Manchester City humbled, Aston Villa soar, Arne slots in at Liverpool, Cole Palmer shines - English football in 2024

Despite a record-setting title win, all was not well at Manchester City, it was all change at Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea women and England in their respective dugouts, while an emerging star lit up the Premier League. These are just some of the major headlines in English football from 2024, as TNT Sports looks back on the biggest stories from another eventful year.

City again reach the summit…

Manchester City and Pep Guardiola wrote another chapter in their opus of dominance when they won yet another Premier League title in May.

A nine-match winning run to end the campaign was enough to snuff out the challenge of Arsenal, who finished two points back after taking the race to the final day.

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But with the Terminator-like Erling Haaland collecting his second successive golden boot, Phil Foden sensationally hitting his stride, and Ballon d’Or-winning midfield general Rodri in tow, there was never too much doubt about the destination of the trophy.

What made this triumph particularly notable was the fact it was City’s fourth title in row, making them the first team in the long history of English football to achieve such a feat.

…but then come tumbling down

Previously, the overall strength of the English top flight has seen the best teams hit the buffers at 'just' three consecutive titles, but City were so impressive that they were quickly installed as favourites to make it five in a row in 2024-25.

City picked up where they left off with four wins from their opening four games before snatching a dramatic draw with Arsenal, after which Haaland implored Gunners boss Mikel Arteta to "stay humble".

This confidence/arrogance would come back to bite the Norwegian and his team-mates, however, as a fairly innocuous 2-1 defeat to Spurs in the League Cup with a second-string team at the end of October seemed to trigger disaster for Pep Guardiola’s side.

The previously indestructible empire crumbled at rapid speed as City won just one of their next 13 matches in all competitions – including nine defeats – before ending the year with a much-needed victory over Leicester.  

More than regular setbacks, losing 4-1 to Sporting CP, 4-0 at home to Spurs, surrendering a 3-0 lead to draw against Feyenoord, and, most shockingly, conceding twice in the final minutes of the Manchester derby to lose to their bitter rivals, indicated not only a loss of form but also a loss of the aura around both club and manager.

Unheard of for both modern Manchester City and Guardiola, it has prompted a flurry of reminders to Haaland after his earlier comments...

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Slotting in nicely

One team doing their darnedest to dispose of the champions is a Liverpool side who started the campaign in imperious form before rubber-stamping their title credentials with a comfortable 2-0 win over freefalling City at the start of December.

This ability to take advantage of City’s failings might have been expected under Jurgen Klopp, but the German is no longer in the Reds dugout having called time on his Anfield career at the end of last season.

Unable to push his beloved Reds to an emotional second title, not least because of that relentless City run at the end of the campaign, Klopp did manage to sign off with victory in the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea. Something of a nice bookend to his time at the club, having lost his first final with Liverpool in that same competition back in 2016.

Klopp was replaced by Arne Slot, for whom many would have anticipated an acclimatisation period. However, the Dutchman has hit the ground running and, with Klopp’s team, could well match his predecessor’s Premier League title record at the very first time of asking in 2025.

To win the title in his first season in charge at a new club would be quite the feat - something even Guardiola didn’t achieve. But with an eight-point lead heading into the new year, it would take a brave person to bet against them.

FA Cup and Ten Hag sack not enough to stop United rot

It was a case of one Dutchman in and one out in the Premier League as Manchester United finally said farewell to Erik ten Hag, despite the former Ajax manager leading them to the FA Cup in May.

Having finished eighth in the Premier League – their worst position since 1990 – the writing was already on the wall until goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo at Wembley provided a stay of execution.

However, another poor start to the season saw Ten Hag given the boot by the new United hierarchy headed up by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Ruben Amorim has arrived as his replacement but has fared little better, with Monday's 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United leaving them slumped in 14th place.

With the unthinkable thought of a relegation battle now openly acknowledged by the new man, it would suggest the club’s problems run far deeper than whoever happens to be on the touchline.

Image credit: Getty Images

Palmer springs to life

As far as player performances are concerned, even Haaland’s exploits in 2024 have been overshadowed by someone who could - and possibly should - be playing alongside him in City blue.

Rather, Cole Palmer is donning Chelsea colours in a starring role at Stamford Bridge having moved south from City at the start of last season.

An underwhelming 2023/24 campaign for the west Londoners saw them crawl to a sixth-place finish, but things would have been far worse without Palmer, whose 22 goals over the season were the highest total in the division behind Haaland’s 27.

Winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award, Palmer quickly dismissed any suggestion of being a one-season wonder by picking up where he left off last season, including bagging an astonishing four goals in the first half of the Blues’ 4-2 win over Brighton.

Palmer’s goals have seen Chelsea rise up the table as genuine title contenders this year and with each passing week, City’s decision to let him go when he could have been the cornerstone of any rebuild at the Etihad just seems more baffling.

Cole suggests Guardiola ‘regrets’ selling Palmer – ‘A shining light’

Video credit: TNT Sports

 

Super Villains crash Champions League party

While it is true that any of the so-called 'Big Six' could be pushing for the major honours, recent years have shown us that it’s by no means a given all will be capable of doing so at the same time. There is still some room at the inn and Villa seized their UEFA Champions League accommodation after a fantastic second half to their 2023/24 campaign.

Not content with simply making up the numbers, Unai Emery led his side to a famous victory over Bayern Munich as well as a draw against Juventus. Villa look well-placed to advance to the knockout stages in January.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

Hayes ends Blues tenure in style

Another managerial great said farewell to these shores in 2024 as Emma Hayes left Chelsea to take over the US women’s national team.

Perhaps expectedly, she ended her 12-year spell in charge by leading the Blues to the WSL title for the seventh time, and fifth year in a row, to cement her legendary status in west London.

It was a close run thing this year, however, with Manchester City pushing Hayes’ side all the way, only missing out on glory on goal difference.

It wasn’t all smiles for Hayes, however, as Chelsea were beaten in the League Cup final for the third year on the bounce, and the second year in row to Arsenal.

In the FA Cup, Manchester United’s women laid the path the men would later follow by lifting the trophy at Wembley after hammering Tottenham 4-0 in front of 76,000 fans.

Goodbye Gareth

Hayes wasn’t the only big international story from the dugout, with the England men’s team saying goodbye to Gareth Southgate - now Sir Gareth Southgate - after eight years in charge.

Despite some typical grumbles over his tactical approach and selections at times, Southgate left the post with his head held high having led the Three Lions to a World Cup semi-final and two European Championship finals, meaning only Sir Alf Ramsey has a better record with the team.

Sadly for Southgate, however, all of those major matches ended in defeat, including this year’s Euro final against Spain in his last game in charge.

Although leaving empty-handed as far as trophies are concerned, Southgate leaves a legacy where fans can now believe that success is possible when that might not have realistically been the case previously.

Southgate is set to be replaced by Thomas Tuchel with the German taking change in early 2025 as England enter a new era.

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