlier have been sent off for a high boot on Oliver Skipp – was so deliciously Spursy. MB
The correct answer is Sheffield Wednesday’s incredible playoff comeback against Peterborough. Beyond that, Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal was stupidly absorbing. BF
Written off as a know-nothing “forrin” by some pundits before any of Brighton’s players had kicked a ball under his supervision, Roberto De Zerbi’s first match was a terrific 3-3 draw at Anfield that served as a portent of things to come under his high-risk, high-reward management style. BG
Newcastle 3-3 Manchester City A classy, wild, thrilling encounter which announced the arrival of a new power while showcasing the resilience of a slightly less new one. DHa
Liverpool 7 Manchester United 0. A record victory for one side of a great rivalry represented an utterly humiliating reverse for the other as Erik ten Hag’s team surrendered to the joint-worst defeat in United’s history and Bruno Fernandes morphed into a two-year-old who had lost his dummy. AH
Arsenal 3-2 Bournemouth. You’ve got to love a three-goal comeback, crowned by the madness of a 97th-minute winner, especially when you are not writing live on it. Apologies, Nick. DH
Liverpool 7 Manchester United 0. Really? Did this actually occur? A seven-nil evisceration of Manchester United by their greatest rival at their greatest rival’s home before fans adoring seeing their beloved Liverpool do this? Yes, it did – on 5 March 2023: a dark day for the Ten Hag project; a jubilant one in Jürgen Klopp’s seven-year reign. JJ
Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham. An injury-time equaliser by Harry Kane; a touchline fracas between Thomas Tuchel and Conte. And yes, it really was only this season. JL
Liverpool 4-3 Tottenham. Liverpool go 3-0 up inside 15 minutes, look on course for an easy victory only to slowly but surely fold in the face of a Spurs fightback capped by Richarlison’s 93rd-minute header. That appears to be that only for Jota to seize on a mistake by Lucas Moura a minute later and send Anfield into bedlam. A wild and ridiculous finish to a wild and ridiculous game. SN
Nottingham Forest 4-3 Southampton. Crazy game. The moment of escape. Steve Cooper whirling around with the expression of a man trying very hard not to let his head explode. BR
Picking from ones I attended, it has to be Brighton’s 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea. It was the first sign of something special brewing under De Zerbi. And the Amex was a bearpit because of the return of Graham Potter. JS
Newcastle United 3 Manchester City 3. An easy choice. Quite apart from six goals – and the sight of City apparently gasping for oxygen before coming back from 3-1 down to snatch a point – there was plenty to marvel at. If Allan Saint-Maximin at his unplayable best was not sufficiently thrilling, Kevin De Bruyne and Joelinton excelled in midfield while the duel involving Erling Haaland and Sven Botman proved the most compelling of subplots. A 21st-century classic which also served as a statement of a newly hard-pressing Newcastle’s emergence as a force to be reckoned with. LT
Liverpool v Tottenham. I was lucky to be there – and did not need to send my work until well after full-time. It all seemed so simple when Liverpool took a three-goal lead in the opening 15 minutes. Spurs were at a relatively low ebb, so everyone in attendance thought the game was done, but they managed to come back, with Richarlison scoring an injury-time equaliser, only for Jota to net the winner in the 94th minute. Cue Anfield pandemonium. WU
Best signing
Erling Haaland for obvious reasons. But Gabriel Jesus is up there too for the impetus he gave Arsenal’s attacking momentum, sparking the run upon which their title challenge rested, even if he does not score enough goals. Sven Botman deserves a shout for his performances in Newcastle’s defence while Morgan Gibbs-White, who appeared an expensive punt from Nottingham Forest at the outset has developed into a star and may have made the difference in their successful survival bid. NA
Haaland. And a special mention for Pervis Estupiñán, another one fine talent off that brilliant Brighton scouting production line. JB
Haaland is the only new signing to make into the top 10 Premier League players for goals this season. So it’s hard to look past the Norwegian. But because defending is also a thing, and because no team conceded fewer goals than Newcastle, Nick Pope edges out Botman here, on account of the Englishman playing out of his skin, and only costing £10m. MB
Can it be a manager? Unai Emery has transformed Aston Villa after replacing Steven Gerrard in November. João Palhinha was a key cog for Fulham and Craig Dawson crucial to Wolves’ turnaround under Julen Lopetegui. Haaland was not too bad either. BF
He may not have been the most eye-catching of Nottingham Forest’s many signings but Taiwo Awoniyi’s goals proved priceless in their successful battle to beat the drop. Signed for £17m, the Nigerian scored the only goal in four 1-0 victories, two in a 4-3 win and another brace in a 2-2 draw; combined results that contributed 16 points to the cause of survival. Clutch. BG
