Liverpool started the season witha comfortable 2-0 winover Ipswich, while Erling Haaland scored back-to-back hat-tricksagainst the Tractor BoysandWest Hamto leave City top of the pile at the end of August. Elsewhere, Everton remarkably coughed up a two-goal leadat home to Bournemouth– conceding three times from the 87th minute – becoming the first team in Premier league history to taste defeat from such a commanding position.
The surprise result of September wasLiverpool’s 1-0 reverse at home to Nottingham Forestwhich ended Arne Slot’s serene start to his debut season. Earlier in the month, the Reds hadswatted aside Manchester Unitedas Casemiro endured a torrid afternoon. Arsenalwon the first north London derbycourtesy of Gabriel’s second-half header. And Manchester City’s season was rocked when Rodri suffered a ruptured ACLduring a 2-2 draw with the Gunners. Elsewhere, Everton did it again,losing 3-2 to Aston Villaafter being two goals ahead.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was finally put out of his misery by being sackedafter a 2-1 defeat at West Ham. Nottingham Forest rose to fifth in the table asChris Wood inspired themto a 3-1 away victory over Leicester. And free-scoring Brentford beatWolves 5-3andIpswich 4-3, prolonging the pair’s winless starts to the campaign.
Manchester City’s 32-game unbeaten league runcame to an end at Bournemouth– and then the wheels well and truly fell off for Pep Guardiola’s ageing charges with successive defeatsby Brightonand Tottenham. For Spurs,the 4-0 thrashingat the Etihad was the high-watermark of an otherwise forgettable season. Off the pitch, referee David Coote was sackedafter footage emergedof him taking drugs and criticising Liverpool’s former manager Jürgen Klopp, while Ruben Amorimtook the helm at Manchester United.
Liverpool beat Manchester City 2-0to go 11 points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side and nine clear of stumbling Arsenal. They thenput six past injury-ravaged Tottenham. Under Ruben Amorim, Manchester Unitedwon the first derby of the seasonthanks to late goals from Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo, but they then suffered three straight home defeats for the first time in 45 years. Chelsea’s title hopes faded with back-to-back defeatsagainst FulhamandIpswich, while Nottingham Forest ended the year in second place.
David Moyes returned to Evertonafter 12 years and quickly set about dragging them away from the relegation scrap. Meanwhile, Tottenham ended the month with four straight league defeats,the last of them against Leicester, who duly leapt out of the bottom three. The shock result of the month came at Anfield whereManchester United thwarted Liverpoolthanks to Amad Diallo’s late equaliser, as Ruben Amorim’s charges delivered an uncharacteristically effective performance. Later that month Unitedmourned one of their legends, Denis Law.
Chris Wood bagged a hat-trick asNottingham Forest thumped Brighton 7-0, but defeatby Fulhamand coming off at thewrong end of a 4-3 scorelineat Newcastle left the top-four race wide open. Meanwhile the last men’s Merseyside derby a Goodison Park ended with fisticuffs and red cards after Everton’sJames Tarkowski walloped an equaliserin the 98th minute. Defeatfor Arsenal at home to West Hamsignalled the slow death of the Gunners’ title charge, though the month also brought a crowd-pleasing5-1 thrashing of Manchester City. At the bottom of the table, Southampton recorded their first Premier League win since November asthey beat fellow strugglers Ipswichat Portman Road.
Liverpool had tocome from behind to beat Southamptonin their only league game of the month, while Arsenal slipped further off the pace with a1-1 draw at Manchester United.Nottingham Forest beat Manchester City– handing Pep Guardiola’s men their ninth loss of the season, more than they had lost in the previous two seasons combined. And Michail Antonio made an emotionalreturn to the London Stadiumafter admiting he almost died in acar crash in December.
The Reds wrapped up their second Premier League title in front of their own fanswith a thumping 5-1 winover Tottenham on a balmy day at Anfield. Earlier in the month, Trent Alexander-Arnold scored his last goal for his boyhood club, thrashing in alate strike against Leicester. Wolves made ita remarkable six wins on the spin, as their uptick in form condemned Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton to the drop.
Everton fans badean emotional Premier League farewell to Goodison Park(although news emerged that the groundwill now be used for women’s games), Tottenham and Manchester United sank to extraordinary league lows before duking it outin the Europa League final, Southampton swerved the unwanted record of becoming the joint worst side in Premier League history as they picked up just their 12th point of the campaignat home to Manchester City, and the final day of the season saw Aston Villa potentially miss out on a Champions League spotafter having a goal controversially disallowedat Old Trafford.