Opinion: European participation to make Premier League more competitive next season

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With Arsenal having won the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon, beating Chelsea by a 2-1 scoreline, the 2017/18 season is now over for all Premier League sides.

It’s been a fascinating campaign which has seen most of the top six sides enjoy some degree of success, or at least some encouragement from their endeavours of the last nine months or so.

Of course, Arsenal were FA Cup winners, while Chelsea, their opponents on the day, were Premier League champions after dominating for the majority of the campaign.

However, the Gunners failed to finish in the top four, allowing other sides to return to the Champions League in their place. Tottenham Hotspur finished their last season at White Hart Lane unbeaten at home and second in the league with some fine football on show, while Jurgen Klopp steered his Liverpool side to fourth and back to Europe’s top tier tournament.

Manchester City might have disappointed some as they finished slightly off the pace in third, but fans could have taken plenty of encouragement from their side’s many flashes of brilliance in Pep Guardiola’s debut season as manager.

The other side in the city – Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United – were out of the top four picture but have qualified for next season’s Champions League via their Europa League victory, which made for a great campaign having also sealed the EFL Cup a few months previously.

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The achievements of those six sides should make for a more competitive season next year and set up a campaign which will have an unfamiliar look to it when compared to recent campaigns.

Indeed, all of this year’s top six will be playing European football next year after a number of sides have benefitted from not having the added responsibility of playing those extra games on the continent in the last few seasons.

Leicester City famously won the Premier League last season, with their lack of European football allowing them the momentum to rest from week-to-week as they sealed the most extraordinary of title triumphs.

Chelsea have just completed a similar triumph, albeit in less spectacular circumstances, while Liverpool were able to qualify for the Champions League without playing in it, too. Manchester United also achieved a fourth place finish under Louis van Gaal two years ago, as the Dutchman became boss following David Moyes’ seventh place finish as boss in 2014.

So, barring another remarkable Leicester-like gate crash on that big six, or the rise of a side like Everton to break into the top six, those sides will actually have to compete against one another without having that advantage of not playing in Europe.

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It will be very interesting to see which sides will thrive from that competition and those that will struggle to cope with it, but it should also make for a much tighter race to win the league – something which has lacked in recent seasons.

Not since 2013-14 have we seen a genuine title race, as Manchester City came out on top to finish above Liverpool and Chelsea to win the Premier League. Even then, Liverpool were playing without European football.

Summer transfer dealings will provide an indication of which sides will cope best with their European duties next season but as of now, it seems difficult to predict who will win next season’s league title and occupy the Champions League places, and that can only be a good thing for supporters.

Chelsea set for harsh reminder of this season’s shortcomings

As Chelsea defeated Bournemouth 4-1 at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, the Blues saw their star player of last season, Eden Hazard, score his first Premier League goals of the campaign.

After being the outstanding figure in the Blues’ title-winning campaign of 2014-15, it has been incredible to see Hazard’s performance levels diminish so significantly this term.

Hazard was therefore in good spirits after netting twice against the Cherries, and it was perhaps that positive mood which prompted his honest response to being asked about the prospect of Tottenham Hotspur winning the Premier League.

JUST LOOK AT HIS FACE!@jjenas8 isn’t impressed with Hazard’s comments…#bbcfootball https://t.co/i2gfJryUOf

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) 24 April 2016

Speaking to BBC Sport, the Belgian said: “We don’t want. The fans, the club, the players, we don’t want Tottenham to win the Premier League, but in football you never know.

“We hope for Leicester because they deserve to be Champions this season, but we will see. We have a good game next week against Tottenham, if we can beat them it will be good.”

It’s understandable that no-one associated with Chelsea would want Tottenham to become Champions given the fierce rivalry between the two clubs. However, whilst Guus Hiddink’s men have little to play for in their remaining matches, they still have a big part to play in the determining who will become Premier League champions.

Chelsea’s next game is against Tottenham and, since Mauricio Pochettino’s side dropped points against West Brom on Monday, the Premier League could be wrapped up before that fixture if Leicester beat Manchester United on Sunday.

That will be a tough ask for the Foxes, but Spurs will still need to beat Chelsea to keep their now faint title hopes alive. That will be an equally difficult challenge for Pochettino and co. given the Blues’ apparent determination to ensure their London rivals aren’t crowned Champions at the end of the season.

