Over the years the Premiership has carried the tag of the most exciting league in the world with pride while other leagues have looked at it with varied levels of mistrust. But on the back of the current rollercoaster season, few could argue with the tag. Right from Leicester City’s phenomenal run to Chelsea’s inexplicable slump to Arsenal having the best chance of winning the league in decades, there have been plenty of talking points.
But perhaps a point that may have gone unnoticed is that even after a torrid season, Chelsea, at 14th spot, are just 13 points away from the top four. While this could be counted as a reason to smile for the Blues fans, it also shows how well-fought the league is.
Gone are the days when the top clubs could look at their fixtures and assume such and such match as winnable as hardly a week goes by without an upset or at-least a minor shock.
So the question arises, how did this change come around The advent of astronomical television revenue has played its part but the biggest factor is the mid-table teams shopping and playing smart in their quest for evolution. A look at the Everton backbone shows John Stones, Romelu Lukaku, Ross Barkley, Romiro Funes Mori, Gerard Deulofeu and Muhamed Besic all below the age of 25 while James McCarthy (25), Kevin Mirallas (28) and Seamus Coleman (27) still have years ahead of them. If the Merseyside club were to keep hold of them and add just a few here and there, they are more than capable of a top four challenge. A similar case can be made of Stoke City, a once no-nonsense, physical and in your face club, who have brought in Ibrahim Afellay, Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic to add guile to their already well-established grit.
Crystal Palace have the talented Frenchman Yohan Cabaye and an erratic Yannick Bolasie along with a highly talented but inconsistent Wilfred Zaha while Watford has brought back the two striker system to get the best out of their forwards even as West Ham have shown they can match punch for punch with the elite. West Bromwhich and Southampton have also proven to be quite a handful.
What this means is for a top team to remain as such, the pressure is at an all time high. They need to buy quality and play at a sensational level consistently to remain a so-called top-four team because as evidenced by the fall of Liverpool, there is more than one taker for the spot.
