History UsefulNotes / EnglishPremierLeague

Because of this historic run, it became only more apparent that the league was wild and unpredictable. The Top Four morphed into the Big Six as Liverpool became a force again and Tottenham Hotspur entered the mix, and although in the ensuing several years Manchester City and Liverpool dominated the tables, the other four members of the Big Six finished all over the place, sometimes with teams such as Wolverhampton Wanderers or Sheffield United putting up a fight. By the 2019/20 season, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Leicester City were competing for a Champions League place, Wolves and Sheffield were fighting for Europa, and lackluster Arsenal were fighting just to finish in the top half of the table following an uncharacteristically-awful season. The following year, an injury-hit and exhausted Liverpool dropped off in January, ending up 7 points off the top 4 with 10 games to go, before managing to drag themselves back into a six-team dogfight for the last two Champions League places, while West Ham made a very unexpected tilt for the top four. Ultimately, some normalcy resumed with Leicester and West Ham dropping out of the Top Four, and Chelsea and Liverpool claiming the spots for their own, but West Ham continued to play well in the 2021/22 season, and the non-Big Six sides continued to snatch shock wins over the course of their campaigns.

2022/23, however, saw unpredictability reign supreme once again. Marquee signings for players like Erling Haaland for Manchester City and Darwin Nunez for Liverpool have seemingly caused the teams to regress, only for City to suddenly turn on the jets and charge right back into the title race, ultimately pipping erstwhile laughingstock Arsenal for the title en route to an historic treble, whereas Arsenal had transformed into complete monsters and demolished teams left and right, before a slew of extremely unfortunate injuries saw them badly stumble at the end. Manchester United splashed the cash in the summer window to overhaul the team, and despite a rocky start and some players not performing well, they forced their way into the Top 4 and the title conversation, only to drop out almost immediately after and nearly miss out on Top 4. Meanwhile, normally mid-table clubs such as Newcastle, Brighton, Fulham, and Brentford began fighting for European spots against the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool, with Brighton managing a spot in the Europa League alongside Liverpool and West Ham (via winning the Conference League), Aston Villa snatched the vacant Conference League position, and Newcastle claimed the final Top 4 spot to return to heights they hadn't seen since the 90s. Chelsea sat miserably in 10th despite spending over €600 million in two windows[[note]]their January spending spree was larger than those of all teams in the French, German, Italian and Spanish top flights ''combined''[[/note]], and Tottenham Hotspur were "nailed on for 4th" to start the season, only to slide ignominiously out of Top 4, then out of Europa League, then out of the European spots entirely.

2023/24 saw excitement reign supreme once again. Arsenal dusted themselves off, made key acquisitions, and returned to battle again for the title, Spurs revitalised themselves under newcomer Ange Postecoglu, Manchester City made a few acquisitions to bolster an aging side off the back of their treble and a few of their elder players leaving, Liverpool rebuilt their midfield from scratch; and Manchester United and Chelsea broke the bank to bring in more key players, with their goals being Champions League or bust. What followed were nine months unpredictability. The title race turned into the tightest race in years, with Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City all staying within a game or two of each other from the start, each team taking the lead for a few weeks and losing it, until the brakes began to fall off for Liverpool in late April, leaving it down to Arsenal and City once again. Spurs also shot out of the gate with an unbeaten run, before their form dipped and they slid into a battle for Top 4 against [[EnsembleDarkhorse shock contender]] Aston Villa, who snatched victories against the top sides all season long and kept pace at the top as well, before sliding to bump shoulders with Spurs for 4th until Spurs slid back even further out of Top 4 entirely. Manchester United, however, stumbled their way through the season, too good to fall into midtable, but too bad to break into the Top 4 race. Chelsea, meanwhile, followed up the previous season's disappointment with an even ''worse'' one despite earning more points by virtue of seeing the team fail to win a Cup against an injury-ravaged Liverpool's academy players and regressing into being a one-man show[[note]]After signing a player from City who quickly turned into their star, "Cole Palmer FC" became the derisive nickname thrown their way, which wasn't helped at all when someone ran the numbers and determined that with Palmer's contributions removed, Chelsea would be in the relegation zone[[/note]].

