Premier League 2023-24 review: managers of the season
We select some contenders for this season’s outstanding coach – and invite you to have your say
Players of the season | Goals of the season
It’s fair to say expectations were high at Villa Park for the man who had taken over in the autumn of 2022 with the club mired in a relegation battle and guided them to seventh last season. It’s also fair to say he has exceeded them. Emery has steered Villa to their best league finish since 1996 and next season they will compete for the European Cup for the first time since they qualified as winners in 1982-83. They have excelled despite the Sunday-Thursday treadmill brought by Europa Conference League football – a challenge that yielded a first European semi-final since 1982 – and squad depth that did not allow for much rotation (10 players end the season having made 45 appearances or more). And there’s no sense his squad is about to be broken up. Indeed there’s every chance they can kick on. The challenge might be holding on to a manager who is back among the hottest properties in Europe.
