Premier League 2023-2024: Fans’ verdict on an exhilarating season

In the 2023/24 Premier League season, Manchester City emerged as favourites and clinched their fourth consecutive title in a thrilling season that showcased intense competition.

The title race remained tight for most of the season, with City, Arsenal, and Liverpool all vying for the title.

Although Liverpool eventually dropped out of contention, Arsenal pushed City to the final day, where the Cityzens secured the title with a 3-1 victory over West Ham at the Etihad Stadium.

The season was filled with electrifying matches, stunning goals, impressive skills, and heartwarming narratives that captivated fans worldwide.

Showmax Premier League chatted to a few football enthusiasts in South Africa to gather their thoughts on their teams’ performances in this remarkable season.

James Preston – Fulham fan

On paper, Fulham’s season may seem like a regression when compared to last season’s return to the Premier League. However, it was anything but, and should be considered an improvement. Yes, we fell five short of last season’s almost-record points tally of 52 and a top 10 finish, but we played semi-final cup football again; competing with the big boys of Liverpool, narrowly losing at Anfield 2-1 and drawing 1-1 at Craven Cottage as we got knocked out by the eventual winners.

That Carabao Cup run included beating Tottenham and Everton and brought immense joy. This in addition to the not one, but two five-nil drubbings at The Cottage of Nottingham Forest and West Ham, neither of which were EPL slouches this season! Furthermore, we were unbeaten to Arsenal, beat Man Utd at Old Trafford in the seventh minute of added time, and were the first team to stop Tottenham scoring when we beat them 3-0! We may well have had our silly slip-ups, but the mountainous highs made it all worthwhile, and the 2023/24 EPL season will go down as one of Fulham’s best ever! With Muniz, Palhinha, Bassey, Iwobi, Pareira, and more all raring to go in 2024/25 led by the genius Marco Silva, Fulham can truly expect great things.

Karabelo Moloi – West Ham fan

Overall, this season was better than last season. We managed to finish way above the relegation zone and 12 points better than last season. It wasn’t a bad season but it could’ve been better. I honestly believe we could’ve easily finished in the top six but injuries plagued us this season (no excuse), and there were many moments where we didn’t play the best football.

My highlight of the season was the signing of Mohammed Kudus and James Ward Prowse. I think those two added qualities to our team as they played alongside Paqueta, Soucek and Jarrod Bowen. I do however think that we didn’t make the most of the quality we have in our squad because our manager loves playing defensive structures, he likes playing without the ball and the players we have aren’t really suited for that. Overall, I’m content with the season that we had, but it could’ve been better.

Byron David – Arsenal fan

Bottlers. I hear many rival fans saying that Arsenal have done it again. Maybe last season that was true to a certain extent but not in this campaign. After taking four points off the champions, I think Mikel Arteta and his men can hold their heads up high. They pushed City to the final day and only lost one league game in 2024.

City were simply better, not losing since early December. It takes a beast to compete with this City team, something that Liverpool knows all too well after pushing City so far and still not winning the title. For me, there’s clear progress under Arteta and if he adds the correct pieces to his puzzle in the off season, Arsenal could well be challenging again next term, a far-fetched idea for Gooners around the world just two seasons ago.

Stephen Bell – Aston Villa fan

From beating Derby to gain promotion five years ago, to Champions League in 24/25. Incredible how far Villa has come. This season (the first full season under Unai and his team) and we’re playing Champions League. We’ve beaten City (schooled them for 90 min) and did the double over Arsenal, which basically cost them the league. We’ve made astute signings – Pau, Rogers and Diaby come to mind, but what is really impressive is what Unai has done with the players he inherited.

McGinn, Doug, Konsa, Watkins, Martinez, Bailey, Cash, Digne were all in the side under Gerard, and for the most part were not good. Now, they’re pivotal and have all played a massive part in getting us where we are. We have a relatively small squad that was beset with injury for the whole season. Unai has never blamed injury for any poor performances, not once. What he has done is encouraged other players to step up. Now, for the Champions League: with Buendia, Mings, Kamara and JJ coming back in, it’s like four new signings. A few additions to the squad and we’ll be right up their next season. In Unai I trust.

Naledi Aphane – Liverpool fan

What began as a season full of promise, with hopes of winning at least two out of the four trophies on offer (the Premier League and the Carabao Cup), ended with only the Carabao Cup in our grasp. The final blow came with Jürgen Klopp announcing his departure. After Klopp’s announcement, there was a noticeable shift in the team’s performance. Players on the field seemed to falter, drawing games they should have won and losing matches they should have at least drawn.

However, as Liverpool fans, we must appreciate Jürgen Klopp’s tenure at the club. He transformed us from doubters into believers. For me, after the announcement, this season was dedicated to the manager, and I would have loved to see him walk away with two or four trophies. From missing out on the Champions League spot last season, we have managed to qualify for the Champions League yet again. For me, that’s one of the mandates we had to get right. As a die-hard Liverpool fan, I’m quite happy with the performance of the team this season. Having beaten Chelsea in the Carabao final with our development players was one of my highlights of the season. Jürgen promoting young academy players was one for the books, I’m sure for these players too.

Lesego Makwe – Chelsea fan

After Chelsea’s disappointing 12th place finish last season, the first half of the campaign was eerily familiar, with a string of frustrating draws and losses in winnable matches. However, in the second half of the season we slowly went up the table, ultimately finishing sixth. While this gives a sense of hope for next season, it’s clear that there is still significant work to be done. Hope our new manager can do just that.

Rabbie Serumula – Manchester City fan

Man City had a fantastic season despite our FA Cup final loss at Wembley. We made history by becoming the first English football team to ever win the Premier League title four times in a row. As a Cityzen I am absolutely buzzing about how we finished our season. Our boys went on such a great run, winning nine games in a row to cement our place in history. We were simply unstoppable. Pep’s tactical brilliance and the squad’s determination were on full display this season as they navigated this campaign with poise and skill.

Heelan Nana – Manchester United fan

As a Manchester United supporter, it was a difficult season in the league most definitely. Some of the performances were poor and frustrating at times. Yes, we have had way too many injuries to important players all season, especially defensively, which played a part in some of the performances. Some of the performances were poor no matter the injuries we had. On the bright side, I am glad the youngsters that have come in showed that they can play at this level and have given a brilliant account of themselves.

Mainoo and Garnacho have been excellent in my opinion, and rebuilding the squad with these youngsters going forward can only be a good thing. Yes, we had a very poor season by all accounts but winning the FA Cup should give these players a sense of pride and should allow them to kick on as nobody gave us a chance against city.

I feel we should stick with Erik Ten Hag. Coming in, he has had to deal with a lot and the structure above him was all wrong. I feel he should be given a chance with a fully fit squad and having a new structure above him in place.

Ethel Sleith: Branch Secretary of the Manchester United Supporters Club, South Africa

I don’t consider myself a fan. I support Manchester United.

It’s been a difficult and largely disappointing season, but things may have been very different if Erik Ten Hag had been able to pick his first choice of players and not been hampered through every single game by injuries.

Character saw us beat Liverpool in the semifinal, and then, against ALL expectations, show Manchester City that Manchester truly is United.

I’m hoping that INEOS will see sense and maintain his services for another season. He deserves that.
He’s brought youngsters from the Academy into the first team, and two of them won the FA Cup for us.
Detractors should write us off at their peril.

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