Europa League 2023/24: Liverpool & Villarreal the early favourites

The Europa League promises to be competitive in the 2023/24 season with several top European clubs already confirmed in the group stages. It may be UEFA’s second tier competition behind the Champions League, but the Europa League is growing in stature every year. More and more elite clubs are taking it seriously, especially now that a place in the Champions League is up for grabs for the winner. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to buy Europa League tickets as many clubs now sell-out for all their games, including group stage matches, so it’s becoming one of the most popular competitions in the football calendar.

Let’s take a closer look at who are the early front-runners to win the Europa League next season:

Early favourites

After a hugely disappointing 2022/23 campaign, Liverpool will compete in the Europa League for the first time since 2015/16 – when they reached the final only to lose out to Sevilla. The Reds have been battling it out with Manchester City for the Premier League in recent years and have been mainstays in the Champions League – a competition they won in 2019. However, Jurgen Klopp’s men struggled for consistency last season and at one stage they looked set to miss out on European qualification altogether as they sat 8th in the table in March.

However, Liverpool rediscovered their best form during the closing weeks of the season and they got themselves back in contention for a top four finish. Ultimately, they had to settle for fifth place as they finished four points behind fourth-placed Manchester United and that meant they’ll be playing Europa League football this coming campaign.

As a European powerhouse that won the Champions League recently, it’s no surprise that Liverpool have been installed as the early 4/1 favourites to win the Europa League in 2023/24. On paper, Klopp’s men are easily the best team currently in the competition. They have one of the best goalkeepers on the planet – Alisson Becker – in goal while Virgil van Dijk is still considered to be one of the best centre-backs in the world. Ibrahima Konate, Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are all top class defenders so Liverpool should be tough to beat.

Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo are as good a selection of forwards as you’ll see at any club throughout Europe so scoring goals shouldn’t be a problem for the Merseysiders either. The only area of concern for Klopp is midfield as that was a major weak point for Liverpool last season. They’re in the middle of overhauling their midfield with Fabinho and Jordan Henderson set to follow Naby Keita out the door. Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szoboszlai have been signed and Klopp is hoping to add Romeo Lavia to his ranks soon, so the Reds should have a very competitive team.

Klopp is expected to field a weakened side in the Europa League group stages, but Liverpool should still have plenty of depth throughout their squad to comfortably make it through to the knockout stages and go deep in the competition. It wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see them reaching the final next May.

Contenders

As it stands, Villarreal as the 6/1 second favourites to win the Europa League. The Yellow Submarine booked their place in the group stages after finishing fifth in La Liga last season and manager Quique Setien has build a talented squad so they’ll be ones to watch next season. AS Roma are also among the contenders as they’re 8/1 to lift the trophy having finished sixth in Serie A last season. Jose Mourinho has been a serial winner throughout his career and won the Europa Conference League with Roma two years ago so they are tipped to do well in the Europa League next season.

Brighton & Hove Albion are also priced at 8/1 to win the Europa League after their superb 2022/23 season. They finished sixth in the Premier League, above the likes of Aston Villa, Tottenham and Chelsea. Roberto De Zebri has built an exciting young team at the Amex Stadium and they proved last season they are a match for any other top Premier League club having secured positive results against Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

This will be Brighton’s first ever experience in a European competition so you could say they should just be happy to be there. However, nobody will want to play Brighton as they are a well drilled outfit packed with quality. Alexis MacAllister was a key player last season so he’ll be a huge miss after joining Liverpool. Moises Caicedo is also expected to leave to join Chelsea in a deal that could reach over £80m so Brighton will lose some key players.

The good news is De Zebri will have ample funds to bring in replacements and strengthen other areas of the squad. Brighton have proven time and again they are shrewd operators in the transfer market, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them finding some hidden gems this summer. The only concern for the Seagulls is whether they have the necessary squad depth to cope with playing in Europe and competing in three domestic competitions, but they will still be ones to look out for next season.

West Ham United are also in the group stages of the Europa League next season and are 10/1 to win the competition. The Hammers struggled in the league and narrowly avoided relegation having finished 14th – six points above the drop zone. However, they booked their place in the Europa League after winning the Europa Conference League last season. David Moyes has done a superb job at Upton Park and he’ll be looking to make an impression in Europe once again having enjoyed their European adventure last campaign.

Champions League drop outs

It’s difficult to predict who’ll go all the way in the Europa League and contest the final in Dublin as we won’t know which teams will drop down into the competition from the Champions League later in the year. We could see several European heavyweights finishing third in the Champions League group which would see them enter the Europa League first knockout round.

Last year, the likes of Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Barcelona, Juventus and Sevilla all ended up in the Europa League knockouts after failing to progress from the Champions League group stages. Sevilla went on to win the Europa League after beating Roma on penalties in the final after the game finished 1-1 in Hungary. So we could see some big names entering the competition later in the year that will be able to compete with the likes of Liverpool, Roma and Villarreal for the trophy.