Erling Haaland, Todd Boehly and the Premier League winners & losers of the 2022-23 season

Ah, Todd Boehly, not just a loser - but the biggest loser of the season. Chelsea were a joke, with a gargantuan group of high-profile players providing a pitiful return on the simply staggering amount of money invested in them. Three different coaches failed to get the very best out of them as they ended up finishing 12th and, let's face it, the buck stops with Boehly and the board.

They were responsible for the club's clueless approach to squad-building and the ridiculous decision to sack Thomas Tuchel just six games into the season. Then, after putting their faith in a long-term project with Graham Potter, they made the absolutely absurd decision to replace him with Frank Lampard for the final two months of the campaign, only cementing the perception that the new owners have "no idea about football".

It was pure farce, as probably best summed up by the sorry sight of Thiago Silva lamenting the fact that they had so many players the club had to enlarge the dressing room. Cancelling their end-of-season awards ceremony for fear of upsetting the already furious fans was probably the one correct call the club made this season.

But, in a way, we neutrals should be thankful to Boehly - and not just for all the amusing mishaps and memes, or the utterly compelling tragi-comic nature of their campaign in general. No, in this modern era of gross financial inequality, it was genuinely heartening to see that money doesn't always guarantee success.

What a season for the Middle East! First came the World Cup in Qatar, slap bang in the middle of the club campaign, and then Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City winning another Premier League title, with Saudi Arabia-owned Newcastle finishing fourth to get themselves back into the Champions League for the first time in 20 years. It really is remarkable what oil money can do for a club!

Of course, superstar-obsessed Paris Saint-Germain continue to provide ample proof that a club still needs to be well-run in order to make the absolute most of a limitless supply of cash. But while City and Newcastle may be at different stages of their development, both sets of owners clearly know what they're doing. They have a clear, coherent strategy in place and further success seems inevitable.

Indeed, do not be at all surprised if other clubs now start following their lead. There is, of course, still a very real chance of Qatari investors taking over at Old Trafford in the coming weeks, which really only serves to hammer home the point that football's future is highly likely to be dominated by a select few state-sponsored clubs.

So much for 'The Beautiful Game', eh?...

Arsenal as a loser - it feels harsh, borderline wrong, in truth. Mikel Arteta's exciting young side gave so much in pursuit of an impossible dream and provided Premier League followers with so many magical moments. Reiss Nelson's thunderbolt against Bournemouth, for example, will live long in the memory. It provoked pure bedlam at the Emirates.

However, there is no denying that when Arsenal's manager, players and supporters look back on their 2022-23 campaign, there will be tinges of regret. They didn't bottle the league, of course. They simply succumbed to the inevitable. No team can compete with City over the course of an entire season. They are just too powerful, on and off the field.

Still, while Arsenal were always going to be overhauled in the long run, the way in which they began to flag in the final stretch will remain a source of immense frustration for some time to come. There is no shame in being outclassed by City at the Etihad - a game which starkly illustrated the gulf in class and quality between the two squads.

However, they should have arrived in Manchester with a far bigger lead and left with their fate still in their own hands regardless of the result. Points were thrown away against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton, with the latter draw effectively signalling the end of their heroic challenge.

Arsenal deserve credit for giving us a title race for such a long time but they'll know themselves that they had a glorious chance to keep the pressure on City right until the final day. The Gunners might well challenge again next season but so, too, should Liverpool, United, Newcastle and maybe even Chelsea under Mauricio Pochettino.

The sad truth is that such an opportunity may never come again for Arsenal, and that knowledge is what will hurt the most.

Manchester United haven't always convinced this season, particularly away from home against anything resembling decent opposition. There have been some horrific capitulations, most notably against Liverpool and Sevilla. However, United are undeniably making progress under Erik ten Hag.

Indeed, it's worth remembering just how much pressure the manager was under after his reign began with back-to-back Premier League defeats, at home to Brighton and away to Brentford. The latter loss was particularly embarrassing, with Ten Hag being castigated for - among other things - bringing the diminutive Lisandro Martinez with him from Ajax.

