How Do The 20 Premier League Teams Grade Over The Season?

At the start of this season, bet365 Sport had a list of the 20 Premier League teams and their odds on winning the Premier League title.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, Manchester City, the favourites at the start of the campaign duly delivered on landing their 10^th Premier League title, their fifth in the last six years.

Manchester City really signed these two for less than £70m combined 👏 pic.twitter.com/7MKQOKG9M7
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) May 23, 2023

But for other teams, it was a season of surprise, some performing much better than expected others much worse than expected, and some even being dragged out of the division as they dropped into the relegation places.

So let us now take a look at each of the 20 teams and give them their end of the school year report card, along with their grades for a number of areas of the team this season.

We will go through the list alphabetically starting with the team that looked at one stage like they could upset the form book and claim the title.

Premier League End of Season Grades & Report Card

Grade Key

A – Outstanding
B – Good
C – Satisfactory
D – Below Expected
E – Very Poor
F – Failure

Grades can also be given a + or – allocation to differentiate between teams on the same grade.

Arsenal

Management – A
Goalkeeping – A-
Defending – A-
Midfield – B+
Attacking – A-
Transfer Dealings – A-
Entertaining to Watch – A
Overall Performance – A-

So close but yet so far for Arsenal as they were one of the stars of the season but fell short in the title race to Manchester City, who beat them three times this season. Arsenal are close to being real challengers to City, they just need a couple of players to lift the levels in those key games against title rivals.

Aston Villa

Management – B (Gerrard – C-, Emery – A)
Goalkeeping – A
Defending – B+
Midfield – B
Attacking – B-
Transfer Dealings – C
Entertaining to Watch – C
Overall Performance – B

Steven Gerrard’s ill-fated spell as manager wasn’t a success but some of the players he brought in played a key role in Villa’s emergence under Unai Emery. The Spaniard leading the team to the Europa Conference League places in what was a very good season for the Villains in the end.

Bournemouth

Management – C (Parker E, O’Neill B+)
Goalkeeping – D+
Defending – D
Midfield – C+
Attacking – C-
Transfer Dealings – C-
Entertaining to Watch – D
Overall Performance – C-

Scott Parker’s disastrous short spell at the club led to Gary O’Neill being appointed and O’Neill did well to lead the team to safety which is all the Cherries could have hoped for at one point. This is still a weak squad, but with what they have, they did a decent job but need to improve next season.

Brentford

Management – A-
Goalkeeping – A-
Defending – A-
Midfield – B
Attacking – B+
Transfer Dealings – B
Entertaining to Watch – B
Overall Performance – B+

Thomas Frank’s work at Brentford is a modern day miracle and his team continues to defy the odds and predictions of doom and gloom. 9^th in the Premier League would have been a pipedream ten years ago and they finish as the third best team in London. Outstanding.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Management – A+ (Potter A, De Zerbi A+)
Goalkeeping – A+
Defending – B
Midfield – A-
Attacking – A-
Transfer Dealings – A+
Entertaining to Watch – A+
Overall Performance – A

I can’t quite give Brighton an A+ as they didn’t quite hit the Champions League places, but make no mistake, they were so close to it. The most entertaining team to watch in the Premier League alongside Man City, they are a joy to behold and fully deserved their lofty finish. Can they now stop the big boys cherry-picking their talented players in the transfer window?

Chelsea

Management – D- (Tuchel C-, Potter D, Lampard E)
Goalkeeping – C+
Defending – C
Midfield – E
Attacking – F
Transfer Dealings – F
Entertaining to Watch – E
Overall Performance – F

Over £600m spent on players, a squad that managers have admitted is far too large, a team without a focal point in attack but excess in midfield and defence. Chelsea have had a nightmare season by their own lofty standards. Mauricio Pochettino has a LOT of work to do and unloading players on those huge wages will not be easy.

Crystal Palace

Management – B- (Viera D, Hodgson A-)
Goalkeeping – B
Defending – B+
Midfield – B
Attacking – C-
Transfer Dealings – D+
Entertaining to Watch – D-
Overall Performance – C+

Roy Hodgson’s unlikely role as saviour of Palace’s season ensured that the Eagles finished above Chelsea and in 11^th, from being in a relegation battle when he took over. Whether Hodgson stays on next season remains to be seen, but it seems to be the wise move given the upturn in form.

Everton

Management – D (Lampard E-, Dyche C)
Goalkeeping – B-
Defending – E+
Midfield – C-
Attacking – F
Transfer Dealings – E-
Entertaining to Watch – F
Overall Performance – E-

Everton escaped relegation but this season was almost calamitous. The Toffees need to find a way to defend better and score goals because at the moment, they don’t look like a team that is going to improve much next season, but is the money there to do that with the club seemingly up for sale? Worrying times ahead for the Toffees I feel.

Fulham

Management – B+
Goalkeeping – C
Defending – C
Midfield – B-
Attacking – B-
Transfer Dealings – A-
Entertaining to Watch – C
Overall Performance – B-

Marco Silva’s Fulham had a fantastic season after gaining promotion. Some very clever transfer dealings helped the team a great deal and with Mitrovic providing the goals for the majority of the season, Fulham can be well pleased with their efforts this year.