Whilst seeing Spurs finish above them in the table is already enough of a reminder of how far they have fallen this season, Chelsea could endure further misery of a similar kind in their last game of the season.

If Leicester beat Man Utd they’ll receive a guard of honor at Stamford Bridge. Abramovich sacked Ranieri, stating he’d never win the league.

— Tom (@tdhntr) 25 April 2016

Although it would require Leicester to fail to beat Manchester United at the weekend and a Tottenham win at Stamford Bridge on Monday, Chelsea may yet have to hold a guard of honour for the Foxes on the final day of the season.

If the destination of this season’s title is not confirmed by the outcome of either of those matches this weekend, Leicester will be forced to wait another week before they can be mathematically be crowned Champions. They will then welcome Everton to the King Power stadium.

A win for the Foxes there will win them the League and earn them a guard of honour in their next fixture, which will be their date with reigning champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea might not want to see Tottenham lift the title at the end of the term, but will surely be just as disappointed, on a professional level at least, to surrender their Premier League crown to a team with like Leicester whilst being forced to congratulate them.

A lot has been made of Leicester’s incredible pursuit of the title this season, and rightly so. But from a Chelsea perspective, and that of other top clubs such as Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal, there will be huge disappointment to see the incredible improvement the Foxes have made this term compared with their own failures to build on their performances from the previous campaign.

How will the return of European competition affect the end of the Premier League season?

Even in the most incredible of Premier League seasons, not many people would have predicted Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur to be the division’s leading sides at this point of the campaign.

However, with 26 matches played by mid-February, the Premier League table is showing exactly that, with Arsenal and Manchester City lurking just behind.

But with the Champions League and Europa League competitions both restarting this midweek, how will the Premier League’s leading sides cope with balancing their domestic and European duties between now and the end of the season?

Leicester City

Claudio Ranieri’s men have a huge advantage in the Premier League title race, not just due to their two point advantage over second-placed Tottenham, but their complete absence from any European competition, unlike any of their title rivals.

In fact, having been eliminated from both the FA and Capital One Cup’s too, Leicester’s sole priority between now and the end of the season is the Premier League itself.

Liverpool had a similar advantage in their pursuit of the title in 2013/14, and looked certain to win the trophy on more than one occasion towards the end of that campaign. However, despite the Reds winning ten of their last twelve matches, the pressure eventually told on that season’s underdogs, as they dropped five points in their last three games.

Again, similarly to Liverpool’s 2013-14 campaign, Leicester have had a remarkable injury record which has allowed them to maintain their positive momentum. However, an injury to one of their key players, such as Jamie Vardy or Riyad Mahrez, would be much more harmful to the Foxes, as they simply cannot compete with their rivals’ strength in depth.

How Leicester City finish the campaign will be defined by their ability to cope under a new found expectancy to win their matches. Only time will tell how they manage that, but if they can take 31 points from the remaining 36, as Liverpool did in their near miss a few years ago, it would be unlikely to see any other winner come the end of the season.

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham are faced with one of the more awkward European ties of the current top four, as they will travel to face Fiorentina on Thursday in a potentially tough Europa League clash.

Fiorentina knocked Spurs out in the same competition last season, and a similar end result this time around would probably not be seen as too disappointing given the side’s incredible run on the domestic front.

Mauricio Pochettino’s team are also still in the FA Cup and may find it difficult to continue their high intensity style through to the end of the season. There is a long held cliché that Spurs sides tend to ‘bottle’ their chances of silverware towards the end of a campaign, but it is a different accusation put towards the North London side’s chances this term.

Indeed, Pochettino’s men were also impressive last season, although not to as great an extent as this term. However, the Argentine coach saw his team struggle to maintain their form towards the end of last season, taking five wins, three draws and four defeats from their final 12 Premier League matches.

That may have been affected by the club’s continued involvement in the Capital One Cup and Europa League at that point of the season. Either way, how well Tottenham can deal with a similar situation this season will determine if they are truly capable of winning the Premier League title.

Arsenal

Arsenal have long been accused of not playing to their full capabilities in important matches, although that is a claim without a great deal of substance judging by this season.

