Opinion
By the stage of practically each of the last five Premier League seasons, the curtain had already closed on several key outcomes.
After 32 match weeks last campaign Manchester City were locked in a fierce contest for the title with Liverpool, while Norwich and Watford both looked certain for the drop.
The previous edition of the England’s top competition, 2020-21, City were eight points clear on the way to their fifth title Premier League title and Sheffield United, on 14 points, were preparing for life in the second division.
Even the European places were seemingly locked up by members of the ‘big four’ or five, depending on your viewpoint, with each of Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, and Arsenal, alongside the two Manchester sides, City and United, fighting for the Premier League’s Champions League and Europa League allotments.
2022/23 has spewed an entirely alien conclusion, with a chaotic course setting the league’s trajectory for a down-to-the-wire finish right across the table.
At the summit, Arsenal, brimming with youth, excitement, and the freshness of a new pair of shoes, have often been the hallmark this season under the structured freedom inspired by Spaniard Mikel Arteta’s system.
Across the pitch, from Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, and Bukayo Saka, their energetic attacking trident striking fear into opposing defences all season with their positional fluidity, particularly between the Brazilians’ electric pace, silky touch, and overall decisiveness, through captain Martin Odegaard in midfield and a solid, if fallible, defence anchored by Gabriel and William Saliba, the Gunners boast arguably the most exuberant, fledgling side in the division, one supported by old-heads Oleksandr Zinchencko, Thomas Partey, and Granit Xhaka.
Thomas Partey. (Photo by Mateo Villalba/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
And yet their grip on the league title, at one stage of the season seemingly undoubted, has loosened as Pep Guardiola’s seasoned City veterans, boasting arguably the greatest goal-machine the Premier League has seen, Erling Haaland, and a host of supporting talent who close out campaigns with the polished arrogance of seasoned veterans for whom title pursuits are business as usual, as natural to them as the sun rising each day.
Both sides get pitted against each other this coming week. It’s Obi Wan Kenobi duelling Anakin, Batman versus Ra’s Al Ghul, master plays apprentice, Guardiola against Arteta in what will be for Arsenal the biggest game since the 2006 Champions League Final, and for City, since they played out a draw against title rivals Liverpool 12 months ago.
Below these pair of glory seekers, a three-way battle for Champions League football next season is underway, contested between Manchester United, reinvigorated by Erik ten Hag, boosted by the arrival of effectively brilliant midfielder Casemiro, and the world-beating form of Marcus Rashford, sit pretty in third place.
As the Dutchman enters the home stretch of his debut English campaign he will need to not only contend with the quality of his challengers, but also mitigate the losses of Rafa Varane and Lisandro Martinez, David de Gea’s torrid form, and a side with depleting confidence following an embarrassing European exit at the hands of relegation-fighting Sevilla.
Trailing them by three points, the Saudi-funded colossal new kid on the block, Newcastle, and their curious collection of gritty, technically gifted talent will fight tooth and nail for the final Champions League position to undertake a first European adventure in over a decade, and its first in the continent’s premier competition in over two decades.
Both sides in England’s north are being pursued by the now Antonio Conte-less Spurs, with the messy marriage ended by a reasonably straightforward divorce but leaving the north London outfit without the guidance of a world-class manager throughout the season’s crunch time.
Harry Kane cannot continue as he has, not only this season but in everyone since his breakout, and singlehandedly carry this side where it needs to be.
He will rely on Heung-Min Son finding his form and shooting boots, and contributions from Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, and the rest of Tottenham’s talented roster if they are to surmount the six-point gap between them and United in the next two months.
Heung-Min Son (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)
And while all the focus is on the top-four fight, it would be remiss of me to write off any of Aston Villa, who’ve scored in every match under Unai Emery as both club and manager undergo a resurgence and trail United by eight points, albeit with two games in hand; Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton, the league’s most visually pleasing side, four points off Spurs, and boasting a fluid, decisive flurry of attacking talent spearheaded by unexpectedly exciting trio of Kaoru Mitoma, a university scholar on the art of dribbling, Evan Ferguson, and World-Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister; or Liverpool, who despite suffering losses to Wolves, Bournemouth, Leeds, and Nottingham Forest, have shown in streaks the strengths and firepower that instilled them as a European powerhouse over the past half-decade, especially in three games against Bournemouth, Manchester United, and Leeds, where they scored 37 per cent of their goals this campaign.
At the bottom of the table, 10 points separate 20th-placed Southampton and 13th-placed Wolves, as relegation threatens recent top-flight mainstays Leicester, West Ham, and Everton, though that fight deserves 1000 words of its own.
As the curtain draws on the 31st Premier League season, the only thing written in stone about this weirdly wonderful campaign is that nothing is written in stone as chaos looks set to categorise its final few months.
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