Premier League debate: Who’s been the surprise package of the 2023/24 campaign?
As the Premier League has captured the emotion of fans throughout the 23/24 campaign, has there been a standout surprise package who have gone on to impress football experts and overachieve in the top flight this season?
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00:00Michael, looking back at the season as a whole, you know, we've spoke about the most underwhelming
00:06team. Has there been a team that has sort of completely gone over their expectations?
00:10I know there's probably clearly one that finished in the top four.
00:14Yeah, I mean, I think there's one stand I'd say that I've overachieved, but I mean, to
00:18give a couple of clubs to mention who, you know, deserve a bit of praise. I think Bournemouth
00:24had a very good campaign, finishing 11th. Obviously, that's already been acknowledged
00:27by Arreola's new contract at the Vitality. I think Wolves have had a good season as well.
00:33I tipped them to go down at the start of the season, so it shows how much I know, but they've
00:37done really well. And I think they're 13th at the moment, but a couple of weeks ago,
00:41they were in the shake-up for the European places, and injuries, as much as anything,
00:44have derailed that. So they've had a really good season, but listen, the standards ask
00:49them. They've had a fantastic campaign. There are lots of areas they can still improve on,
00:55but I think from where they've come, and you talk about five years ago, not even five
01:00years ago, 18 months ago, or whenever it was, that Emery took over from Gerrard and they
01:04were 16th or 17th, the turnaround has just been... You can't believe the turnaround in
01:11those levels, and to get Champions League football to play against some of Europe's
01:15best sides, the fans will just be absolutely delighted next season, and they're a huge
01:19club who have underwhelmed and underachieved, I think, for so long, and from their fans'
01:25perspective, they're back in the big time where they deserve to be, and they'll just
01:28be absolutely delighted, I think.
01:29Well, I think there's been a few. There's the obvious one in Aston Villa, and how Unai
01:34Emery's done an incredible job to get them properly finishing in the top four, getting
01:38Champions League football the elite European competition for the first time for a very,
01:42very long time, decades. But for me, a bit of an outside one is AFC Bournemouth under
01:48Andone Aiola. There's a lot of talk about the Spaniard losing his job after the first
01:53few games of the season. They couldn't win a game, they could hardly score a goal, but
01:56they were patient with his tactics, and his form ever since has been so, so impressive.
02:02As a man manager, as a man himself, actually, in the press conferences, he comes across
02:07as such a gentleman. His tactics are very versatile. He goes up against the big clubs.
02:12Who knows what they can do next campaign with some summer signings? Could they even be European
02:16contenders? I think there's an outside shout.
02:18Everton, you've really got to take your hat off to Sean Dyche. The battles, relegation
02:24for the past two seasons, and I said from the start of the campaign, just to avoid that
02:29will be an achievement. They've done that. They've cleared of Luton by 14 points, and
02:34so that's due to the fact that they've had eight points deducted from the tally, which
02:40is a massive, massive amount when they were battling, and it affected them. Without that
02:46points deduction, Everton will be, I think they will be 11th in the table, and they say
02:53they should be 11th in the table. You could say that is a big surprise.