The Gunners performed admirably in European games against Bayern Munich and Olympiakos before the turn of the year to seal progress to the Champions’ League knockout stages, although they now face a daunting tie against Barcelona.

The difficulty of that fixture may halt Arsenal’s European campaign, although that may work to their advantage. Arsene Wenger’s side are still involved in the FA Cup as well though, so will not have their focus solely on the Premier League.

One problem for Arsenal though is scoring goals. A recent blip saw Wenger’s side fail to find the net in three consecutive matches, costing them vital points which may otherwise have seen them top the Premier League at the current time. A run of failing to score in three of five consecutive matches at the end of last term also saw Arsenal drop nine points from a possible 15, a gap which ultimately cost them second place in the table.

Should the Gunners lose their edge in front of goal again before the season ends, they might find it difficult to earn the points they need to top the division. However, if the recent run of scoreless matches merely proves to be a blip, then Arsenal should have a great chance of winning the trophy for the first time in 12 years.

Manchester City

Now six points off the top of the Premier League and probably facing the least challenging of any sides’ European fixture, Manchester City arguably have the most work to do to get themselves back to the top of the league.

Manuel Pellegrini and his players simply haven’t been good enough against the League’s better teams this season though, with City having only won three out of their of 13 games against teams in the top half of the table this season- and those were home and away against Watford and at home to Southampton. Only three more were draws, meaning all seven of the side’s league defeats have been against the division’s top half teams.

City have also failed to win consecutive league games since October, but that could down to the absence of key players Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne, who have both struggled with injuries at times this season. In fact, the pair have only started 15 matches together all season- perhaps a key reason behind the side’s struggles in 2015-16.

Regardless of injuries though, success for City in the Premier League will require a complete turnaround in fortunes. They will not win the title if they do not resolve their inability to win successive matches, and must improve their record against sides in the top half, with fixtures against five of the top ten still to be played.

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So, who will win the Premier League? There are a lot of factors to consider in who will finish the season at the top, but it’s certain to be a fascinating watch, whatever happens.

 

Keep the pressure off Dele Alli

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It doesn’t take an expert to recognise that Tottenham Hotspur have been one of the best performing sides in this season’s Premier League. They have the best defence in the League, having conceded only 19 goals in 23 matches, and plenty of threats at the other end of the field, too.

Despite finishing fifth last term, these traits were not so recognisable in Mauricio Pochettino’s team in the previous season. The team was instead more reliant on Harry Kane’s goals, earning them more victories through their potency in attack.

And whilst Kane has continued his good form into this campaign, with 13 league goals to his name thus far, there is another Englishman taking the limelight this campaign. Indeed, 19 year-old midfielder Dele Alli has shown tremendous ability since making his debut for the club in August, which was encapsulated in his strike against Crystal Palace at the weekend.

Alli controlled the ball neatly and then chipped it over his marker’s head, before swivelling to volley low into the bottom left corner. The Match of the Day commentator immediately suggested it might be a goal of the season contender, and it’s hard to disagree with that.

Reports have followed since though suggesting Alli might be in line to start for the England national team at this summer’s Euro 2016, as well as some pundits saying Saturday’s goal will bring him to ‘worldwide prominence’. Again, both suggestions may be considered perfectly reasonable.

However, the suggestion Alli may be playing for England this summer is potentially worrying. Not because he’s not good enough, but because there is a tendency amongst English football fans, and the media, to pin their hopes on one player. And that never ends well.

Alli is a young player, and it would be unsurprising if his performance levels decrease as the end of the season edges closer. He has shown he has the ability to play in the Premier League but is still inexperienced at such a level, and it’s therefore also unlikely he will be able to continue this good form into a World Cup campaign. Maybe in a few years it will be a different story.

Harry Kane experienced a similar scenario last year, as he scored just three Premier League goals in his final nine appearances of the campaign, before then failing to score in England’s under-21 European Championship campaign in the summer.

Kane then struggled at the start of this season, and didn’t score from open play in his first nine matches in the Premier League. However, the Englishman has since turned this form around in admirable fashion, and is now the division’s fourth top scorer.

As with Kane, there has to be an expectation and preparation for Dele Alli’s form to take a dip. That’s not because he is a bad player, or a fraud, or any other take on the matter, but because it’s unfair and unrealistic to expect continued consistency from such a young player.

