The 2023/24 Premier League season concludes on Sunday, May 19 with all 20 teams in action.
The battle between Manchester City and Arsenal for the title will go down to the wire, although the relegation scenario is almost over.
All 10 matches start simultaneously at 4pm BST (11am ET), the only time in the entire season when a full round of games takes place at exactly the same time on the same day.
But what is the reason for this peculiarity of the last days? Let The Jugo Mobile explain it.
Why are all Premier League matches at the same time today?
The main reason for holding 10 simultaneous kick-offs on the final day is the notion of sporting fairness.
If two teams are fighting for the title, European qualification or to avoid relegation, and their results impact each other, playing at the same time means that there will be no advantage for one team over the other if they learn, for example, that they only need to tie their game instead of winning.
Throughout the season, when Premier League matches are played at different times on Friday and Monday nights and on both days of the weekend, it is accepted that playing at a time when pressure can be placed on the rivals or respond to their result is everything. part of the sporting challenge. But the finality of the final weekend means there is consensus on the preference for simultaneous kick-offs.
Modern media means that teams will be aware of what their rivals are doing in any case, intensifying the drama. This is truly the day when news “breaks” more than any other and can make for fantastic television spectacle.
Speaking of broadcasters, Saturday’s 3pm live match broadcast cut-off in the UK is the reason all games were moved en masse to Sunday.
When did the Premier League start having matches on the last day at the same time?
The end of the English football season has not always been so coordinated. In the pre-Premier League era, a 22-team top pision and cup replays for each round contributed to a seemingly inevitable match congestion.
This often resulted in a handful of matches being played after the final day proper, an unsatisfactory conclusion in many respects, but one that produced one of the most sensational moments in English football history on 26 May 1989.
Liverpool’s home game against Arsenal has been rescheduled for Friday night, six days after the Reds won the FA Cup final against Everton. The equation was simple: Kenny Dalglish’s team would be champions unless second-placed Arsenal won by two goals.
Alan Smith gave the Gunners the lead eight minutes into the second half before Michael Thomas stole the ball to incredibly score the winning goal in added time. There is an irony in the fact that Thomas’s heroics underlined how football could offer unparalleled drama and excitement for a television audience (a key motivation for the break-up of the Premier League), but the FA’s ad hoc organization that led At that time it was something that could be dispensed with. with in this bright new era.
Happy birthday, Michael Thomas! #EFL | @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/NaapoLM2r5
-EFL (@EFL) August 24, 2023
The Premier League did not immediately dispense with the old ways. The inaugural 1992/93 season saw Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday in action on the Tuesday after the final weekend (the first in a north London derby against Tottenham) to reach the FA Cup final. The following year, there were no midweek stragglers, but Manchester United, already crowned champions, closed their campaign a day after everyone else with a 0-0 draw at home to Coventry City.
The 1994/95 season went to the end, with Blackburn Rovers losing to Liverpool but still holding on to be crowned champions because Man United could only draw against West Ham. That was also the last year the Premier League was a 22-team competition. Starting in 1995/96, the new 20-team pision scheduled all of its matches on the final day simultaneously.
How many times has the Premier League been decided on the last day of the season?
This Sunday will be the fifth time that City begins its last game with the title still to win. Sergio Agüero’s unforgettable last-gasp goal against Queens Park Rangers secured the title at Manchester United’s expense in 2011/12, while Ilkay Gundogan inspired an equally exciting turnaround against Aston Villa that frustrated Liverpool in 2021/22.
City beat West Ham and Brighton & Hove Albion in 2013/14 and 2018/19 respectively to more routine moments of final-day glory, although they had to come from behind to beat the Albion 4-1 at the Amex Stadium.
Three of United’s 13 successes under Alex Ferguson were achieved last weekend. In 1996, they actually went to Middlesbrough and achieved something. The 1998/99 Premier League crown, part of a historic treble, was won ahead of Arsenal despite Tottenham angering much of their fan base by going ahead in a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils’ vastly superior goal difference meant that their 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic on the final day of the 2007/08 season would have been enough for the title anyway, although Chelsea drew at home to Bolton Wanderers to finish two points behind.
Carlo Ancelotti’s ‘bleus’ were one point ahead on the final day of the 2009/10 season. Like City this season, United were attempting to become the first team to win four titles in a row and beat Stoke City 4-0. Unfortunately for Ferguson and his players, Chelsea defeated Wigan Athletic 8-0 at Stamford Bridge. It made the west London club the first team to beat United on the final day since Blackburn 15 years earlier.
