Rezzil’s Season Review 2022/23: Part Two

Part two of our season debrief starts in west London, where a downtrodden Chelsea endured their worst season in recent history…

Chelsea

Final league position: 12th

Points: 44

Rezzil’s rating: 1/10

When a club spends £600million on new signings, there is a general belief that they will not finish 12th in the league. The only silver lining for the Blues this season is that they avoided relegation. Frankly, they just got absolutely everything wrong this season, from recruitment to performances, top to bottom it has been a complete nightmare since Todd Boehly took charge of the west London club and major improvement is needed next season. 

Not having any European distractions will surely help and mean that they can focus solely on securing a spot in the top-four, while new manager Mauricio Pochettino’s first major job will be to trim the hideously unbalanced, bloated squad they currently possess. If he can do that and sign a striker who will actually be able to score some goals, they might just stand a chance. 

Crystal Palace

Final league position: 11th

Points: 45

Rezzil’s rating: 7/10

Palace endured another tumultuous season in the top-flight this time out and in the end they finished strongly with a respectable 11th-place finish, though things could have played out a lot differently and looked like they would do after the World Cup. The Eagles were firm candidates for relegation before the returning legend Roy Hodgson took the reins following Patrick Vieira’s dismissal in March. Palace saw in the new year without a win in their opening 13 games and the board felt that a change was required in order to change their fortunes and keep them in England’s top division. 

Hodgson hit the ground running and oversaw three wins and a draw in his first four games back at Selhurst Park and the south London side went on to lose just two of their final 10 matches which resulted in a promising mid-table finish. 

With their Premier League status intact for another season at least, Palace will be hopeful of bettering the last campaign’s return or at least solidifying a mid-table berth a lot sooner in 2023/24, though with Wilfried Zaha set to leave the club this summer for a Champions League suitor they will lose a key player in a system which has worked so fluidly during his 10-year stay at his boyhood club. Time, then, for Eze and Olise to take full control of the floor.

Everton

Final league position: 17th

Points: 36

Rezzil’s rating: 3/10

For the second season in a row, Everton fans will be glad to see the back of football for a few months. The Toffees narrowly escaped the drop last term and there was hopeful expectation that they would kick on this time around and make a charge for the top half. The opposite came to fruition. 

The Blues looked destined to fall out of the Premier League for the first time ever and, truth be told, were only saved by the fact that there were three teams who were so catastrophically poor below them; during a more typical season, they probably would have been doomed. 

The Lampard appointment did not work, to say the least. The team failed to gel and Goodison Park turned into a volatile hunting ground where visiting sides were able to feast far too easily and far too frequently. 

Sean Dyche’s appointment in January sparked a mini revival and provided some belief amongst the players and supporters which was eventually enough to keep them up (just). 

There is a belief that the no nonsense ex-Burnley boss can get a tune out of this team with a whole summer and season in front of him. Time will tell, but surely the only way is up for Everton.

Fulham

Final league position: 10th

Points: 52

Rezzil’s rating: 8/10

Many believed that Fulham would struggle back in the Premier League after their barnstorming campaign in the Championship in 2021/22, where they won the division at a canter, but they actually turned out to be one of the league’s surprise packages. 

Marco Silva was certainly a contender for manager of the season while Aleksandar Mitrovic silenced his critics by bagging a career-best 14 top-flight goals — which would have been more had he not decided to put his hands all over a referee at Old Trafford. 

Stalwarts Tim Reem and Harrison Reed really impressed and proved that they can cut it at the very highest level, while the signing of João Palhinha proved to be a masterstroke, with the tough-tackling Portuguese lauded as one of the best central midfielders in the division during a swashbuckling debut campaign. 

Things are good right now in SW6 — a repeat performance has to be the aim for the Cottagers next time out.

Leicester 

Final league position: 18th

Points: 34

Rezzil’s rating: 0/10

Unlike Fulham, Leicester’s season was anything but a success. Just seven years after the Foxes shocked the footballing world by winning the title, they now find themselves relegated to the Championship following a pitiful season where seemingly nothing went right for them. 

Defensively they were abysmal, shipping 68 goals in 38 games — the fourth-worst record in the league for that metric — while a complete lack of style and a tactical devoid saw them sink to the pits of the division and never rise back up. 

In truth, they never really recovered from a shockingly poor start where they lost six and drew one of their opening seven matches. The writing appeared to be on the wall from the get-go and Brendan Rodgers’ time quickly began to run out, with his replacement Dean Smith failing to kick them into gear during the final stretch. 

The Foxes have bid farewell to Youri Tielemans and will lose James Maddison this summer, but a rebuild is probably required if they are to bounce straight back up. At least it will be fun to watch Jamie Vardy tearing it up in the Championship, just like the good old days.