Leeds United

Management – F (Marsch E-, Gracia F, Allardyce F)
Goalkeeping – E-
Defending – E-
Midfield – D+
Attacking – C-
Transfer Dealings – E-
Entertaining to Watch – C+
Overall Performance – E-

Leeds were always likely to be amongst the teams involved in the relegation battle despite a solid start to the season and so it proved. Sacking Jesse Marsch proved an unwise move as Javi Gracia just dragged the team deeper into the mire, so much so that Big Sam could not even save them. Despite relegation hurting, the building blocks are there to bounce back, if the right manager can be found.

Leicester City

Management – F (Rodgers E-, Smith F)
Goalkeeping – E
Defending – F
Midfield – E
Attacking – C+
Transfer Dealings – F
Entertaining to Watch – D+
Overall Performance – F

There’s no sugarcoating this season for Foxes fans. It has been a disaster. Poor transfer decisions, players out of form, lacking confidence, a team lost and seemingly unable to find the spark that has seen them win major trophies. This was a shock collapse and the season a total failure.

Liverpool

Management – B-
Goalkeeping – A
Defending – D+
Midfield – D-
Attacking – B+
Transfer Dealings – D-
Entertaining to Watch – B-
Overall Performance – C-

After pushing City hard last year, Liverpool fell well off the pace this season and but for salvaging a Europa League spot in the final 10 games of the season or so, these grades would have been much worse. There’s lots of work to do on tactics, defence and midfield for Jurgen Klopp but he will get it right again. But the Reds need more from their big money signings.

Manchester City

Management – A+
Goalkeeping – A
Defending – A
Midfield – A+
Attacking – A+
Transfer Dealings – A
Entertaining to Watch – A+
Overall Performance – A+

The Premier League is in the bag, the FA Cup and Champions League could follow in a Treble for the ages and all done while having the joint-best defence in the league and scoring more goals than any other team playing outstanding football from the go. The best team in the world by a mile at present and it isn’t even close.

Manchester United

Management – A
Goalkeeping – C-
Defending – B
Midfield – B+
Attacking – B+
Transfer Dealings – A
Entertaining to Watch – B
Overall Performance – A-

Erik Ten Hag has led United to a Carabao Cup win, an FA Cup Final and also the Champions League. That’s a great achievement in his first season. There are still problems for him to sort out as some individual performances and a number of the one-off results have shown but United do seem to be on their way back.

Newcastle United

Management – A
Goalkeeping – A
Defending – A+
Midfield – A-
Attacking – A-
Transfer Dealings – A-
Entertaining to Watch – A
Overall Performance – A

Forget the Saudi takeover, this was an outstanding season on the field for Newcastle. Eddie Howe built a team that was entertaining but which had the best defensive record in the Premier League and yet which had some outstanding midfield and attacking talent. This is a fantastic foundation to build on next year in the Champions League and beyond.

Nottingham Forest

Management – B+
Goalkeeping – B+
Defending – C
Midfield – C+
Attacking – C+
Transfer Dealings – D
Entertaining to Watch – D-
Overall Performance – C+

The Nottingham Forest board derserve credit for not getting rid of Steve Cooper when the pressure was on. The manager pulled the team through despite a huge amount of signings on the eve of the season. With a full pre-season behind them, I think Forest can push on from this solid start in the top flight.

Southampton

Management – F (Hasenhutl E-, Jones F, Selles F)
Goalkeeping – E
Defending – F
Midfield – D
Attacking – E-
Transfer Dealings – F
Entertaining to Watch – E
Overall Performance – F

A transfer policy to buy big on young promising but unproven players to replace Premier League calibre talent did not work out and Southampton suffered the penalty. Three managers and a dismal home record means this season was a total failure ending in relegation.

Tottenham Hotspurs

Management – E- (Conte F, Mason D-)
Goalkeeping – E
Defending – F
Midfield – D-
Attacking – A
Transfer Dealings – E
Entertaining to Watch – C+
Overall Performance – E-

An eighth-place finish for Spurs is one thing, but the manner of it with the Conte fall-out, fans irate at the owners and a complete lack of form and effort is worrying. There’s a lot to fix here for the next manager, whoever takes on the responsibility from Mason.

West Ham United

Management – C+
Goalkeeping – C-
Defending – D+
Midfield – B
Attacking – C-
Transfer Dealings – D+
Entertaining to Watch – C+
Overall Performance – C+

An otherwise poor season domestically has seen the Hammers overall grade improved by their exploits in the Europa Conference League. A win there would lift this grade I up to a B+ but it would not hide the need for greater consistency.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Management – C- (Lage E-, Davis E, Lopetegui B-)
Goalkeeping – B-
Defending – C
Midfield – B-
Attacking – E
Transfer Dealings – C+
Entertaining to Watch – E-
Overall Performance – C-

We expected better from Wolves, but they lacked in attack and they were not the most entertaining as a result. However, they seem to have the right man in charge to push on next season.

Bet365 Sport Premier League

Premier League 2022/23 End of Season Report Card And Grades