Festive time may be over, but fortunately, a long and winding road of Premier League drama awaits us – a real ray of hope.
Managers up and down the high-level table will scratch their heads in confusion or sit smugly in their chairs, a small glass of red wine in one hand. For some, 2024 was a year to celebrate. For others, however, it was something to forget.
New Year's Eve will not be a wild night of partying. The champagne will be put aside as soon as the clock strikes midnight and the tactics books return.
But just because the year has been relegated to the dusty annals of history doesn't mean we can't take one last in-depth look at how it unfolded. And what better way to do that than to delve into the statistical minutiae of the league, I ask?
So, get ready as we explore which teams sit atop the league's overall standings for 2024 and pick out the best and worst players over the past 366 days.
As always, there will be many surprises along the way…
Liverpool top the Premier League table at the end of a dramatic year
Manchester United have endured a rollercoaster 12 months under multiple managers
Manchester City lifted the league trophy in May, but their title defense failed
2024 overall league standings
Liverpool may be the undisputed leaders this season, but it is Arsenal who topped the Premier League table during the calendar year. Mikel Arteta's side have been relentlessly consistent and edged out the Reds thanks to a superior goal difference.
Manchester City took third place and Chelsea fourth.
In a sign of Newcastle's rebound under Eddie Howe, the Magpies were flying high in fifth, ahead of Aston Villa in sixth and Bournemouth in seventh.
Struggling Tottenham and Manchester United were ninth and tenth respectively.
Southampton supported the classification and was a safe bet for relegation.
Arsenal sit first for the calendar year, ahead of Liverpool on goal difference
Most goals
Liverpool scored the most goals in the league in 2024 with 92. Arsenal came second with 89, six ahead of Manchester City. Chelsea, again in fourth place, scored 81.
Newcastle proved lethal in front of goal, having scored 80, while Ange Postecoglou's delightfully unbalanced Spurs managed 73.
Brentford, who have impressed again under Thomas Frank, the envy of several of the country's biggest clubs, have scored 62 in the last 366 days.
Manchester United finished with 56 to their name after a dismal year.
In the end, Southampton scored just 12, with Ipswich ahead with 18.
Liverpool scored the most goals in the calendar year, closely followed by Arsenal.
| Equipment | Goals scored |
|---|---|
| Liverpool | 92 |
| Arsenal | 89 |
| city of manchester | 83 |
| Chelsea | 81 |
| Newcastle | 80 |
Goals conceded
This is the category in which no club wants to finish first. However, there had to be an underdog and this year it was West Ham, who scored a staggering 79 goals.
Wolves (76), Brentford (66), Aston Villa (65), Tottenham (60), Newcastle (58) and Brighton (57) were also not immune to taking the ball out of their own goal.
Manchester United also allowed 57 goals under Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, perhaps a number that some believe should have been higher.
At the other end of this particular table, Arsenal fielded the worst defense and only conceded 23. Next best was Ipswich with 33, although this is skewed by the fact that the Tractor Boys only made the jump to the top flight in August. .
Manchester City scored 39 goals, many of which came during their recent poor run of form.
West Ham conceded a staggering 79 goals in 2024, three more than Wolves (76)
| Equipment | Goals conceded |
|---|---|
| western ham | 79 |
| wolves | 76 |
| Brentford | 66 |
| Villa Aston | 65 |
| Tottenham | 60 |
Confronted shots
Of course, there are caveats here, but the general consensus is that the more shots Premier League teams allow, the more they will concede.
This proved prophetic for West Ham, who also topped this table. In fact, over the last 366 days, they faced 661 goal attempts. Brentford's net was also splattered, the Bees allowing 632 shots, comfortably the second-highest total.
Manchester United were third with 572, a by-product of Ten Hag's tactical shortcomings and the lack of confidence that permeated their ranks under Amorim.
Wolves then allowed 562, closely followed by Newcastle (535), Chelsea (516), Everton (509), Bournemouth (493), Fulham (489) and Aston Villa (485).
Newcomer Ipswich allowed the fewest shots (293), while the 'Big Six' team with the best record in this area was Manchester City with 323 shots.
Medium possession
It is no surprise that Manchester City dominated the ball in 2024, earning them the highest average possession percentage in the entire top flight.
City finished the year with 64.4 per cent, putting them ahead of Tottenham, who recorded an impressive 61.3 per cent.
Liverpool, often an all-round smooth machine, came third with 60 per cent.
Sheffield United finished last in this area with 34.7 per cent, while Nottingham Forest and Everton amassed 40.2 per cent and 40.5 per cent respectively.