Palhinha. The ballast and brains in one of the league’s surprise successes. DHa
Bernd Leno. The structure of the deal that took the Germany international from Arsenal to Craven Cottage means Fulham have paid about £6m for one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the Premier League this season. A superb piece of business that contributed to an excellent campaign for Marco Silva’s side. AH
If Haaland has been the player of the season, then he must also be the signing of the season. But, to add variety, I’d like to say that I’ve loved watching Lisandro Martínez and Casemiro. Also, does William Saliba count? DH
Manuel Akanji. For about £15m City acquired a defender who can play in all positions across the rearguard and is trusted by Pep Guardiola in the major contests. JJ
By magnitude: Haaland. Pound for pound: Estupiñán. JL
Estupiñán. Brighton have an excellent manager but their success since being promoted to the Premier League in 2017 has been underpinned by outstanding recruitment, and few players epitomise that more than Estupiñán. The Ecuadorian arrived from Villarreal for £15m in August as a replacement for Marc Cucurella after the Spaniard’s £62m move to Chelsea and more than filled the void, from an attacking and defensive point of view. Top left-back, top piece of business. SN
Haaland. I mean, come on. Yes, he was already phenomenal. But needed work to make him fit. A unique footballing athlete. BR
It’s unlikely that Manchester United would have returned to the Champions League without Casemiro. The Brazilian has offered class and leadership in midfield since his move from Real Madrid. JS
Haaland. Has, in a footballing context at least, £51.2m ever been better spent? LT
Of course it’s Haaland, but I cannot repeat myself. Instead, I will back another leading No 9 in Awoniyi. The Forest striker has flourished after an underwhelming start in the Premier League. His goals and all-round play have been imperative to Forest staying up. WU
Worst flop
Perhaps Todd Boehly will have proved us all wrong in five years’ time but he has to be near the top for believing he could blunderbuss his way through the Premier League at warp speed and ending up with an unholy mess. Mauricio Pochettino is capable of sparing his blushes next season but the job will not be easy. Otherwise the word “Spurs” encompasses all manner of disappointments, the latest being that the continent’s brightest managers appear to be falling over each other to distance themselves from the vacant position. NA
The Boehly Chelsea regime has been a farce all season – which is not remotely all his fault – but I was sad to see former Macc player Graham Potter freeze when his big chance came. He’ll be back. I just hope the scars aren’t too deep. JB
Richarlison. His £60m fee has returned three goals in all competitions, a record so bad that even Michail Antonio and Callum Wilson are having a laugh at the Brazilian’s expense. MB
Mykhailo Mudryk. BF
Georginio Rutter, signed by Leeds from Hoffenheim in January for a fee rising to £35m, has played 264 minutes of Premier League football and contributed no goals and one assist. BG
Antonio Conte. Strong-armed Daniel Levy into releasing funds for players, largely frittered them, then blamed everyone but himself before forcing his sacking and payoff. DHa
The Everton hierarchy. Weakened a squad that only just escaped relegation last season, persevered too long with Frank Lampard, failed to make a signing in January despite acknowledging for months that a new striker was desperately needed, and threw the entire fanbase under a bus with unsubstantiated claims of a headlock and threats to their safety. Departures are long overdue. AH
Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and the rest of the Chelsea higher-ups must have done something dreadfully wrong if they are being nominated here ahead of Levy. DH
Kalvin Phillips. A season in hell for a midfielder whose shining talent seemed to fade the moment he arrived in east Manchester from Leeds last summer. Started only two league matches. JJ
Not entirely his fault, but Raheem Sterling looked a shadow of the player he was for Manchester City and England. JL
Frank Lampard. Sacked by one club for being a terrible manager, joins another club who had previously sacked him for being a terrible manager and is even more terrible the second time around. Perhaps do give up the day job, Frank. SN
Every single aspect of the Todd Boehly-verse. Although to be fair, can’t wait for the sequel. BR
Boehly and Clearlake Capital haven’t exactly had a great time since buying Chelsea last May. Pound for pound, this may well have been the worst season ever. JS
Djed Spence. The right-back gets the award through no fault of his own. Now playing for Rennes, he joined Spurs for £20m from Middlesbrough last summer after spending the preceding season impressing on loan at Nottingham Forest. Conte gave him six substitute appearances, decided he was not good enough and farmed him out to France. Did Conte and Tottenham’s recruitment department not communicate properly? Never mind – Spurs can pay a high percentage of Spence’s wages while loaning him back to Middlesbrough to bolster Michael Carrick’s promotion challenge next season. LT
