Premier League 2023: Life After Pep Guardiola and Arsenal's New Challenge
The Premier League returns with three big unknowns hanging over it.
What does Manchester City look like without Pep Guardiola? Can Xabi Alonso drag Chelsea back into the elite? And how will Arsenal cope now they’re the ones everyone wants to knock off their perch?
Joe Hart has lived inside that pressure cooker. Two titles with City, and the scars from trying – and failing – to defend them. On BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, the former England goalkeeper cut through the noise around the new season’s biggest storylines.
Life after Pep: Maresca walks into the storm
At Etihad Stadium, the Guardiola era is over. Ten years, a mountain of trophies, and now Enzo Maresca is the man stepping into the most daunting job in English football.
Hart doesn’t think the real weight will come from inside the building.
"I think the club isn't heaping massive expectation on this season," he said. "I think they still believe that they've got the team and they've got the quality to challenge."
City have already shown they are not retreating from the market. They briefly broke the transfer record for an English player to land Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for £116m, a huge statement on a midfielder still proving himself at the very top level.
But the squad is shifting. Rodri, the World Cup Golden Ball winner and the metronome of Guardiola’s midfield, looks likely to leave for Barcelona. Talks are under way to bring in 18-year-old Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille for £85.6m, a move that underlines both City’s financial power and their willingness to trust youth.
They also want Chelsea’s Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez. A rebuild, not a reset.
All of this comes after a flat 3-0 Community Shield defeat to Arsenal in Cardiff. No trophy, and no Guardiola on the touchline. For some clubs that would be a blip. For City, it feeds a narrative.
Hart is convinced the real noise will come from outside.
"Maresca will come immediately under fire in terms of how people want to jump all over Man City if they do struggle," he said. "Internally, I think they're intelligent enough as a business to understand that what's going on right now is going to be difficult."
He expects City to keep aiming high – "pushing on all fronts" – but without the same ruthless demand for perfection that defined the Guardiola years. At least not straight away.
Arsenal step into the champion’s spotlight
For the first time in years, it is Arsenal who carry the weight of being champions. They ended City’s run of four straight titles from 2020-21 to 2023-24; now they have to live like the hunted, not the hunters.
Hart knows that shift better than most. His own title wins with City in 2011-12 and 2013-14 were followed by failed defences and a sharp reality check.
"I was walking on water at that time. I actually thought I was 'that guy'," he admitted. "And football finds a way, really quickly, of showing you that you're not."
The key, he says, is what happens when the season inevitably turns.
"When things started to unravel, which they will in any season, [they] seemed to really unravel because all of a sudden [you're under] that kind of champion scrutiny."
Every dropped point feels bigger. Every mistake is magnified. Every wobble becomes a crisis.
"And it's really important how Arsenal are going to handle that," Hart added. "Mikel Arteta has done a brilliant job, and he makes really big decisions and bold decisions. And it's about how you handle that first hurt. It's ironic that getting to the top is the easy thing, it really is."
Arteta has built a side that can outrun and outplay anyone in the league. Now he has to prove they can outlast everyone too.
Chelsea and Xabi Alonso: time, space and a rare chance
Across London, Chelsea arrive at the new season from a very different place. No title to defend. No European nights to plan for. Just the bruises of a miserable campaign and a 10th-place finish that cost Liam Rosenior his job after barely three months.
For only the third time this century, there will be no European football at Stamford Bridge. It feels like a fall from grace. It could also be an opening.
Hart remembers how that same scenario played out under Antonio Conte in 2016-17.
"I do remember Gary Cahill talking about Conte coming in to a Premier League team like Chelsea who [weren't] in Europe," he said. "He said they were so well drilled, he was so intense in what they needed. They almost had NFL playbooks and it allowed them the time to build into the season."
Conte turned that clear midweek schedule into an advantage and stormed to the title. Xabi Alonso now has a similar luxury: time on the training pitch, fewer flights, more detail.
"So that's a massive advantage for someone like Xabi Alonso, who's obviously got his way of playing and he'll have his time on the grass with his players," Hart said.
The expectations around Chelsea have dipped, but Hart sees a ceiling far higher than mid-table.
"Their ceiling is, of course, to be in amongst it. I think it is. And they've got a really great opportunity."
City trying to stay City without Pep. Arsenal discovering the true cost of being champions. Chelsea lurking with time on their side.
The season hasn’t started, but the fault lines are already clear. Which of these giants handles the pressure best may define the entire year.
