Premier League table: Spurs and Arsenal lead Man City

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 8 Oct 2023 13:14 CDT
• 9 min read

The 2023/24 season is here and once more it is Manchester City who are the team to beat in England.

After winning a historic treble last time around, Pep Guardiola’s team are bidding to claim what would be a sixth EPL title in seven seasons, and fourth in a row.

Arsenal finished in second place last season and are aiming to go one better after the significant transfers that saw them sign Declan Rice and Kai Havertz this summer.

Manchester United and Newcastle are looking to build on their top-four finishes last time around, while the pressure is on Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham after disappointing campaigns.

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Aston Villa will hope to disrupt the party under Unai Emery, while West Ham go into the season on a high after Europa Conference League success, as do Brighton after a stunning 2022/23 campaign.

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At the other end of the table, the relegation battle is likely to include promoted clubs Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town, along with the likes of Everton, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, all of whom narrowly avoided the drop last year.

The Premier League table will be displayed here during the season. Keep this page saved throughout the year to keep track of the latest standings.

Premier League table 2023/24

Tottenham are the new leaders in the Premier League table, with Arsenal also ahead of champions Manchester City after Sunday's action.

With six wins from their first six matches, defending champions Man City had raced up to first place in the Premier League standings over the opening weeks of the 2023/24 season.

But consecutive away defeats against Wolves and Arsenal mean it is Spurs and the Gunners who are locked together on 20 points at the top going into the October international break.

After 10-man Spurs' 1-0 win at Luton, they are above Arsenal - who beat Man City with a late, deflected Gabriel Martinelli strike - on goals scored, with the rival sides having the same +10 goal difference.

Liverpool are the other members of the top four positions in the EPL standings.

Aston Villa and Brighton are also within touching distance of the leading group.

There are only two remaining winless teams in the EPL table. Bournemouth and bottom club Sheffield United are yet to record a victory.

Chelsea and Manchester United are among the bigger sides who have endured difficult starts to the campaign.

At the top, it was a fine start for Pep Guardiola’s men, who recorded wins over Burnley, Newcastle and Sheffield United.

Man City then beat Fulham on Matchday 4, with Erling Haaland scoring his first hat-trick of the season for the champions. They then that followed up with a 3-1 away win at West Ham that came despite falling behind and a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest even though Rodri was sent off.

But while those first six matches sent a clear message to their title rivals about how difficult it will be to usurp them once more, a shock 2-1 loss away to Wolves offered the other top sides huge hope and Arsenal's win in the top-of-the table clash on Sunday has thrown the title race wide open.

Indeed, Tottenham have charged up the standings. Spurs romped to a 5-2 win at Burnley, with Son Heung-min scoring a hat-trick, and then scored twice in stoppage-time to earn a thrilling win over Sheffield United.

A double from Son secured a 2-2 derby draw away to Arsenal, and there was more drama in MD7 as they beat nine-man Liverpool 2-1 thanks to an own goal deep into stoppage time prior to their narrow win at Luton.

Spurs have impressively made an unbeaten start to the campaign despite the departure of star striker Harry Kane, while their rivals Arsenal are also unbeaten so far.

The defeat for Liverpool at Spurs was their first of the season and ended a fine run of form. The Reds hoped to bounce back against Brighton but had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

Unai Emery's Aston Villa have made an impressive, if slightly unusual, start to the campaign, reaching fifth spot. They bounced back from a huge opening loss at Newcastle with a thumping 4-0 win over Everton and also beat Burnley. When they then suffered another heavy defeat on the road at Anfield, there was another positive response with wins over Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Brighton.

Their latest triumph, a 6-1 home win over Brighton, was a stunning performance powered by Ollie Watkins' hat-trick. This week they drew at Wolves.

West Ham enjoyed brief spells at the top of the table earlier this season. They have recorded statement wins over Chelsea and Brighton prior to their only two losses, which came against elite opposition in Man City and Liverpool.

Newcastle started the campaign in England’s top flight with an emphatic win over Villa, but then suffered defeats to Man City, Liverpool and Brighton amid a tough run of fixtures. Their narrow win over Brentford came as a huge relief before their huge 8-0 victory over Sheffield United indicated they had fully turned the corner.

Brighton's form so far – they have recorded big wins over Luton, Wolves, Newcastle, Man Utd and Bournemouth – suggests last season's impressive sixth-place finish was not a flash in the pan, but the humbling result at Villa highlighted some major concerns.