Finally, in a major shakeup to the league's current financial model, a non-binding vote was held in late April 2024 that saw sixteen out of twenty Premier League club owners[[note]]Chelsea abstaining; Manchester City, Manchester United, and Aston Villa voting against.[[/note]] approve a new model to replace the current "Profit and Sustainability Rules" model. As television revenue is each team's primary source of income, the team with the lowest television revenue values will have a multiplier yet to be determined applied to their television income, and the final result will be the maximum amount of money that can be spent in a given season, both summer and winter windows. This will apply to every piece of player-related transfer finance (salaries, agent fees, transfer fees, etc.), and cannot be recouped by selling players outside of freeing up salary money. In theory, this will relax current rules requiring clubs to post no lower than a 105m in a three-season window, thus allowing clubs to gamble their funds at their own risk, while also preventing bigger clubs from simply splurging on new transfers every season, both making the market fairer for smaller teams and preventing the player market from inflating as a result of English teams overspending, and ebecause it is tied to television revenue, it essentially future-proofs discussion over raising or lowering the spending cap by tying it to an ever-changing value. The final vote is expected to be held in June 2024, but all signs point to this change being in place by the start of the 2025/26 season.

Despite a stumble in December, the Gunners entered 2024 taking no hostages, blitzing through January, February, and March with only an FA Cup and Champions League stumble against Porto slowing them down en route to blowing the title race wide open and sticking their noses in front ever so slightly. However, a defeat to Aston Villa has left them two points adrift of the top spot, they were defeated in a tense affair by Bayern in the Champions League quarterfinal, and Manchester City seized a narrow lead on equal games played. Despite this disappointment, Arsenal have seemingly committed all the harder to finishing the season strong, winning a nervy affair against Wolves, tearing Chelsea apart 5-0 (the largest home victory over their neighbors since 1930), and then surviving a North London Derby scare away to Tottenham to clinch St. Totteringham's Day over their hated rivals in their own ground. Three games remain, including a visit to Old Trafford, and the Premier League is known, if nothing else, for its unpredictability.

Mauricio Pochettino was hired in the summer, and they followed this up with another massive summer spending spree, dropping another €400m on another haul of players[[note]]only slightly mitigated by selling several players to other clubs for about €250m back in total[[/note]], including breaking the British transfer record again. With ''€1 billion'' spent in three windows, it is clear that it is Champions League or bust for Chelsea, and their first few matches saw them faceplant out the gate. While a draw against Liverpool gave them hope, their form has still been extremely shaky with many a dropped point in matches in which they looked the better team, though they managed a big win against Spurs and a heroic 4-4 draw against Manchester City, and a few close victories against Luton, Fulham, and Crystal Palace to see them in 9th, near the end of January. While they have slipped back to 11th, they're still only 4 points behind 7th-placed Brighton and their overall form has improved, including another heroic draw (this time, 1-1) with City, and they even managed a League Cup Final appearance, only to lose out to a Liverpool team that finished the match with 12 senior players in the treatment room and 5 U-20s on the pitch and ''still'' dominated the match. This led to them being witheringly dubbed "the Blue Billion Pound Bottle-Jobs." Things went from bad to worse, despite a seven-game unbeaten run, as their burgeoning star Cole Palmer began to emerge as nothing short of their crutch[[note]]The numbers were run on if Palmer hadn't made any contributions all season, and the end result had Chelsea fighting relegation[[/note]], leading to the team to also be derisively dubbed "Cole Palmer FC", a sentiment only further exacerbated by Palmer missing a crucial derby against Arsenal and the team being humiliated 5-0. Despite this, they were able to hold Aston Villa to a draw, before dashing Spurs' Top 4 hopes with a 2-0 victory, giving them at least that small consolation on the season.

They currently appear to be safe from relegation, and for a time they had few aspirations beyond that, but the appointment of former Arsenal stalwart Patrick Vieira has brought with them renewed ambition, and they notched shock wins against several members of the Big Six. Unfortunately, a run of bad form resulted in Vieira's sacking, and the Eagles currently find themselves dragged back into the relegation battle, their future uncertain. Vieira was succeeded by the man he'd replaced, veteran journeyman Roy Hodgson, who stabilized the club and restored their midtable status, allowing them to comfortably avoid the relegation they were in danger of falling into. Started off 2023/24 fairly well, hovering lower midtable after the January break, before Hodgson resigned in mid-February after being taken ill; he was quickly succeeded by Oliver Glasner, formerly of Eintracht Frankfurt.

