The English Premier League is one of the most popular and highly-watched sports leagues in the world. It’s a thrilling competition that’s full of exciting matches, close finishes, and plenty of drama. And this season has been one of the most exciting in recent memories.
As it stand, Arsenal are the current table toppers, much to the surprise of everyone. Last year, the Gunners threw away a spot in the UEFA Champions League by suffering defeat in two of their final three fixtures. As such, they headed into the 2022/23 English top-flight campaign as rank outsiders. Online bookmakers whose odds and offers are compared by OddsChecker made Manchester City the overwhelming favorites for the crown. Pep Guardiola’s Blues have won the title in three of the last four seasons but, as the current term reaches its business end, they are still five points behind Mikel Arteta’s young guns.
Another thing that makes the Premier League special are the stadiums where the country’s finest teams strut their stuff. Surprisingly, neither Arsenal nor Manchester City, the two title protagonists this season, don’t feature in this list. Here are the three biggest stadiums in English club football.
Old Trafford
The home stadium of Manchester United, Old Trafford is – perhaps with the exception of Wembley – the most iconic stadium in all of England. With a capacity of 75,546 seats, it is the biggest in the Premier League. The stadium has been around since 1910, making it one of the oldest football stadiums still in use today. Over its 113-year history, Old Trafford has seen some truly historic events – from hosting European Cup Finals to being an integral part of Manchester United’s legendary treble-winning 1998/99 season.
In recent years, Manchester United have been in somewhat of a slump. However, the appointment of manager Erik Ten Hag last summer has seen the club competing for honours once more. They have just lifted the League Cup – their first trophy in six years – and are also still alive and kicking in the FA Cup and the Europa League.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
The newest stadium on this list is the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Stadium opened its doors in April 2019 and played a huge role in Spurs reaching that year’s UEFA Champions League final for the first time in the club’s history. This state-of-the-art facility boasts a capacity of 62,850 seats and has hosted numerous American Football games, as well as Heavyweight boxing classics such as Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Anthony Joshua in September 2021.
This season, Spurs have endured a tumultuous campaign. Iconic Italian manager Antonio Conte appears to be at war both with his own players and the club’s owners, and it seems a matter of when, rather than if he will leave the club. Despite the ongoing civil war, the North London outfit remain in Champions League contention, and if Conte can steer the club to another top-four finish, their season should be considered a success.
London Stadium
Lastly, we have the 62,500-capacity London Stadium, which was originally built for the 2012 Olympic Games and now serves as West Ham United’s home ground. The stadium is a hot topic in the world of not only English football, but English politics as a whole. That’s because the Hammers secured a 100-year lease on the ground for a paltry £2.5 million per year, a figure which doesn’t even cover the ground’s running costs.
And to make matters worse, European football wasn’t even taken into account when agreeing to the century-long contract, meaning that the Hammers are able to use the stadium on European nights for next to nothing. Last year, the East London outfit made it all the way to the Europa League semifinals and played six times at the stadium for a rental fee of just £185,000. This season, they are in the Europa Conference League quarterfinals and have paid a similarly low fee once again.
