After the downright cheek of Leicester City to win the Premier League title last season. A natural order of things has returned this season, with the traditionally stronger clubs collectively getting their acts together last summer. Several big managerial appointments have seen the resurgence of a defined top six in the Premier League. Entering the third round of the FA Cup, sixth-placed Manchester United are nine points ahead of seventh-placed Everton. It is not a case of the haves and have-nots, but a case of the haves and have mores.
The excitement of the Foxes’ title win last season is undoubted. The assumption is usually that having a strong core of set contending teams is less interesting, particularly when it begins to infringe on the ability of any team to beat any other in the league. The top teams being significantly stronger than those only a few places behind can make for some long periods of predictable results in the league, which no one really wants.
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As the top six break off from the rest of the league this season, there will be onlookers complaining of tedium. The top sides will push 90 points come the end of the season and only drop points to one another, and so results will not only become predictable but create an upper-mid-table glass ceiling that cannot be broken through. That said, the better the stronger sides are, the better is the league as a whole, and European performances will surely improve as a result.
What neutrals can hope for, though, is that a top six means a diverse and unpredictable battle for the title. While they may be playing in their own separate league at the top of the table, it creates a potential for a real showdown towards the end of the season. With Chelsea’s lead currently only a handful of points, we could only be a couple of weeks away from the title race turning into something completely different.
Rather than seeing two or three teams cut ahead of the rest, a six-team breakaway makes for a host of mouth-watering head-to-head fixtures. Two of the country’s best teams will even miss out on Champions League football for 2017/18 – none of the top six need to play badly in order to have a disappointing season. The depth in quality at the top of the Premier League is higher than ever before, this is something we should appreciate, not bemoan.
We may not see the shock wins against the ‘top’ sides as often as previously, but the quality of football has increased and will only get better. The quality of the sport paired with a group of evenly-matched teams contesting for honours sounds like the recipe for a perfect competition.
The freak events of last season kick-started the turn around of the Premier League. With a clutch of the world’s best managers, all backed with the resources to sign the world’s best players, the Premier League is on course to return to the peak of European football’s cash-rich mountain – in quality as well as marketing. Dominance in the league is a byproduct of improvement, but it is one that should be embraced.
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