Another Premier League season is all but over, with just three games remaining for each side.
Liverpool have secured their 20th league title, the three promoted teams have gone back down and the battle for Europe has become one of the most memorable for years.
Now, FourFourTwo column Jules Breach looks back on the season that was, giving her successes and thoughts on another unforgettable campaign.
Best player
Mo Salah has been this season’s most outstanding player. One of the Premier League’s most consistent attackers for many years, somehow the Egyptian raised his game to extraordinary levels. He has rewritten the record books on several occasions. Salah’s impressive goals-and-assists output has helped Liverpool on their way to a 20th top flight title – a remarkable achievement in manager Arne Slot’s first season in England.
Salah operates at the highest standards, and, at 32, he is in the best physical condition of his life, allowing him to perform at the peak of his powers this term. He’s delivered time and time again this campaign, as provider or goalscorer, and even on a rare off day, he still has that ability to be able to pull something special out of nowhere.
His consistency is quite mind-blowing. Salah has now scored 20 or more goals in all competitions in all eight seasons he’s spent with Liverpool, and he’s the first player to do so for the club in consecutive campaigns. Staggering.
He’s one of Liverpool’s most prolific players and an all-time Premier League great. Salah’s contract saga was finally put to bed in April, and after signing a new two-year deal to stay at Anfield until 2027, you’d expect the Egyptian King to break even more records.
Biggest surprise
No one would have predicted that Nottingham Forest, who finished just one place above the relegation zone last season, would be celebrating the end of this campaign with European football. It’s been a phenomenal season, one beyond the players’, fans’ and manager’s wildest dreams.
Nuno Espirito Santo will be many people’s choice for top-flight manager of the season and has inspired the most sensational transformation at the club in such a short time. Most opposition fans will have spent the season wondering when the Forest bubble might burst, but it’s a credit to the mentality and identity that Nuno has instilled in his side, that they’ve performed relatively consistently across all competitions, all campaign. Their success has been no fluke and they will now play in Europe for the first time since 1996, an incredible achievement.
The fans have been a huge part in Forest’s success. On several visits to the City Ground this season, it’s always been an electric atmosphere, raucous singing, flags and fireworks, and you can tell that the players thrive off it. European football at the City Ground will only take that to the next level.
Forest are a reminder to all football fans that anything is possible, and unbelievable moments could be just around the corner.
We need to talk about Kevin
If we’d known at the start of the season that this would be Kevin De Bruyne’s last at Manchester City, we would have all savoured every single performance. After an incredible 10 years at the club, it will look so strange seeing a City team-sheet without De Bruyne’s name. The Belgian is one of the finest players to grace the Premier League, a global icon, who had the ability to get fans off their seats.
When De Bruyne signed from Wolfsburg, for what was seen as an extortionate £55m, no one expected him to have such impact. He became a vital part of Pep Guardiola’s teams in their most successful period, dominating the Premier League, and leading the club to its first Champions League.
He has won an astonishing amount of silverware to go along with the amazing numbers he produced on the pitch, scoring over a century of City goals and leaving the Premier League second only to Ryan Giggs in assists, in half the appearances.
Yet De Bruyne was always more than just numbers. He had something special, could dictate games, and was an extraordinary scorer and creator at the highest level.
Put simply, a joy to watch and an all-time City giant. When debates are had about the greatest players to make their Premier League mark, Kevin De Bruyne’s name will always be in the conversation.
