With the season drawing to a close it looks as if one of the usual suspects will lift the Premier League title once again. On Saturday, Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 and are now ten points clear at the top of the table. Chelsea have lost just twice this season, and with time running out for the chasing pack to catch up, it seems the Premier League trophy will be heading to Stamford Bridge.
Since 1992 only once has a team not considered one of the “top/big clubs” in the country won the league, that being Blackburn Rovers in 1995. Back then, Blackburn were possibly the equivalent of Manchester City today in that they had money to burn and spent the required amount over several years to win the league. Since 2004, when Arsenal last won the league, it’s been all Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City.
Can anyone else win the Premier League?
For the rest, including Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool who have all spent big in recent seasons, is it a successful season to finish in between the aforementioned clubs? Is there now a mini league to finish fourth? Is the only way to win the league to get a super rich owner? Or can it be done with a more financially savvy owner and manager?
Teams have seldom come close apart from maybe Liverpool last season and Newcastle in the mid-nineties. Both had excellent chances to break the normal cycle of the same teams winning but in the end both teams, when in touching distance, hit the self destruct button and lost the title. Newcastle had a 12-point advantage on Manchester United at one stage until Kevin Keegan had a meltdown on Sky Sports due to some well-timed Alex Ferguson mind games. And Liverpool ended up two points off champions Manchester City after losing one and drawing one during the last three games of the season. The game that most highlighted Liverpool’s nerves was possibly the Crystal Palace game where they ended up drawing 3-3 after leading 0-3 with twelve minutes to go.
As I mentioned previously, various teams have spent big in recent seasons; Arsenal with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, and Spurs on the likes of Soldado and various others after the sale of Gareth Bale. And Liverpool spent vast amounts after the sale of Suarez on the likes of Balotelli, Lallana, Lovren and co.
Looking at the transfers it could be as simple as the team that has spent the money the wisest has walked away with the title in the end. And as I mentioned in a previous article, Chelsea seem to be the model of how to do it, especially this season. Whereas the likes of Liverpool and Spurs have had cash to burn and it seems have not spent as wisely as they could have.
So let’s look at the teams that could realistically have a chance of winning the Premier League in the next few years other than Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City.
Arsenal – They will always be around the top of the league and with various sources saying that they are close to paying off the costs of building the Emirates which will in turn surely release plenty of funds for Arsene Wenger (or whoever is in charge) to spend on improving the squad and first team thus allowing a serious attempt at bringing the trophy that Arsenal crave to the Emirates for the first time. Their fans certainly believe this is only a matter of time.
Spurs – On their day they can beat anyone and seem to have a good youth policy which should hold them in good stead for the future. Once their stadium/move/redevelopment is complete and they can figure out a way of spending money wisely they could become serious contenders in the near future.
Liverpool – Always tend to be hovering around the top four, occasionally breaking into it and doing exceptionally well in the Champions League the following season which in turn seems to hinder them in the league. Liverpool are another team with aspirations of redeveloping their stadium. This will of course cost a lot of money and could seriously impact the spending power that their manager has. But the same applies to Liverpool as it does to Spurs; get the building of the stadium done quickly, on budget and with as little impact as possible on the existing squad and transfer budget then serious title challengers could be coming soon.
I’ve mentioned a lot about stadiums being a key to increase spending power and helping to mount title challenges. Some teams have large stadiums that have been paid off for many years but come nowhere near to the top of the table. Sunderland and Newcastle spring to mind instantly but what may hinder clubs like this may purely be down to location and top players not wanting to move there and also recent history, neither club have set the league a light, most of the time they battle at the wrong end of the table despite attracting crowds of over forty thousand every home game and having away followings some top clubs could only dream of.
History is now starting to dictate that a different winner will be unlikely unless someone finds a super rich investor and a manager or a director of football who can spend the money wisely and just as importantly hold their nerve. As we all know football is a funny old game and pretty much anything can happen. Can anyone else win the Premier League? Quite possibly, but we may be in for a wait.