'''2022/23 Position:''' 5th\\

With Klopp's exit looming, the Reds have put together an impressive run despite an ''extremely'' controversial defeat to Spurs and a string of niggling injuries, as well as the month and half long absence of the peerless Salah to the Africa Cup of Nations (where he promptly got injured). However, following a complete defeat to Arsenal[[note]]They tallied their lowest xG ''ever'' under Klopp and their only goal was an own goal deflection[[/note]] and a draw against City in Klopp and Pep's final league clash against each other, their grip on the top spot faltered, replaced by Arsenal who hold a tenuous grip on goal difference alone, with their own clash against Pep's machine looming. However, a goalless draw between their rivals and a solid win against Brighton has allowed them to wheel back two points clear of Arsenal and three of City, retaking the lead in Klopp's last dance, only for their eternal enemy Manchester United to steal a draw at Old Trafford to put Arsenal back ahead on goal difference, a 0-3 chastening from Atalanta, and a 0-1 defeat to Crystal Palace yet again seeing them slide back into 3rd in the title race. Atalanta would eliminate them from Europe, and shortly thereafter, their hated rivals Everton would deliver a devastating blow to their title chase with a 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park, leaving the Klopp Farewell Tour in relative shambles, with only the least-respected of the four potential trophies to his name.

2023/24 saw them pick right back up where they left off with a quick jump out front, and despite a slide due to injuries in the early part of 2024 to key players, some stumbles by their rivals Arsenal and Liverpool have allowed City to climb ahead for the time being, but with seemingly their toughest fixtures behind them. Despite a defeat on penalties to Real Madrid in the Champions League, they still have the last few weeks of the League and an FA Cup Final match against Manchester United to at least claim a domestic Double.

Despite this, the team continue to be consistently inconsistent, looking like world-beaters one day, only to slump the next, as evidenced by a convincing win over West Ham, followed by grindy wins against Aston Villa and Luton, and then a stunning loss to Fulham, a bright start against Manchester City only to lose it late, a win against Everton with the only goals scored being penalties, leaving them eight points back from 4th only to draw and lose their way to 13 points back, and an FA Cup Semifinal against lower-league side Coventry City that saw them go up 3-0, blow the lead to go to extra time, nearly lose the match on a late winner that was determined to be offside, then squeak by on penalties to schedule a postseason FA Cup Final date with Manchester City. As things stand, it looks as though this is their last chance at anything resembling a successful season, as they followed up their near-collapse in the FA Cup by only just defeating the rock bottom Sheffield United, drawing with the similarly low in the table Burnley, and then being torn apart 4-0 by Crystal Palace and falling below Chelsea and out of the potential European places.

They spent the 2017/18 season and most of the 2018/19 season at Wembley Stadium, during which time their usual stadium White Hart Lane was redeveloped into a 61,559-seater stadium, into which they moved in April 2019. After a slow start, the form continued, with Real Madrid beaten at Wembley and the Stamford Bridge taboo ended. During the 2018/19 season, they would go from being 12 minutes away from being knocked out of the Champions League group stage - with two games left - to knocking Manchester City out in the quarterfinals, and then coming form 3-0 down on aggregate to Ajax inside the final half of the fixture to secure a berth to the Champions League final, which they would lose 2-0 to Liverpool (after conceding a penalty thirty seconds in).

Things went off the rails for Spurs in 2019/20, with a torrid start that saw them in the Bottom 10 of the table approaching the holidays as well as a Champions League campaign that featured a demeaning 7-2 home loss against eventual champions Bayern Munich (they must really have a beef with London clubs, huh?), culminating in manager Pochettino being sacked just six months after the Champions League Final appearance, with José Mourinho doing little more than earning another place above Arsenal, and Spurs never looking like a CL push.

