Out of the pandemic restrictions full of cardboard cutouts for fans, and fake crowd noises, the Premier League has returned to its entertaining, bizarrely unpredictable self this season. Everywhere you look in the Premier League table, a narrative is forming, as if football’s script writers are drawing up the most dramatic of conclusions.
The Premier League is Set for the Most Dramatic Conclusion
Title Race Back on
For some time, a repeat of last season looked on. Manchester City marched on and on like programmed androids that won’t stop for anyone, or anything other than silverware. But then January happened. A month when Liverpool – City’s closest challengers – were meant to struggle; a month without main men Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. Yet, in the end, an unbeaten month that welcomed the arrival of Colombian winger Luis Diaz.
Suddenly, after what was meant to be a month to forget, Liverpool had a better squad than ever. Now, it was City’s turn to live up to the Premier League’s ‘best in the world’ tag. Enter, as per usual when it comes to Pep Guardiola’s nightmares, Tottenham Hotspur.
Antonio Conte’s side anxiously entered the Etihad off the back of two wins in their last five league games in a run that included losses to Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers. On paper, City were supposed to send Spurs packing. But, like Liverpool were meant to have a dismal January, the expected outcome didn’t arrive for Guardiola and co. Instead, this was the Harry Kane show; the audition, perhaps?
The moment that City fans longed for, as Kane wheeled away in celebration, having netted a late winner at the Etihad, had arrived. Just not in the sky blue colours they had previously prayed for. Lillywhite is still very much the colour for Kane, and three points were soon rewarded for a sensational game.
And so, the doors swing open once more; the typing begins; the narratives form. Manchester City, on 63 points; Liverpool, on 57 with a game in hand. Win that game in hand against Leeds United, and defeat City in April, and the Reds will go level on points with just six games left to play.
A Final Day to Potentially Remember
If everyone follows the script, we’ll have ourselves a final day to remember. To make matters that much better, too, Steven Gerrard and Philippe Coutinho are the visitors in Manchester that day. Gerrard, a man always seeking title redemption after slipping to hand City the crown in 2014, and Coutinho, Gerrard’s teammate that year, and a player adored at Anfield until his ugly departure in 2018, can help Liverpool in their coronation.
From the bleak silence throughout Premier League grounds for the majority of last season, England’s top flight has been set-up for the most beautifully dramatic crescendo between two juggernauts.
Of course, there is still plenty of action left to come, but the football Gods rarely disappoint. When a comeback is needed, a corner taken quickly arrives, or a Lucas Moura hat-trick, or Sergio Aguero title-clinching goal. Now, when the drama is more warranted than ever, we may just receive a moment to savour.
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