Title, European places and relegation: How the 2023-24 Premier League season ended

The Premier League title was won for a fourth year in a row by Manchester City, as had been expected.

They were joined in the Champions League by second-placed Arsenal, third-placed Liverpool and fourth-placed Aston Villa.

At the other end, it was confirmed Luton Town were relegated and would join Burnley and Sheffield United in the Championship next season.

All three promoted sides were relegated at the first time of asking for only the second time in Premier League history.

There were a number of other issues settled on the pitch, with prize money and individual awards up for grabs.

Here, The Athletic details how another thrilling season concluded.

Title winners and runners-up

Pep Guardiola’s City became the first team in English football history to seal four successive league titles after a 3-1 win over West Ham United. Second-placed Arsenal, who started the day two points behind City, beat Everton 2-1.

This was the 10th time in the Premier League era (1992-93 onwards), the title had been decided on the final day.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal fell short in the title race (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

The European places

England’s four representatives in next season’s revamped Champions League had already been decided, with Liverpool (who beat Wolves in Jurgen Klopp’s final game in charge) and Aston Villa joining Arsenal and City in Europe’s premier club competition.

Unai Emery’s Villa will be appearing in the competition for the first time since the 1982-83 season (when it was still called the European Cup), despite getting hammered at Crystal Palace on the final day.

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Yet qualification for the Europa League and Conference League (the ‘Europa’ is being dropped from the name of the latter competition from next season) was still up for grabs — and all four teams in the mix won on the final day.

Tottenham beat relegated Sheffield United 3-0 to confirm fifth spot, while London rivals Chelsea recovered from a terrible start to the season to finish sixth after a 2-1 home win over Bournemouth.

The seventh spot went to Newcastle United, who beat Brentford 4-2 to finish on 60 points, level with Manchester United, but with a much better goal difference. Erik ten Hag’s side won 2-0 at Brighton in Roberto De Zerbi’s last match in charge of the south coast club after his exit was announced on Saturday.

Which competition the fifth and sixth (and maybe seventh) spots get depends on how the FA Cup final goes next weekend.

Should Manchester City beat Manchester United then fifth (Spurs) and sixth (Chelsea) get a Europa League spot and seventh (Newcastle) get a Conference League place.

If United beat their city rivals at Wembley then they will join Spurs in the Europa League and Chelsea will go into Conference League. Newcastle would get nothing.

The latest available figures show that qualifying for the Europa League will net clubs €3.63million (£3.1m; $3.9m) and reaching the Conference League will earn a windfall of €2.94m (£2.5m; $3.18m).

Who was relegated?

Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton were relegated and will play in the Championship next season.

Luton were three points and 12 goals worse off than 17th-placed Nottingham Forest at the start of the final day, making their chances of relegation likely. Luton’s 4-2 home defeat to Fulham and Forest’s 2-1 win at Burnley confirmed Luton’s place in the second tier next season.

It is just the second season in the Premier League era where every newly-promoted team has been relegated — after 1997-98, when Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and Crystal Palace all returned to the second tier at the first time of asking.

Rob Edwards’ Luton have been relegated back to the Championship (David Rogers/Getty Images)

Given the value of the broadcast deal enjoyed by the Premier League, relegation is a huge financial blow.

Clubs do receive parachute payments after going down (around £40m in the first season) but, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, their total revenue will drop by more than 50 per cent, which will cost around £100m.

How much prize money do clubs earn?

On paper, teams who had avoided relegation and were not challenging for the title or the European spots had very little to play for in their final matches.

However, there are millions of pounds available for finishing just one position in the table higher than you started the day in.

Only Liverpool (third), Aston Villa (fourth), West Ham United (ninth) and Sheffield United (20th) had a guaranteed finishing position going into the final day, so 16 clubs had, at the very least, a financial motivation to get all three points.

Here is what each finishing position earns, based off last season’s figures. Due to the broadcast deal being the same as the 2022-23 campaign, we can expect these numbers to be very accurate.

Who won the Golden Boot?

Erling Haaland was the Premier League’s top scorer for a second season in a row and won the Golden Boot again.

The Manchester City forward scored 27 league goals — with Chelsea’s Cole Palmer the second-highest scorer in 2023-24 with 22 goals.

Who won the Playmaker award?

This award — given to the player who provides the most assists over the campaign — was introduced in the 2017-18 season.

Not only did Villa’s Ollie Watkins score 19 goals, he also added 13 assists to claim the Playmaker award, with England team-mate Palmer in second with 11.

Who will win the player, manager and team of the year awards?

These awards will be decided after the final round of fixtures. Manchester City’s Phil Foden is the favourite with the bookmakers to be crowned PFA Players’ Player of the Year (decided by players), with team-mate Rodri, Chelsea’s Palmer and Arsenal’s Declan Rice all not far behind.

The manager of the season is decided by a panel assembled by the Premier League’s sponsors. Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Emery are the leading contenders.

As for the team of the year, it is sure to include a number of players from Manchester City and Arsenal. Last season, nine of the 11 selected played for one of these clubs and it is likely to be similar for this campaign.

(Top photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)