2021/22 saw Tottenham mostly hold their own in the Top 6, eventually enduring the season's turbulence, shock results against smaller sides while taking massive results from other Big Six sides, and claiming a Top 4 spot toward the end of the season as both Arsenal and Manchester United wavered toward the end. 2022/23 started off reasonably well, with Spurs staying close to the top, grinding out results and even notching a hard-fought draw against Chelsea, but they were dismantled by Arsenal despite their run of form, stumbled into the World Cup break, and returned in uninspired form, drawing Brentford 2-2 being dismantled by Unai Emery's Aston Villa on New Years Day and dropping out of Top 4, and worst of all, conceding their first home defeat to Arsenal since 2014 with a tepid 0-2 performance.

Nevertheless, there have been bright spots, such as their star striker Harry Kane breaking Jimmy Greaves' goalscoring record while defeating title contenders Manchester City at home, but their inability to hold a lead has left them barely keeping hold of a Top 4 spot, even resulting in manager Antonio Conte going on a bizarre rant about the regularity of such bottlejobs after blowing a 3-1 lead to draw Southampton. Just over a week later, to the surprise of no-one, Conte left the job 'by mutual consent'. His second-in-command, Cristian Stellini, initially took over as interim for the remainder of the season, only to be himself sacked a few weeks later after a humiliating 6-1 loss to Newcastle (who were 5-0 up after ''21 minutes''). Their ineptitude only continued, with Spurs falling completely out of the Top 4 race altogether, and ultimately missed out on European competition altogether for the 2023-24 season. Ange Postecoglou arrived from Celtic to replace Conte full-time.

Summer 2023 saw Kane depart for Bayern Munich shortly before the start of the season, but despite this, Spurs seemingly rallied around Ange and went unbeaten for ten matchweeks before utterly collapsing against Chelsea, having defeat snatched from the jaws of victory by Wolverhampton Wanderers, and suffering another defeat from a winning position against Aston Villa, drawing with City, losing to west Ham, demolishing Newcastle, and surviving Everton, only to slide back even further in March, now jostling Aston Villa for 4th while Arsenal, City, and Liverpool broaden their leads. After a lengthy break, however, Spurs faced a gauntlet to close the season, having to play all three of Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City, with Aston Villa holding the advantage to finish Top 4 and England's chances of getting a 5th Champions League spot being very nearly gone entirely. This gauntlet began against Arsenal, who survived a late scare from Spurs to win the game and celebrate St. Totteringham's Day on their ground, and continued with a tepid 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on ''their'' ground[[note]]with both goals coming off of set pieces after Postecoglu answered an interview question by commenting that he doesn't prepare for set pieces[[/note]], a 4-2 drubbing at Anfield only made slightly more bearable by two late goals as consolation, leaving them seven points adrift of Top 4 with 3 matches to play, one of those matches being, nightmare of nightmares, a match against City just before the final day, where taking any points at all to try and make the Champions League could hand their hated rivals the title!

'''2023/24 Position:''' 18th, 19th, or 20th in Premier League (relegated)\\

'''2023/24 Position:''' 18th, 19th, or 20th (relegated)\\

They bounced back the following season though, having a strong campaign under new manager Paul Heckingbottom, achieving promotion by late April. The return has been abject though, with just one win in the opening four months of the season, plus a couple of pretty horrific thumpings (8-0 at home to Newcastle and 5-0 to Burnley, of all teams). To the surprise of no one, Heckingbottom was dismissed in early December, the first Premier League sacking of the season; more surprisingly, he was succeeded by a returning Chris Wilder, but they still haven't been able to do much to improve their chances, sitting bottom after the break with a measly 13 points. Their lone hope would be if Forest and Everton are both hit with points deductions strong enough to put them in striking distance, but Everton pull away with each passing weak, and they set the record for most goals conceded in a 38-game season with 93... with four whole matches left to play! This was unsurprisingly followed up by them getting slaughtered at Newcastle 5-1 and assuring their relegation, and then a 3-1 affair to Nottingham Forest tying them with Swindon Town for most goals conceded in a season at 100 even, which was followed with a 101st goal against Everton to fully surpass Swindon's historic record.