However, both the defender and the Dutchman eventually proved their critics wrong. Ten Hag clearly still has a lot of work to do to get United challenging for a title, but he has already shown his ruthless side by effectively forcing Cristiano Ronaldo out of the club, and more deadweight is likely to be dumped overboard this summer.

He also deserves credit for inspiring the most prolific campaign of Marcus Rashford's career to date, addressing United's long overdue need for a dominant defensive midfielder by bringing in Casemiro (arguably the signing of the season) and going out of his way to give Jadon Sancho a shot at reviving his career.

Of course, a manager is ultimately judged on results and, for all of the heavy defeats here and there, he has just ended his first season in England with a trophy and a Champions League place. This is United, of course, so the scrutiny of his position won't stop until he wins a major honour, but Ten Hag's tenure has got off to a good - if topsy-turvy - start.

Age catches up with all men, even those that appear super-human. Everyone eventually succumbs to the ravages of time. Nonetheless, the speed of Cristiano Ronaldo's decline has been nothing short of stunning. He scored 24 times for Manchester United in all competitions last season - and yet now he is stuck in Saudi Arabia, unwanted by any of Europe's elite.

He is, of course, being very well remunerated for playing for Al-Nassr but it's not going well, with the team that were top of the table when Ronaldo joined in January having been beaten to the title by Al-Ittihad. The Portuguese was targeting far more than a Saudi Pro League runners-up' medal before the season began.

However, after failing to force his way out of Old Trafford last summer, he then suffered the ignominy of being regularly relegated to the bench, as Ten Hag realised that United were a far better team without 'CR7' than with him. Former Portugal boss Fernando Santos reached a similar conclusion at the World Cup and the five-time Ballon d'Or winner's tournament ended with him storming hastily and tearfully down the tunnel after a shock loss to Morocco.

It was a familiar sight for United fans, who had welcomed Ronaldo back to Manchester like a returning hero and yet were happy to see the back of him after he shamefully threw the entire club under the bus during an embarrassing interview with Piers Morgan that made his exit inevitable - and needlessly acrimonious.

Ronaldo didn't completely ruin his Premier League legacy with his childish antics this season - but he undoubtedly tarnished it.

Having plenty of players plying their trade in the Premier League is obviously a good thing for any national team. Man City aside, it's arguably the most competitive championship in world football, a place where stars are born. However, this season has been something of a disaster for the United States men's national team.

Of the three members of the squad that actually played well - Antonee Robinson, Tim Ream and Tyler Adams - the latter two saw their campaigns prematurely ended by injury. The loss of Adams also played a pivotal role in Leeds' relegation, with Weston McKennie and Brenden Aaronson contributing next-to-nothing to the club's battle to beat the drop. Matt Turner also played little part in Arsenal's surprise title challenge and needs to leave the Emirates in search of regular first-team football.

Christian Pulisic should also be looking for a new club as soon as possible. 'Captain America' was pushed down the pecking order following a spate of new arrivals, but even though most of them proved duds, Pulisic failed to force his way back into the starting line up, managing just one goal in all competitions.

Unless incoming coach Pochettino intends to make Pulisic part of his plans for next season, the 24-year-old needs to find a manager committed to helping him kick-start a club career that has stalled badly at Stamford Bridge.

Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth may have embraced different approaches to the fight for Premier League survival but, in the end, all three newly-promoted clubs realised their objective - and with a few weeks to spare.

Fulham, who won last season's Championship, were perhaps the best-equipped to beat the drop after a solid summer of recruitment, but a top-half finish in their first season back into the top-flight was still an incredible achievement and, after seeing his reputation rocked by tough stints at Hull and Everton, Marco Silva is rightly being lauded for his excellent work at Craven Cottage. One could even argue that they'd have challenged for a European place had it not been for Aleksandar Mitrovic's moment of madness at Old Trafford that resulted in an eight-game ban for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh.

Forest, meanwhile, invested heavily in their squad, but that shouldn't detract from the amazing job done by Steve Cooper. If anything, the sheer volume of new signings only made his task tougher. Indeed, just ask anyone who's worked at Chelsea over the past 10 months about how difficult it is managing a massive squad.