It has been a slow start for Chelsea, who have lost at home to Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa as well as suffering a London derby defeat at West Ham. They only had one win from six matches, so consecutive victories away to Fulham and Burnley were crucial results for them, which also lifted the Blues up to 11th in the table. Mykhailo Mudryk and Armando Broja got the goals at Craven Cottage, with Raheem Sterling among the scorers against Burnley.

Man Utd have lost four of their opening eight matches. They have recorded home wins over Wolves, Forest and Brentford, but they were poor in losing 2-0 away to Tottenham, suffered a painful late 3-1 loss to Arsenal and were also beaten at home to Brighton and Crystal Palace. That all means they are in 10th place.

It has been a disappointing start for Burnley, who were tipped for a strong campaign under Vincent Kompany. But after facing Man City, Villa, Spurs, Man Utd, Newcastle and Chelsea during the early weeks, they are looking forward to a slightly easier run of fixtures after the October international break.

The Clarets' match with Luton in MD2 was initially postponed, so those two teams have a game in hand on most of the sides around them before they played on Tuesday October 3. Burnley emerged as 2-1 winners to move level on points with Luton in the relegation battle.

Premier League key fixtures

After a nice run of Premier League and Champions League football, it is now time for the second international break of the season.

England's top flight will return on Saturday October 21 with Matchday 9 of the season.

Liverpool play Everton in the Merseyside derby before all eyes will be on Man City as they attempt to get back on track when they host Brighton in an intriguing Saturday encounter. Chelsea will host Arsenal in the early evening game before a night clash between Sheffield United and Man Utd in what looks set to be a thrilling day of football.

That only leaves one game on Sunday, which is West Ham vs Aston Villa, while Tottenham - who go into MD9 as the league leaders - will take on Fulham in Monday Night Football.

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Who qualifies for the Champions League

The top four teams in the Premier League are guaranteed to automatically qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League competition, going straight through to the group stage.

Up until this season, the chance of a fifth EPL team reaching the Champions League was slim – a team would have had to win the UCL while also missing out on a top-four finish for that to happen.

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However, due to changes in the Champions League format, which involves the introduction of a Swiss Model and a 36-team competition, there is now a strong chance five EPL sides will be in the 2024/25 UCL.

That is because an extra Champions League place will be awarded to each of the two nations with the highest UEFA co-efficient ranking, which is based on the performance of each country’s clubs in continental competitions.

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England has finished top for the last three seasons. Had the system been in place last year, England and Spain would have received the two extra places. That would have meant qualification Liverpool, who finished fifth. Instead, the Reds will play in the 2023/24 Europa League.

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Last year it was the teams who finished fifth and sixth – Liverpool and Brighton – who qualified for the Europa League, while seventh-placed Aston Villa reached the Conference League.

West Ham also made the Europa League despite finishing 14th, courtesy of winning the Conference League.

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However, those EPL positions are not fixed to certain UEFA competitions, as the allocation of places depends on which team ends up winning the two English domestic knockout tournaments – the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

Last season, Manchester City won the FA Cup, but because they were already in the top four, their Europa League spot went to Brighton in sixth.

And seventh place only meant Conference League qualification for Aston Villa because Carabao Cup winners Man Utd were also top-four finishers, meaning they would be in the Champions League instead.

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This year will also be complicated by the potential extra Champions League place. But teams went into the season safe in the knowledge that a top-six finish in the EPL typically all but guarantees some kind of European football, with seventh often good enough too.

Tie breakers

If teams finish level on points in the 2023/24 Premier Legue table, there are various tie breakers that are applied.

First is goal difference – whichever team has the highest goal difference will finish above any other sides with the same points total.

If they have the same goal difference, it will go down to goals scored. For example, if Team A had 70 goals scored and 60 conceded, while Team B had 60 goals scored and 50 conceded, it would be Team A who finished ahead in the table, even though both sides had a +10 goal difference.

It would take a highly unlikely scenario for any other tie breakers to be required, although there is a system in place just in case.

If teams competing for the title, relegation or a league position that would mean qualification for UEFA competition were level on points, goal difference, and goals scored, the following additional tie breakers would come into force:

1) Points gained in head-to-head record between the teams involved. 2) Away goals scored in head-to-head record between the teams involved. 3) A play-off match or matches between the teams involved

Manchester City have been the dominant Premier League team over recent seasons.

They have won the title for five out of the previous six campaigns, with Liverpool winning the other in that span in 2019/20.

Manchester United still hold the record for the most English titles with 20, but their last Premier League success came back in 2013.

Chelsea have won it twice since then, while Leicester City – who are now in the Championship – were shock winners in 2015/16.

Arsenal have not come out on top since their Invincibles season in 2003/04.