The Premier League title race will be tight, but not exciting
Several teams look like they could challenge for the Premier League this season, but while the title race might be tight, it won’t necessarily be exciting.
Only twice before in the history of the English top flight have three teams gone this far into a league season without suffering defeat. It has, in fact, never happened before in the Premier League era. This serves as an illustration of the strength of the title race that is forming at the top of the division this season.
With nine games of the 2018-19 campaign played, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea remain unbeaten. Behind those three, Arsenal and Spurs have also enjoyed a strong start to the season, with only two points separating the top five. For perspective, fifth place Spurs have so far picked up 2.3 points per game. Extrapolated over a whole season, that would have been enough to put them seven points clear of Manchester United in second place last term.
Some have interpreted this as good news, as a sign of the tightest title race in living memory. The Premier League hasn’t witnessed a true down-to-the-wire contest for the championship in a long time, but many believe it will happen this season, with Liverpool and Manchester City in particular perceived to be the frontrunners.
But while this season’s title race might come to be the tightest for years, that doesn’t mean it will be the most exciting. The gulf between the best and the rest, the haves and the have nots, at the top of the Premier League has never been wider. And so while the top six might take points off each other, the odds of upsets outside that group have never been longer.
Look at last weekend’s results and performances by both Liverpool and Man City. Jurgen Klopp’s side played poorly away to Huddersfield, but still managed to claim a 1-0 win without much fuss. City stuck five past Burnley without reply. That’s the same Burnley that finished a more than respectable seventh in the Premier League last season.
It’s reminiscent of the way La Liga was for a number of years, or how the Bundesliga has been for Bayern Munich in recent times. English fans have always been quick to deride top-heavy leagues, instead proclaiming the innate competitiveness of the Premier League, the self-billed “best league in the world.” But what damage would be done to the Premier League’s brand if that competitiveness disappears, as threatens to be the case this season?
The only thing that could disrupt the rhythm of those competing at the top of the table is the distraction of continental competition. City, in particular, have their sights firmly set on Europe this season, with Guardiola appointed in the first place to carry the club to Champions League glory. This season will be a litmus test of that mission and so City could feasibly prioritize Europe over domestic matters.
There will be, of course, moments of drama and excitement, as there are in any title race, but one such opportunity has already been spurned, with Liverpool and City playing out a drab and dreary goalless draw at Anfield earlier this month. Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs could potentially mix things up by making a peripheral, and unexpected, challenge, but even still, there is little to suggest the rest of the Premier League can make things interesting.
Premier League seasons tend to be defined by individual moments — take Sergio Aguero’s stoppage time winner or Steven Gerrard’s slip, for example. But excitement builds over the course of an entire campaign and so far, despite much hype, this season has been something of a damp squib.
It will continue to be so unless the rest of the Premier League can figure out a way to play against the top five or six. Don’t be fooled by the proximity of the elite to each other, by the fact that just two points separate City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. That shouldn’t be taken as a true indictor of excitement.