However, even Cooper's feat pales in comparison to that of Gary O'Neil. Why? Because nobody expected Bournemouth to stay up - and nobody expected O'Neil to be the man to lead them to safety. He was considered nothing more than a stop-gap solution as the club searched for a successor to Scott Parker, who was sacked at the end of August, and yet the interim boss was given the gig on a full-time basis in November thanks in no small part to the fact that he took a team coming off the back of a 9-0 loss at Liverpool on a six-game unbeaten run.

Consequently, we'd no qualms about making O'Neil our manager of the season. Sorry, Pep!...

Goals win games, which is why flush Premier League clubs are now splashing so much TV cash on attackers. However, not all of that money is being well spent. Indeed, this has been a particularly poor season for expensive offensive signings.

Antony has shown glimpses of what he can do, but United's £82m signing from Ajax didn't come close to justifying his status as the costliest purchase of last summer's transfer window.

Darwin Nunez started promisingly and his numbers are by no means atrocious - 15 goals and four assists in all competitions - but it was clear by the season's end that is not a guaranteed starter at Anfield, which is crazy for a player that Liverpool acquired from Benfica for an initial £64m.

Mykhailo Mudryk, meanwhile, only arrived in January but has been a disaster to date, with the £62m man failing to score once in the Premier League. It's still very early days but, despite stiff competition from defender Wesley Fofana, the Ukrainian is actually looking like Chelsea's worst signing under Boehly.

However, Raheem Sterling has arguably been their most disappointing, given the former Manchester City man was considered a sure thing to succeed at Stamford Bridge. However, right now, getting £47.5m for a player that had fallen out of favour under Guardiola is looking like an incredible bit of business by the Premier League champions.

When it comes to terrible transfers, though, nothing tops Tottenham paying £50m for Richarlison and getting one Premier League goal in return.

The most likeable club in the Premier League? It'd be hard to pick anyone but Brighton. They are masters of the transfer market, boast a brilliant business model and a beautiful brand of football. Seriously, what's not to love?!

Many feared for Brighton when they lost Potter to Chelsea after a storming start to the season, but while the Englishman played a pivotal role in the Seagulls' rise to prominence, this is an organisation built on solid and deep-rooted foundations.

Chairman and lifelong fan Tony Bloom has a plan and he sticks to it, so he went out and got the best coach possible to continue what Potter had started: Roberto De Zerbi. The likes of Graeme Souness scoffed at the appointment, arguing that Brighton had taken a massive risk on "someone who doesn't know our game". But that reaction said more about the ignorance and insular nature of many British pundits than the Italian, whom Guardiola is now describing as "one of the most influential managers of the last 20 years".

Granted, that was typical hyperbole from the Man City boss, who is renowned for lavishing almost patronising praise on opponents he likes. But there is no denying that De Zerbi is destined to become a hugely significant figure at the very highest level of the game.

Indeed, Brighton may well lose him to a top team sooner rather than later, but even his eventual departure shouldn't devastate a ridiculously well-run club that has become an example for others to follow.

Well, who saw Liverpool's collapse coming? Coming within two games of winning the quadruple was always going to take a heavy toll on Jurgen Klopp's men, physically and emotionally. And there was always the lingering fear that they would eventually pay for failing to adequately strengthen in midfield.

But nobody expected such a dramatic dip in form that, in spite of a late-season rally, resulted in Liverpool being relegated to the Europa League, which is only likely to hinder their attempts to get back to challenging City at the top of the Premier League table next season.

Reinforcements are belatedly on the way, of course, but it remains to be seen whether Klopp lands any of his top targets having already missed out on dream signing Jude Bellingham. Indeed, Guardiola has already had a word in Alexis Mac Allister's ear - literally - so it will be interesting to see if he ends up at Anfield or the Etihad.

There's simply no getting away from it: with no Champions League football to offer next season, Liverpool have a serious job on their hands strengthening their squad sufficiently to just break back into the top four.

Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse says the club has "everything it needs" to make an immediate return to the Premier League next year - but the supporters are less than convinced, which is wholly understandable given how badly the owners botched the 2022-23 campaign. The Saints ran through three managers, with the decision to replace Ralph Hasenhuttl with Nathan Jones ranking as one of the worst of the season.