Be prepared for Alli to lose some of his upward momentum and go through a difficult patch of form, whether that is this season or next. Whenever it may be, the young midfielder seems to be in an excellent environment to flourish at Tottenham Hotspur, and with expectations tapered to a fair level the youngster will hopefully go on to become another success story at the North London club.

Best Premier League transfer coups of the last decade

Yohan Cabaye joins Crystal Palace from Paris Saint Germain.

Crystal Palace pulled off one of the transfer coups of the summer this morning, as Yohan Cabaye’s switch from Paris Saint Germain was made official.

The French international will link up again with former boss Alan Pardew, with the two previously working together at Newcastle.

Whilst Crystal Palace look to have consolidated in the Premier League, finishing comfortably outside of the relegation zone in the past two seasons, not many would have anticipated Cabaye’s arrival at Selhurst Park.

The Frenchman represents a real step forward for the club, who must surely now be aiming for a top half finish next season.

Transfers of such shock and excitement are no stranger to the Premier League though- here are five of the best from the past decade:

Michael Owen to Newcastle United, August 2005.

Newcastle United fans were delighted by Michael Owen’s move to the club in August 2005. Regarded as England’s best striker at the time, the former Liverpool striker immediately showed the form worthy of his £16.8 million price tag.

He scored seven times in his first ten games but, tellingly of his career, that good form was interrupted by injury. He didn’t properly return for over a year.

His final two campaigns on Tyneside didn’t showcase the best of Owen’s ability, but he did provide a decent scoring return. Whilst ultimately not completely living up to his billing, the Englishman’s impact at Newcastle still left the fans with some great memories.

Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham United, August 2006.

This deal was later revealed to have more than a few issues with it, but it was another great deal conducted by Alan Pardew.

It took some time for the Argentine duo to adapt to the Premier League, and the duo left in very different circumstances. Mascherano played only seven times for West Ham United before leaving for Liverpool in January 2007, but Tevez left a hero.

Albeit in controversial fashion, Tevez’ goal on the final day of the season- away to Manchester United- won them the match and kept them in the Premier League. Sheffield United, who were relegated in their place, had claimed West Ham should have had points deducted for the transfer of the Argentine duo, which would have then kept them in the division instead.

Tevez only scored seven goals in 29 appearances for West Ham- but his contribution towards the end of that campaign will be forever remembered by the club’s fans.

Robinho to Manchester City, September 2008.

In a deal which marked the beginning of Manchester City’s new found wealth, Robinho moved to the Etihad in a transfer which shocked the Premier League.

City were alleged to have beaten Chelsea to the Brazilian’s signature for a fee of around £32.5 million. His first season was a great success, as he brought excitement to City fans as well as an impressive 15 goals.

His second campaign was underwhelming in comparison, scoring only once before being loaned to Santos half way through the season. He was then sold to Milan and Robinho’s time in English football was over.

The Brazilian didn’t live up to the hype which had surrounded him on his arrival, but his signing was incredibly important in the club’s new era nonetheless.

Rafael van der Vaart to Tottenham Hotspur, August 2010.

Rafael van der Vaart in Champions League action for Tottenham Hotspur.

Another of Real Madrid’s stars completed a move to the Premier League in August 2010, although Tottenham’s recent qualification to the Champions League surely played its part in the move.

The Dutchman was an immediate hit at White Hart Lane, and he enjoyed two marvellous seasons in North London. Playing in the number ten role, van der Vaart provided numerous goals and assists.

He also helped Spurs to the Champions League quarter-finals in his debut campaign, before losing out to Real Madrid. Perhaps one of the greatest transfer coups in the Premier League era, van der Vaart is still well remembered by fans of the North London side.

Bojan Krkic to Stoke City, July 2014.

Bojan Krkic was tipped to be the next star of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, and played several times for the first team in his four seasons with the senior squad.

He moved to Stoke City last summer though, and despite having his season finished early on through injury, he brought some moments of real excitement to the fans.

His signing represented the continuing change in style of play at the club, as Mark Hughes looked to change from predecessor Tony Pulis’ more direct approach. Much promise remains for Bojan though, and the Spaniard will look to build on his promising start next season.