Starboy Saka, West Ham and Man City making history among 2023 highlights

Premier League, Champions League, EFL, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and international football... Adrian has been fully across the best of the action in 2023.

Here he reveals his own highlights from the games he has attended over these past 12 months...

5 - Plymouth win promotion to the Championship (April)

Way down in Devon, 35 miles or so from the Cornish border, it's easy for the sheer size of Plymouth Argyle Football Club to pass everyone by.

It's a club that's out of the way - you don't tend to pass through Plymouth. But part of my excitement for this job is getting around the country and hosting the show from different places: in the two-and-a-half years I've been the Chief Live Football Presenter I've hosted shows from Barrow, Ipswich, Brighton, Middlesbrough and I've got one coming up from Cardiff over Christmas.

I went to Plymouth twice last season to host talkSPORT shows from Home Park, the first time was early season in the August sunshine when it was such a beautiful day our Chief Football Correspondent Alex Crook and me went for a pre-match swim in the sea.

The second time was for the game against Burton Albion that secured Plymouth's promotion. Argyle striker Niall Ennis finished off a lovely move for the only goal of the game, and the Green Army were on the march to the Championship.

There were over 16,500 fans there, the noise levels were fantastic, the fans friendly, and it was just one of those lovely happy days in football when you witness, as a neutral, the pure joy of promotion for a club like Plymouth.

4 - Bukayo Saka scores hat-trick for England (June)

If you don't enjoy watching Bukayo Saka play for England, there's either something wrong with you, or you're Scottish. Or you're from North Macedonia.

His hat-trick in the summer was very special. The goals were terrific - the first lashed into the roof of the net was unsaveable.

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The second was art - a first time looping pass from his own half from the excellent Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Saka smashed it past the keeper from the edge of the box.

The third, he's bamboozled his full back with a run from outside to in, Harry Kane, having dropped into midfield, plays the perfect through ball, and Saka is now a centre forward, one-on-one with the keeper, and buries it.

Just look at the smile on his face. England fans, we are lucky to have Bukayo Saka.

3 - Jarrod Bowen fires West Ham to European glory (June)

Prague was a sea of claret and blue for the Europa League Conference final as West Ham looked to end their 43-year wait for a major trophy, and it felt like there was no way the Hammers would lose it.

Fiorentina may claim they were the better side and the match stats may even back that up. But frankly, who cares?

With the game in the balance at 1-1 and 89 minutes on the clock, a bit of magic from Lucas Paqueta was needed, and he delivered. He poked a perfect pass through to Jarrod Bowen who had timed his run superbly, and Bowen held off a strong challenge from an recovering centre half to fire home the winning goal.

The party started and lasted - until Declan Rice decided to go to Arsenal anyway.

A great moment for West Ham United and the fans, but how brilliant to see an English forward deliver a winning goal in the heat of a pressure moment to deliver a trophy for his team.

Now if he gets a similar opportunity in Berlin on July 14, 2024 let's hope Bowen repeats the feat...

2 - Man City win Champions League and complete historic treble (June)

There's a video on social media that I get asked about quite a lot. It's of the talkSPORT team in the commentary box in Istanbul just as the final whistle blows and Manchester City have completed the treble.

The excellent Jim Proudfoot is commentating, calling the moment expertly as he always does. Former City captain and manager Stuart Pearce is focused, watching the players on the pitch, thinking deeply about the words he wants to use to sum up this iconic moment. And I'm punching the air in celebration.

I've had to explain countless times to people that I'm not a City fan. But it's a great moment for English football, so of course I'm happy!

The game itself wasn't brilliant - although Manuel Akanji's pass leading to Rodri's winner was a touch of class though - but it was City winning the treble, an iconic moment.

City's 4-0 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of the semi-final was a much better performance - a footballing masterclass. But a treble should be admired, no matter which club you support.

1 - Tom Lockyer surviving two horrible health scares (May and December)

I was at Wembley for the Championship play-off final when Luton achieved promotion to the Premier League, beating Coventry on penalties.

But the main thing I remember from the game is the relief I felt when I heard the news that Tom Lockyer, the Luton captain, was alert and responding. He'd been taken to hospital after collapsing to the turf during the game.

I was also at Bournemouth recently when, again, Tom collapsed to the ground with horrified looks from players close by. We all feared the worst, the game couldn't continue, and we waited for news.

Once we knew he was alert and responding the relief was everywhere.

I don't know Tom Lockyer, but I do care about people. In that moment, as much as we all love football, we were all quite happy to pack up and go home, happy in the knowledge that Tom was going to be OK.

I was working alongside Perry Groves and Ian Abrahams that day on the south coast and we shared a group hug in the car park before heading home. It was genuinely emotional.

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Health and happiness to Tom Lockyer and all of you for this Christmas and the New Year!

Adrian Durham will bring you all the goals as they go in on Boxing Day as presenter of GameDay Live. And you won't miss any of the Premier League or EFL action this Christmas, with talkSPORT the ONLY place on national radio to hear live football commentaries from across the English leagues on the 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th of December.