'''Current Manager:''' Andre Breitenreiter\\

!!Burnley
%%%(2009-2010, 2014-2015, 2016-2022, 2023-)
[[quoteright:175:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/burnley_fc.png]]
[[caption-width-right:175:Forever and ever, we'll follow a team!\\
It's Burnley FC, we are supreme!]]
->'''Year Established:''' 1882\\
'''Nickname:''' The Clarets\\
'''Current Owners:''' ALK Capital (majority); [[UsefulNotes/NFLDefensiveAndSpecialTeamsPlayers J.J.]] and Kealia Watt (minority), Creator/DudePerfect (minority)\\
'''Current Manager:''' Vincent Kompany\\
'''Current Captain:''' Jack Cork\\
'''Current Stadium:''' Turf Moor [[note]]Capacity 22,546[[/note]]\\
'''2022/23 Position:''' 1st in Championship (promoted)\\
'''Highest Finish:''' 7th (2017/18)
----

The smallest club to have been promoted to the Premier League until Bournemouth's promotion in the 2014/2015 season. The club is based in a town in eastern Lancashire so small its population would only fill three of Old Trafford's stands.

Despite starting their freshman season (2009/10) well, things went horribly wrong after promotion-winning manager Owen Coyle left and they ended up getting relegated shortly after. They got another chance in the Premier League during the 2014/2015 season, in which they had a number of notable feats, including getting a 1-0 win against Manchester City, who they held away from home earlier in the season from 2 down, who up to that point had scored in every match. They fought hard to stay in the league, but it was not to be.

They were next promoted in 2016, finishing the season atop the Championship. They survived the next season, largely off the back of stunning home form (in the league - it could have been in the cup too, but Burnley lost at home to then-5th-tier Lincoln), despite earning only one away point before February (at Old Trafford after their ex-United keeper Tom Heaton stopped a CurbStompBattle on his own), and no away wins until the end of April. They even qualified for the Europa Qualifying Rounds that season, but they didn't manage to make the Group Stage.

They also became the first team in nearly four years and 68 league games to beat Liverpool at Anfield in January 2021. 2021/22 has seen them struggle for survival, and they currently hold the status of being one of the five relegation-battling teams. In mid-April, Sean Dyche and a number of the coaching staff were unexpectedly sacked, and while the team responded well, they ultimately were sent packing at the last action.

Former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany subsequently replaced Dyche permanently in the Championship and guided Burnley to another immediate promotion the following April. Shortly after securing promotion, the Clarets picked up a few prominent minority investors, first now-retired NFL great J.J. Watt and his wife (and pro soccer player) Kealia and then the Creator/DudePerfect Web video collective. Their start to the season has been dire, and they sit level with Sheffield at the bottom, only ahead on goal difference, as February comes to an end.

%%%(1992-1994; 2006-2007, 2019-2021, 2023-)

They bounced back the following season though, having a strong campaign under new manager Paul Heckingbottom, achieving promotion by late April. The return has been abject though, with just one win in the opening four months of the season, plus a couple of pretty horrific thumpings (8-0 at home to Newcastle and 5-0 to Burnley, of all teams). To the surprise of no one, Heckingbottom was dismissed in early December, the first Premier League sacking of the season; more surprisingly, he was succeeded by a returning Chris Wilder, but they still haven't been able to do much to improve their chances, sitting bottom after the break with a measly 13 points. Their lone hope would be if Forest and Everton are both hit with points deductions strong enough to put them in striking distance, but Everton pull away with each passing weak, and they set the record for most goals conceded in a 38-game season with 93... with four whole matches left to play! This was unsurprisingly followed up by them getting slaughtered at Newcastle 5-1 and assuring their relegation, and then a 3-1 affair to Nottingham Forest tying them with Swindon Town for most goals conceded in a season at 100 even, when they've still got two games to go to surpass it!

Their only top-flight season to date did not go at ''all'' well, as they were relegated in bottom place after conceding precisely one hundred goals, a record to this day although threatened by Sheffield United's dire season. To add insult to injury, they were then relegated the following year (though like Crystal Palace, this was only due to league reconstruction), and have since spent most of their time bouncing around between the bottom two divisions, as evidenced by their relegation to League Two in 2017. Their stadium is next to a bizarre set of roundabouts called The Magic Roundabout. Gained promotion despite the COVID-19 outbreak shortening the 2019/20 season.