Modern day Premier League football, with its gulf in resources which can be so top-heavy as to make it a three-tier league, still doesn’t cease to surprise me.
The occasions may be slightly fewer I suppose, and that is hardly a revelation given you can hardly expect a team which costs less than that of one player in an opponents’ line-up, to compete at the same level.
Yet when it does, that is the beauty and makes the surprise (most of the time) even more welcome.
For me, the never-say-die spirit of Luton Town encapsulated it. When they were promoted, few, if any, gave them a chance of survival. Fewer still expected them to compete, and they were probably the biggest favourites for the drop in decades.
What followed was so spirited and they weren’t mathematically certain of going down until the final eight days of the campaign.
Yes, that was partly because of points deductions imposed on two of their fellow strugglers, but the fact they kept going is to their credit.
Not only that, but they produced one of the results of the season when they held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw in November and were seconds away from doing the same to Arsenal a month later.
In addition, they pushed both Manchester clubs and Chelsea fairly close on occasions, drew 4-4 at Newcastle and gave Aston Villa a mighty scare in their Champions League chasing campaign.
So, while the SBOTOP Premier League 2024 betting odds were ultimately bob-on – the rich and classy Manchester City were deserved champions again and Luton joined the other promoted clubs, Burnley and Sheffield United, in going straight back down – at least the Hatters come out of their season with that little bit more respect than most.
Who else (or what else) surprised me?
Well, Bournemouth did under the management of the highly regarded Andoni Iraola.
Their stand-out moment was a 3-0 win at Old Trafford in December, but they had other occasions where they made their mark too.
Iraola has rewarded Bournemouth’s ambition with the former Rayo Vallecano manager steering them to their record Premier League points tally, eclipsing Eddie Howe’s high-water mark with the club.
All this was after a slow start that left them with six points (and one win) after 11 games in early November. Since then, only the top four and Chelsea have taken more points with Dominic Solanke leading the attack with some style and 19 goals for the Cherries.
Iraola’s approach took some time to bed in but, once the players got it, they flew up the table. Next season could be exciting. Bournemouth are clearly in no mood to stand still.
Elsewhere, Sean Dyche did a fantastic job in unprecedented times at Everton, a club in danger of spiralling at one point.
After a streak of three wins in a week in late April secured safety, they were able to avoid the same last-day anxiety from last season, although Dyche probably had five years’ worth of stress to deal with in the preceding months.
However, what was surprising was that the blue half of Merseyside held the fourth-best defencive record in the division. Even though Jordan Pickford and Jarrad Branthwaite received a lot of praise for the team’s record at the back, James Tarkowski deserved praise too.
He sat at the top of the division’s standings for aerial duels won (143), blocked shots (54), and second for clearances (182), mastering the art of being at the right place at the right time.
If that defencive record surprised me, so did the tales of two highly-rated midfielders.
Sandro Tonali was Newcastle’s marquee signing last summer and briefly flattered to deceive before his form petered out, and he was handed a suspension that ruled him out for seven months.
As for Kalvin Phillips, he had a loan spell to forget at West Ham. He gave away a goal in each of his first two appearances for the Hammers, got sent off in his fourth, was substituted at half-time in one game.
And, to cap it all off, he came on at Newcastle on Easter Saturday when West Ham were 3-1 up, gave away a penalty, lost Harvey Barnes for the winner, and swore at a fan. He got injured while kicking someone in training, came back, got injured again, and disappeared without a trace.
The stories of Tonali and Phillips surprised me and highlights how life in top-flight football can fluctuate quite dramatically.
Even after the last of the season’s Premier League 2024 highlights had been delivered on Sunday afternoon, there was still time for one more surprise.
Given the Chelsea soap opera I shouldn’t have been taken aback, but I was by the decision of the club and manager Mauricio Pochettino to part ways.
Certainly, it was a season of two halves for the west Londoners.
They slumped to 11th in the table at Christmas, having lost eight of their first 18 games, but rallied in the second half of the season, only losing three of their remaining 20 matches.
Pochettino appeared to be taking them in the right direction, and he has a real rising star in Cole Palmer so quite what Palmer and some of his teammates make of yet more instability at Stamford Bridge remains to be seen. You see, the surprises keep on coming in more ways than one.
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