Arsenal, who have come to enjoy keeping the ball under Mikel Arteta, scored 55.9 percent. Manchester United finished the year with 51.5 percent.
As expected, Manchester City were the kings of possession dominance in the top flight.
clean sheets
Reflecting the fact that they conceded the fewest goals, Arsenal also managed the most clean sheets: 18 in fact. Next was Everton with 14 shutouts.
Manchester City (12) and Liverpool (11) were equally stubborn and Brighton finished fifth with 10 to their name. Newcastle came sixth with exactly the same number.
Both Sheffield United and Burnley failed to manage a single clean sheet, putting them at the bottom of this table, while Luton and Leicester managed one each.
Manchester United, a disaster at the back for much of the year, kept nine clean sheets.
Bournemouth, Chelsea and Fulham finished with eight.
Most goals
We now move on to the player-only categories and start with the Premier League's most prolific marksman. It was a four-way race to finish in first place, but the 2024 winner was none other than Manchester City's Erling Haaland.
Haaland, famous for his Terminator-like advantage in front of goal, scored 27 goals, closely followed by Chelsea talisman Cole Palmer, who scored 26.
Alexander Isak, who quickly attracted a lot of interest across the continent, managed 25, while Liverpool's Mohamed Salah finished the year with 23.
Chris Wood, Ollie Watkins and Jean-Philippe Mateta also achieved respectable figures, with 18 each, while Yoane Wissa managed 17 in 366 days.
Nicolas Jackson finished in ninth place with 16, the same amount as Matheus Cunha.
Erling Haaland scored 27 league goals in 2024, one more than Chelsea's Cole Palmer
| Player | Goals scored |
|---|---|
| Erling Haaland | 27 |
| Cole Palmer | 26 |
| Alejandro Isak | 25 |
| Mohamed Salah | 23 |
| Chris Wood | 18 |
Assists
Some of the most creative players in the league fueled those who love to score.
Mohamed Salah topped this particular chart with 16 assists, beating off fierce competition from Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka, who recorded 13 each.
Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne finished the year with 12, despite his long-term injury problems, while Son Heung-min racked up 11.
Seven players scored 10 goals, including Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Gordon, Declan Rice, Bruno Guimaraes and Morgan Gibbs-White.
Fulham full-back Antonee Robinson also managed 10 assists during the year.
Mohamed Salah's 16 assists put him at the top of the table with Cole Palmer second
| Player | Number of assists |
|---|---|
| Mohamed Salah | 16 |
| Cole Palmer | 13 |
| Bukayo Saka | 13 |
| Kevin De Bruyne | 12 |
| Son Heung Min | 11 |
Opportunities created
In a similar vein, a host of top players created golden opportunities, many of which were seized. Topping this list was Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, with 99 chances (66 of which came from open play) to his name.
Cole Palmer was second with 97 and Kevin De Bruyne finished third with 84.
Bukayo Saka and Andreas Pereira finished with 83 chances created each and there were also good numbers for Anthony Gordon (78) and Dwight McNeil (75).
The only defender in the top 20 was Liverpool's Andy Robertson (65).
Other notable names who made the cut were Luis Díaz (67), Bernardo Silva (67), Son Heung-min (64), Phil Foden (63), James Maddison (62) and Mohamed Salah (59).
Tickets
A guaranteed way to get any Premier League crowd roaring is a good, forceful tackle. Fortunately, there were many of them in 2024.
At the top of this table was Joao Gomes of Wolves with 129. Then came Daniel Muñoz of Crystal Palace, with 121, and Alexis Mac Allister with 120.
Other workhorses were Moses Caicedo (115), Tyrick Mitchell (110), Casemiro (101), Emerson (99), Mario Lemina (96) and Idrissa Gueye (95).
Then came players like Antonee Robinson (93), Bruno Guimaraes (91), Diogo Dalot (88), Rayan Ait-Nouri (79), Lewis Cook (79) and James Tarkowski (76).
Honorable mentions went to Destiny Udogie (75) and Ryan Christie (73).
Wolves general midfielder Joao Gomes made the most tackles in the league in 2024
Yellow and red cards
There were also hundreds of bookings last year, leading to a series of red cards.
Wolves full-back Nelson Semedo got a combined total of 13 (12 yellow, one red) with Chelsea's Marc Cucurella second on the naughty step (11 yellow, one red).
Joao Gomes (12 yellow), Marcos Senesi (12 yellow), James Tarkowski (12 yellow) and Rodrigo Bentancur (11 yellow) also showed too many cards.
A special mention for Kalvin Phillips, who was sent off twice in 2024, as was Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes and Southampton captain Jack Stephens.
There was another red card for Edson Álvarez, who also recorded eight yellow cards.