Premier League football returned with the opening match of the 2023/24 season as reigning champions Manchester City travelled to newly-promoted Burnley, managed by former City captain Vincent Kompany. Kelly Cates was joined by Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville and Izzy Christiansen who reflected on the treble winners’ 3-0 win at Turf Moor on Friday night.Erling Haaland started this campaign like he did the previous, scoring twice and his performance was singled out by Carragher who feels that there is still more to come from the forward despite already setting high standards last season. Neville highlighted City’s work rate and said that was the most impressive factor in their win. There is also post-match reaction from the player of the match Haaland as well as both Pep Guardiola and Vincent Kompany.

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp joins Peter Smith on the Essential Football Podcast to look ahead to a blockbuster Premier League season ahead – and dissect some of the huge talking points the transfer market has thrown up, with Harry Kane leaving Tottenham for Bayern Munich and Brighton’s Moises Caicedo in a tug of war between Liverpool and Chelsea!Jamie also has his say on whether anyone can stop treble winners Man City from defending their league title, assesses the top-four battle and challenge for the promoted clubs and picks out his player to watch this season – one Fantasy Football fans will definitely want to listen out for!

On the last Essential Football Weekend Wrap of the season, Oliver Yew takes you through a round of games which saw Everton retain their Premier League status, while Leicester and Leeds dropped down to the Sky Bet Championship.Ben Grounds, Zinny Boswell, and David Richardson take us through the drama of Everton's win, which guaranteed survival, Leicester's relegation despite thier win against West Ham and Leeds' heavy loss against Tottenham as the battle to beat the drop was finally settled.Elsewhere, there were celebrations for Aston Villa as they secured the final European spot, meaning they will play in the Europa Conference League next season after pipping Spurs and Brentford, who beat champions Man City on the final day. Ron Walker and Sam Blitz report on Villa's win and Brentford's success against Pep Guardiola's side respectively.Nick Wright, Adam Bate and Peter Smith deliver final day verdicts from the Emirates Stadium, Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge after wins for Arsenal and Man Utd, and Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Newcastle, while Laura Hunter and Adam Smith round the season off with reports from St Mary's as already relegated Southampton played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with Liverpool and Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace were held by Nottingham Forest.And that's your final Premier League Weekend Wrap of the season!

The TV legend that is Jeff Stelling joins Ron Walker for a special Essential Football on his last day at Sky Sports to look back on his 29 years in the Soccer Saturday chair.Jeff talks us through his three decades in the hotseat, what he’ll miss most about being the face of Saturday afternoon TV and the best and worst moments that stick in his mind down the years.From George Best to Chris Kamara and everyone between, Jeff reveals how he made guests feel so at ease in the Soccer Saturday studio, how he seemed to have a statistic about every player from every league and why fronting ‘Sports Saturday’ back in 1994 didn’t seem like the most appealing job in the world back then – how times change.

Roberto Firmino waved goodbye to Anfield last weekend and on Sunday he will make his final appearance for Liverpool at Southampton before leaving the club this summer. After his emotional send-off from the home fans after scoring a late equaliser against Aston Villa, we look at how he became a cult hero for the club’s supporters, his importance to Jurgen Klopp’s style of play and the impact he had on the Premier League. Peter Smith is joined by Sky Sports senior football journalist Richard Morgan to analyse Firmino’s time in England and we hear from Jamie Carragher about this unique player.

Kelly Cates is joined by Jamie Redknapp, Mary Earps and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as Manchester Utd confirmed a top-four finish with a Casemiro-inspired 4-1 win over Chelsea.

With the Premier League reaching its conclusion this weekend, Sky Sports football journalists Peter Smith, Nick Wright and Sam Blitz discuss, debate and celebrate the stars of the 2022/23 season. You can join in and have your say by visiting the Sky Sports website or App on Friday and posting your picks of the season in our interactive blog.

Coming towards the end of a bumpier first year in charge at Chelsea than either Todd Boehly or Behdad Eghbali could have ever envisaged, Sky Sports digital football journalist Joe Shread looks back on the most turbluent season in living memory at Stamford Bridge.In a special edition of Essential Football, Joe joins Ron Walker to discuss the key topics from a campaign which began with such promise after a tough end to the Roman Abramovich era.Up for discussion is how the new owners' relationship with Thomas Tuchel soured - and resulted in his sacking days after a chaotic summer transfer window had ended, before the pursuit of Graham Potter and the rapid toxic atmosphere which soon engulfed his reign amid another mad spending spree.Then it's onto the return of Frank Lampard and Chelsea plumetting to new depths under their interim manager - but renewed hope finally appearing due to the impending arrival of Mauricio Pochettino.Read Joe's full feature on Chelsea's 12 months of chaos on the Sky Sports website.

David Jones is joined by Liam Rosenior, Kolo Toure and Jamie Redknapp to analyse Brighton's 1-1 draw with Manchester City which guarantees them a Europa League spot for next season. Plus, Seagulls' manager Roberto De Zerbi joins the panel to reflect on the achievement and discuss his admiration for Pep Guardiola and Brighton owner Tony Bloom heaps praise on the Italian manager claiming, "he is the perfect man for the job".