The Qatar World Cup added an unprecedented edge to the 2022/23 Premier League season.
Soaring temperatures in the Middle East rendered a summer tournament untenable, so the first winter World Cup was held in 2022. While leagues across Europe are used to taking a break mid-season in a bid to re-energise for the start of the new year, there's never been such respite in England.
Qatar's World Cup, which culminated in Lionel Messi completing football, forced a lengthy break mid-season that brought about much discussion regarding its potential impact.
Who would benefit from the prolonged absence of the Premier League, and who would suffer? Those were the questions posed at the time which prompted mere speculative answers. In all honesty, nobody really knew how a mid-season World Cup would shape the top-flight once it resumed on Boxing Day.
2022/23 Premier League table since the World Cup
Every team crammed in either 23 or 24 games since Boxing Day and it's no surprise that Man City picked up the most points since the Premier League resumed after the World Cup. Pep Guardiola's side won 18 of their 24 games as they eventually waltzed to their third-straight Premier League title.
Arsenal headed into the World Cup break with a five-point lead at the summit, and a string of late winners had many wondering whether this was actually the Gunners' year. Spoiler alert...it wasn't.
A stuttering April crippled their title challenge before they suffered back-to-back defeats in May which allowed City to clinch the title with three games to spare. Mikel Arteta's side accumulated 47 points from 24 games post-World Cup, with only City and Man Utd (49) accumulating more.
Aston Villa were the meteoric risers after they appointed Unai Emery to succeed Steven Gerrard. While the Spaniard started the job before the tournament, the lengthy break allowed him to familiarise himself at Villa Park before spearheading a majestic second half of the season. Villa picked up the fourth-most points after the World Cup (43) to claim a place in next season's Europa Conference League.
Wolves were also the beneficiaries of a managerial change as Julen Lopetegui took charge after the World Cup to steer them to safety after they entered the break bottom of the table. West Ham also rallied late on to avoid being involved in the relegation scrap for too long, while Crystal Palace's resurgence under Roy Hodgson guided them to mid-table once again.
On the contrary, Chelsea's woes only worsened in 2023 and if it wasn't for the few points they picked up at the start of the season, the Blues would've firmly been locked in the dogfight down at the bottom.
Speaking of which, the three teams that picked up the fewest points after returning from the World Cup ended up going down. Leicester (17 points), Leeds (16), and Southampton (13) were comfortably the poorest performers during the second half of the season. Everton, who just about survived, notched 22 points from their remaining 23 games.
FINAL PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE, TOP SCORERS & EUROPEAN QUALIFICATION
This article was originally published on 90min as Final Premier League form table since the World Cup.