Chelsea’s owners. They have made a mess of everything from firings and hirings to recruitment. It really has been a woeful first campaign in charge for Boehly et al. WU
Biggest gripe
I’m really not a fan of the five substitutes rule: even with a limited number of windows to make changes it clogs up the game and, in more cases than I care to remember, has helped render the final 20 minutes of a match virtually unwatchable. The latter point goes hand in hand with an equally irksome inability to clamp down on timewasting. Other than that, VAR and the tedious debates around it appear to have become depressingly normalised even though it is both by and for people who do not really like football. Sportswashing has also become horrifyingly mainstream and cheered through by too many in all areas of the sport; there are few graver problems in football. NA
Continuing refereeing paranoia and conspiracy theories, not helped by the belligerence of managers such as Jürgen Klopp in targeting individual officials such as Paul Tierney. Howard Webb lifting the lid on VAR was a useful exercise that ought to have shown how hard it is to officiate a game, how focused the VAR team are on not making mistakes. It looked a pretty hard way to earn your money, those voices cracked with anxiety. But of course, that wasn’t enough as the ref-obsessives complained the VAR demo hadn’t shown a mistake that happened against their club and so the whole process was bias and and and and … urgh. JB
After the success in the World Cup of Proper Stoppage Time – where we would often see upwards of 10 minutes correctly added on – why did Premier League officials revert to normal and allow timewasting to creep back in? In a game that is now officiated so precisely, timekeeping still feels like an afterthought. MB
As one of the one in 12 men who are colourblind, the kit clashes. Shirt numbers concealed within stripes is a real bugbear. BF
The constant, ongoing on- and off-field badgering of referees, whether by players, managers, fans, keyboard conspiracy theorists, reporters, pundits or TV presenters. BG
Sadly, this is an easy one: human-rights abusing states – abetted by craven government and authorities – using football as a nationalist tool of power and influence. DHa
The Premier League’s attempts – denied by the chief executive, Richard Masters, during his cringeworthy appearance before MPs in March – to frustrate plans for an independent football regulator that could prevent clubs going out of business, introduce a more stringent owners’ test and give fans a stronger voice. “I haven’t seen that willingness to engage and recognise the challenges and vulnerabilities of football governance from the Premier League,” the former sports minister Tracey Crouch told the DCMS select committee. Crouch agreed that the Premier League’s tactic had been to “kick it into the long grass”. On the playing side, overcomplicating offside and handball rules plus, of course, VAR. AH
The time it is taking the Premier League to prove or disprove the charges against Manchester City is a source of deep frustration. DH
When a manager or player (or pundit) declares: “You can learn more in defeat than victory.” Of course, because if winning, what else needs to be known? JJ
Late offside flags. Everyone knows the player is offside, and yet for some reason play continues: a kind of dead, pointless pretend-football that in many ways is the perfect metaphor for the modern game. JL
Manchester City winning the title in the same season they were hit with 115 charges of allegedly breaching financial rules by the Premier League (they deny any wrongdoing) was a depressing turn of events, and that’s before you get on to Newcastle qualifying for the Champions League in their first full campaign under Saudi ownership. Sky Sports’ various cheerleaders and Alan Shearer via the weirdest open letter in the history of open letters can try their best to claim otherwise, but English football is in a really bad place at the moment. SN
Having a season that lasted for three years. More recently Howard Webb’s attempts to “draw back the curtain” on refereeing and start “a big open conversation”. No. No thanks. Please redraw the curtain. Stop trying to have a conversation. Just don’t make too many mistakes. And stand over there till you’re needed. BR
The amount of errors introduced by VAR. Maxwel Cornet’s disallowed goal for West Ham at Chelsea, the various mishaps Brighton suffered, Brentford’s equaliser against Arsenal. Rank incompetence. JS
Television scheduling which leaves live supporters with desperately awkward, inconvenient, expensive and, sometimes, downright impossible journeys. Leicester have just become the first Premier League team to play on four consecutive Monday nights. Let’s hope that record never gets broken. Meanwhile, Newcastle have not kicked off at St James’ Park at 3pm on a Saturday since 31 December 2022. That’s a terrible shame. Clubs should surely be guaranteed a minimum number of sacrosanct 3pm Saturday fixtures? LT
Cancelling matches for the Queen’s death. It all seemed a bit pointless. Purely done because football has to show it cares more than other sports. WU