Swansea City boss Russell Martin is now expected to take over from Ruben Selles, but he is likely to have do so without not only England international Ward-Prowse, but also Romeo Lavia, who has plenty of admirers in the Premier League, and maybe also Carlos Alcaraz.

In fairness, they might not lose too many other players, but that says a lot about the strength of a squad that really could struggle in the Championship. The last time Southampton were relegated, it took them seven years to get back to the big time and they could be looking at a similar spell outside the top-flight unless owners Sport Republic finally get a managerial call correct.

Just like everyone else, Erling Haaland knew he was going to score goals at Manchester City. How could he not? The best team in the league with the best striker in the world - it was a match made in football heaven. However, while the Norwegian is a very confident character, rightly convinced of his quality, even he has been taken aback by just how well it's gone.

He didn't just smash Mohamed Salah's single-season record for goals (32), he also broke the 42-game record previously held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole (34 apiece) - and in just 31 appearances.

Haaland may not always be heavily involved in the game, but that's not his job. He was signed at great cost to apply the finishing touch to all of his team's pretty play - and that's exactly what he's done. Still, it is worth pointing out that he's also chipped in with eight assists.

What's more, he's only going to get better, which is an absolutely terrifying prospect for all of City's rivals. If Haaland stays in the Premier League, he'll smash all of its goalscoring records.

Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard ran riot in the Premier League as players, but they're finding the top-flight a tougher nut to crack as managers. Indeed, it's highly likely that the former England duo will have to rebuild their reputations elsewhere after flopping horribly this season.

Gerrard didn't even make it to the end of October, sacked by Aston Villa after winning just two of the club's opening 12 fixtures, and Unai Emery's instant impact and subsequent success - European qualification - with pretty much the same set of players reflected horribly on the Liverpool legend's tactical acumen.

As for Lampard, despite being sacked by Everton in January, he was parachuted into crisis club Chelsea at the start of April and, at that point, it looked like a free hit for the former midfielder. Inspire an improvement results and he might just be given the job on a full-time basis; fail to spark a revival and he could - quite justifiably - point to the man mistakes made before his attempted rescue operation.

Yet things went so badly for Lampard - he began with six successive defeats in all competitions and tasted victory only once - that his hopes of securing another Premier League are now in pieces. Just like Gerrard, he'll probably have to step down a tier or head overseas.

Harry Kane deserves some sort of medal for scoring 30 goals for a club in total disarray. He won't get one, of course, and that's a big part of the problem. Despite once again reminding everyone of his status as one of the very best forwards in world football, the England captain has once again ended the season empty-handed. And he has to be thinking enough is enough at this stage.

Surely not even the staunchest Spurs fan would begrudge him a move to a team with a realistic chance of winning a trophy before the 29-year-old retires? Because Tottenham certainly can't offer him that right now - or in the foreseeable future.

Daniel Levy's reign has descended into chaos and it's impossible to pin the blame on anyone but the chairman, because the last two managers were proven winners and yet both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte left north London making eerily similar complaints about their former employer. It just can't be a coincidence and sadly means more suffering for Spurs fans as long as Levy remains at the helm.

Indeed, this summer they're likely to see one of their own leave for a top club, and one of their former managers take over hated rivals Chelsea. Grim.

From champions to the Championship in just seven years, it'll been one hell of a fall from grace for Leicester, who were relegated on the final day of the season despite beating West Ham at home. It was arguably their best performance of the season, but very much a case of too little, too late.

Make no mistake about it, Leicester had the players to comfortably avoid the drop, at least on paper. On the pitch, though, nearly all of them underperformed, leading many fans to question their commitment to the club. There was certainly a bizarre sense of complacency about Leicester for the majority of the campaign, a misguided belief that they were 'too good to go down' and that things would work out in the end.

Still, it wasn't all the players' fault. The owners failed to invest sufficiently and wisely in the squad, while far too much faith was shown in Brendan Rodgers. It was clear long before April that the Northern Irishman had lost complete control of a sinking ship.

So, while it's sad to see Leicester go down, they harsh reality is that they have nobody to blame but themselves.